Excessive traffic has made cities unpleasant laces to live and work in, private cars should be completely banned from city centers. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Most cities now have pedestrian precincts and from time to time the cities are in the news because cars have been banned temporarily from the

city

centre to reduce pollution.

However

, no town council has yet had the courage to completely prohibit private motor vehicles from entering the

city

centre. There are several reasons why I believe

this

should be done. The most important reason is pollution car exhausts, which damages people’s

health causing

Accept comma addition

health, causing

respiratory diseases

such

as asthma and bronchitis. At the same time,

traffic

fumes attack the stonework of historic monuments and buildings, while the vibrations from passing vehicles damage their foundations.

This

,

for instance

, has happened to many old cathedrals in Europe. A

second

reason why I am in favour of cars

being banned is in

Suggestion

is being banned in

order to reduce the noise pollution from

traffic

.

This

forces people to keep their windows permanently closed and may cause psychological problems, including stress and depression, among people living in busy streets. A

further

reason is that most cities were not designed for motor

traffic

. A good example of

this

is the historic centre of Valencia, which has narrow streets and few facilities for parking.

As a result

,

traffic

moves very slowly and there are frequent

traffic

jams. Beautiful buildings are spoilt by always having cars parked in front of them and pretty streets become unpleasant due to permanent

traffic

congestion and exhaust fumes.

Finally

, I am sure that if cars were banned, people would find other more pleasant ways to move around cities.

For example

, they would walk or use bicycles as these would once more become safe and enjoyable activities within the

city

.

This

in turn would bring about a general improvement in people’s health. In conclusion,

therefore

, I strongly support the idea that

traffic

should be banned from

city

centres, as

this

would enable people to rediscover cities as pleasant and healthy places to live.