Main content

When Mexico Slashed Car Use

In the 1970s and 1980s a deadly cocktail of toxic factory fumes and car pollution had turned Mexico City into the world’s most contaminated city. In response, the Mexican authorities came up with an ambitious solution: curb the use of each of the city’s two million vehicles for one day a week, the first time any country had tried such a bold plan.
Ramon Ojeda Mestre, the environmentalist behind the Mexican initiative, tells Witness about overcoming fierce opposition to the plan - and how some critics even predicted it would cause riots from irate motorists.

Photo credit: JORGE UZON/AFP/Getty Images

Release date:

Duration:

4 minutes