Eco-cheats: Scandal as Filter Fraud Threatens Cleaner Air

On 1 January 2008, the Scarlet Letter effect will start shaming drivers of polluting vehicles in German cities which are implementing an eco-zone to reduce pollutants to below EU standards. Vehicles which pollute too much to rate at least a red sticker in the red-yellow-green system will be banned altogether. Auto clubs predicted chaos as German drivers delayed ordering their windshield stickers. But it is worse than they could have imagined: tens of thousands of German drivers are learning that their action to meet the law's requirements are in vain. They are victims of an astounding filter fraud....