Toulouse. “Your SUV kills”: new action by “tire deflators”, 90 cars targeted
By Gabriel Kenedi
Published on
“We have deflated one or more of your tires. Don’t take it personally. you are not our target, it is your vehicle”. Here is the message pasted on the windshield that some could read SUV owners Thursday, November 17, 2022 in the morning, at Toulouse.
90 SUVs targeted
Motorists whose vehicle has been the target of a new action by the “tire deflators” a Toulouse. On the night of Wednesday November 16 to Thursday November 17, 2022, these activists targeted a district in the south of the Pink City (they do not specify the exact location, editor’s note) and possessing having deflated “about 90 SUVs“.
In their letter of protest, the Toulouse tire deflators justified themselves as follows:
“We do this because driving a vehicle of this size in a city is particularly tough. Automakers try to persuade us to buy SUVs and 4x4s. Corn it is a disaster for the climate. SUVs are the second global source of carbon dioxide increase in the last decade, ahead of the aeronautical industry.
“SUVs are grotesque and are pure vanity”
They add: “The world is facing a climate emergency. The UN warns that millions of people are already dying from crises caused by global warming: drought, storms, floods, climate migration and famine. The impacts are currently minimal for you, but that will change. We must immediately reduce our emissions. We chose to act because governments do not. »
“There are also consequences for the neighbourhood. SUVs create more pollution than smaller vehicles. Accidents involving SUVs are more serious for their victims and cause more deaths. Psychological studies show that 4×4 drivers take more risk on the road. SUVs are grotesque and are pure vanity. That’s why we are taking action.”
“You can move around without driving a tank”
“You can get around without driving a tank: by walking, cycling or taking public transport”, they intimate to the owners of these vehicles. And for those who have of a hybrid or electric SUV ? “It does not matter, its size and its enormous weight generate a disproportionate environmental cost and produce it more dangerous”, they judge.
No complaints so far
Contacted by Toulouse Newsnational police say not having registered a complaint at this time following this action of the tire deflators. For its part, the Toulouse prosecutor’s office indicates that it has had no return on these facts. “Besides, it’s not not considered damagebecause the tire can be reinflated”, specifies a source close to the file to Toulouse news. Did the “deflations” play on this legal subtlety?
Still, for several weeks, these actions have been increasing in the Pink City and in other cities in France. The same European since these “deflation movements” claim to be attached to a group launched in Great Britain, “Tire Extinguishers” which has claimed, since the beginning of 2022, several thousand deflations and several European countries.
A “practical guide” has even been developed and published on their website, with the technique to properly identify an SUV vehicle and deflate the tires in the rules of the art.
“A handful of environmental activists”
After an action in October, the Toulouse activists defined themselves as follows: “We are a handful of environmental activists, not structured within a collective, but experienced in civil disobedience. We meet regularly in the streets of Toulouse to deflate the tires of parked SUVs. We will examine these particularly polluting vehicles when stationary, we recall that the most climate-friendly individual behaviors are correlated with high purchasing power and we plead for a legislative framework towards these vehicles.
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