THE motor car can be seen as one of our most liberating inventions or the fume-spewing curse of modern times, depending on your view.

But what cannot be denied is that most people use a car and could not go about their business or pleasure without one.

Those who drive want to be left as unhindered as possible, yet cars do have an impact on the environment. Increasingly, it looks as if unfettered use of the car may no longer always be possible in our towns and cities.

In the light of such concerns, City Of York Council is considering a revolutionary scheme which would divert traffic out of York's most polluted areas. Air quality monitors placed around the city in pollution hotspots, such as Gillygate and Bootham, would detect rises in levels of nitrogen dioxide and redirect traffic accordingly.

Crucially, the council has not yet confirmed how such a system would work, though it is possible that traffic lights may be used to move vehicles away from affected areas.

This sounds like an extremely ambitious proposal, and because traffic pollution is bad in parts of York, such a bold scheme may offer a solution.

But there are a lot of 'ifs' attached to this proposal.

If traffic can be redirected around the city without merely pushing the problem elsewhere, if pollution can be eased in one area and not just moved somewhere else, this could be a feasible scheme.

If the scheme merely nudges the problem around from place to place, it will do nothing to solve traffic congestion and pollution.

As drivers know all too well, whenever one of the arteries into York is blocked, there is chaos in another part of the city. And if this scheme is merely a backdoor route to banning vehicles from wider areas of the city, a lot of drivers will be left fuming.

From a green perspective, this proposal can be seen as crisis management, pushing pollution about rather than truly tackling its causes. Still, at least it is an attempt to tackle a serious problem.

Let us hope it works.

Updated: 10:38 Thursday, September 06, 2001