CALIFORNIA: Car Poll

California has long been considered synonymous with automania−unlimited cars, freeways, mobility. As for the air pollution, well, Californians supposedly shrug it off, like rain. In two new statewide surveys, however, the California Poll organization discovered that:

≫ Sixty-two percent of Californians are in favor of building rail rapid-transit lines, even at an increased tax cost of $ 100 a year per family.

≫ Sixty-two percent back the much criticized Clean Air Act of 1970, even if Detroit is threatened with partial shutdowns for failure to meet the law's strict requirements.

≫ Fifty-five percent favor the law's requirement that cars and trucks have antipollution devices, even if those devices cost $300 per car.

− Seventy-four percent believe that the automakers "could be doing more" to reduce air pollution.

≫ Fifty-five percent think that the schedule for installing effective exhaust-control equipment by 1976 is "about right"; another 27% think the schedule is "too slow."

Lest these findings give anyone the wrong idea, the California Poll also reveals that Californians are not about to abandon their freewheeling ways. Fully 76% of the respondents rejected the notion of closing off certain freeways to discourage "excessive driving," and 56% oppose a drastic slowdown in the state's freeway-building program.