AN insidious addiction is sweeping the country, threatening to damage the lives of young and old. It clogs the arteries, it poisons the blood, it is in danger of paralysing the nation. It's as addictive as alcohol, as dangerous as drugs and in the next two and a half decades it's expected to get worse.

Society is the grip of car dependency, an affliction which is spreading like the plague.

"Car dependency is the term I like to use," says Geoff Gardner, a man charged with finding a cure.

"Dependency because dependencies of any kind are a bad thing. There's going to be a 50 per cent increase in traffic over the next 25 years and that will have serious lifestyle implications that are going to affect whole communities.

"Transport isn't necessarily a good thing. We need to break the chain which links getting up in the morning, cleaning your teeth and reaching for the cars keys, sometimes to do a journey of just 200 yards."

Mr Gardner, 43, is North Yorkshire County Council's first travel awareness officer, a post which emerged from Government demands placed on local authorities to find a solution to a mounting problem.

His role is to work with schools, community groups, businesses and the media to challenge people's deep-seated views on transport.

It's a job in which Mr Gardner will have to draw on his considerable experience of transport projects in China, Indonesia and Pakistan, when he worked for the Transport Research Laboratory.

In the coming months, there will be a host of initiatives designed to make car drivers think about the journeys they make, posing alternatives which are better for them and the environment.

Journeys are not always desirable. Drive the 38 miles from Darlington to Newcastle, for instance, and the journey is as trying as it is tedious. Miles of straight road, dull scenery, all ending in a traffic jam on the Western Bypass.

The reason you make the 76-mile round trip isn't for the car journey but for shops and entertainment that may be better than the local ones.

In the old days councils used to predict and provide. Mr Gardner's point is that instead of spending billions of pounds on the roads, providing extra lanes, increasing capacity for more cars, why not look at the problem from a different angle:

l plan your life so you don't have to make the journey specially. If you are there on business, take time to drop into the shops then;

l share your journey with friends, family or neighbours, which would cut the number of cars and share the cost of travel;

l go by bus or train, negating the car completely;

l and the really alternative view is to spend the money on smaller towns, improving their facilities so you don't have to travel further afield at all.

He says: "We are here to look at why people need to go from A to B and is there a better way of providing that need. We are starting with the market town revival, building up the viability of the market towns so everyone uses the local shops, reducing the need to travel.

"I once moved from a new town to an old established town and found myself using the corner shop. I was paying an extra 10p for a loaf of bread but at the end of the month the total bill was less than from the supermarket because I was only buying what I really needed. It was also an enjoyable social process, meeting the regulars at the shop and becoming one."

It's a philosophy which would work particularly well in the North, a mainly rural area where a public transport system often isn't economically viable. It's a change of emphasis which would stop the North being penalised for the traffic problems of the south.

Says Mr Gardner: "The current petrol pricing policy is a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It applies more to the M25 community but is hurting people in rural North Yorkshire more. If the price keeps going up it will have a long term effect on where people live."

But just because the North of England doesn't suffer the gridlock of the South doesn't mean the area is exempt from having a traffic plan.

Mr Gardner says: "The Government has asked all of us 'Are you doing your bit'? We might be smaller than an urban area but we cannot just say 'we are rural, it doesn't apply to us'."

A five-year plan will target the whole community, from schools and the public sector to private businesses, even the armed forces and tourists.

Children will be encouraged to walk or catch the bus, which is not only better for the traffic flow but also for their social and physical development. "You see the kids on the bus chatting, laughing, enjoying a joke, while the child on his own, strapped into his parents' car looks glum. The bus is much more sociable than the car and helps with children's life skills development."

Businesses are being encouraged to produce a green travel plan which urges staff to address the issue of travel choice. Staff at County Hall in Northallerton are being encouraged to car share, with an allocated car parking space for those who do, and a special database of colleagues wanting to.

Private businesses are invited to take part in something which will improve their image.

Mr Gardner says: "The idea of values is becoming important to company images. The Body Shop, for instance, has built up a wholesome image, a company with integrity. Haulier Eddie Stobart insists his drivers wear suits, shirts and ties, that the wagons are always clean and are driven well. This says 'we are a company with integrity, give your business to us'.

"Firms can also improve their image if they do something to stop the traffic jams outside the factory gates in the morning and night, which annoy the neighbours."

Moves are afoot to improve the health and fitness of youngsters to provide a better, fitter recruit for the armed forces.

At the moment the hordes of tourists who visit North Yorkshire every year "graze" the various attractions. They come in, visit one town for a coffee, another for lunch, and somewhere else for afternoon tea.

The aim is to increase the number of visitors but cut the number of cars. So instead of travelling round, tourists will be encouraged to concentrate on one spot, taking time to see it in detail. There will also be moves to promote public transport, such as the train service to Scarborough and the Moors Bus in the North York Moors National Park.

Mr Gardner claims that most people's lives resemble islands - home, school, work, clubs - all connected by the car.

But the car isn't always needed and people can easily walk or cycle. Those who try cycling love it, enjoying the experience, the fitness aspect and the money and inconvenience saved.

"The more they cycle the less they worry about traffic which suggests there is a perception problem. While 200 people a year are killed on bikes, 100,000 die prematurely from heart disease. Even on that basis, cycling will make you live longer.

"I am not going to stop anyone driving but their GP might. Once you get to a certain age and you are not safe to drive how will you be fixed then? How will you get to the shops or visit friends and family? If you wait until your late seventies to consider this, that isn't the time of life to go through the upheaval of moving house so you are nearer to where you want to be. You should all start thinking about these things now."