Re: Bridge boosters make dubious leap of logic (Letters, NewsLeader, Sept. 25)

Much has been written about the economic cost to car owners and the state because of vehicle-related injuries, death and physical destruction of property per year. Yet Get Moving BC and other proponents of more and bigger highways suggest that more and bigger highways will somehow get B.C. moving.

I would love to get my hands on the research to prove that more and bigger highways in this region would be an asset. (Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon’s rhetoric does not count).

I would suggest the Transportation Ministry establish a series of pollution-measuring devices for all tailpipe pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrate oxides, sulfates and fine particulate matter along the freeway from the Port Mann Bridge to Vancouver. The readings should be announced daily and compared to our national health standard.

Also, consideration should be given to stringent control that any vehicle sold in the Lower Mainland must have the latest pollution-abatement devices and fuel efficiency such as California demands in its Clean Air Act.

Worth a read is the book Taken For a Ride by Jack Doyle. This book shows how the “Big Three” auto makers refused to build more efficient, less-polluting vehicles.

It also shows how oil companies refused to produce cleaner gasoline by reformulating their fuel and removing sulfates and other noxious and carcinogenic matter.

Tony Fabian

Burnaby