Cities And Towns In Many Countries Mark 'Car-Free' Day

More than a thousand cities and towns across the world are marking a 'car-free' day today. The idea of the annual event is to encourage people to use alternative, less-polluting methods of travel in place of their private motor vehicles. France started the initiative eight years ago, and since then it has been enthusiastically backed in the rest of Europe, in parts of Asia and Latin America. But many diehards are refusing to do without their personal transport, despite the example of mayors and government ministers cycling to their offices.