Vested and political interests are using old arguments to slow or stop a change that will reduce our petrol bills and improve our air quality.
The political debate around changes to vehicle emissions in this country is a re-hash, a re-badge and a repeat of past arguments over our car fleet.
The world started moving towards lead-free petrol in the 1970s after studies showed a connection between lead in automotive fuel and major public health problems. “Removing lead from petrol would make hardly any difference to the amount of lead people absorb, because most of their intake comes from food and beverages,” Mr P.S. Parkin said without any proof.
By 1970, researchers in Japan had found children living near busy road intersections had lower IQ scores, caused by their exposure to leaded petrol., a mechanical engineer from Melbourne University argued there was no evidence of health problems from leaded petrol. As the Fraser government dithered, the Wran government in NSW announced it would require lead-free petrol from early 1984. This forced the federal government’s hand, which set a five-year countdown to bring in unleaded petrol from 1986.Age archive
But as the number of people killed or maimed in car accidents soared through the 1950s and 1960s, governments decided they had to do something to save people from themselves.The Bolte government in Victoria became the world’s first western administration to make the wearing of a seat belt compulsory .