Advice to drivers for high pollution days?

[jefmcg]

According to the BBC, during pollution alerts ...

• Drivers, cyclists, joggers and pedestrians are advised to seek out less polluted roads to avoid the toxic air

Shouldn't drivers be urged to avoid unnecessary journeys, not seek out rat runs that aren't quite as polluted at the high street?

 

[mjr]

Shouldn't drivers be urged to avoid unnecessary journeys, not seek out rat runs that aren't quite as polluted at the high street?

Yes, they should, but it seems we have no politicians willing to confront King Car. Compare and contrast with Paris's mayor saying "We say clearly that our aim is the significant reduction in car traffic, as all the world’s large cities are doing. We must constantly remind people: the fewer cars there are, the less pollution there is" or Milan's mayor saying "In these days of major emergency, we cannot remain indifferent" or Madrid's mayor saying "It's not about traffic restrictions but about the important issue of public health" while banning cars on high-pollution days. When will London's mayors step forward?

 

[summerdays]

The piece I saw on the TV was saying that drivers came off worst in the breathing polluted air because of where air intakes and exhaust pipe location. So I guess it's an extrapolation from there. However I worry the result will be car manufacturers will think how can we make this a selling point.... I know lets project the exhaust a different direction (err pavement side perhaps.... nothing important there for drivers to worry about!).

I already like to choose side roads just down to the quieter route, and slower pace meaning it's a bit more enjoyable normally.

 

[Lonestar]

Absolutely, drivers.......just don't drive!!

Some hope of that.

The Car is King.

 

[jefmcg]

Yes, they should, but it seems we have no politicians willing to confront King Car.

There's a middle ground, of course. Just take drivers off the list. Give advice to non-polluters about avoiding pollution, and let polluters work it out themselves.

 

[snorri]

There's a middle ground, of course. Just take drivers off the list. Give advice to non-polluters about avoiding pollution, and let polluters work it out themselves.

I think you'd need to fill in some detail for those of us already befuddled, possibly by pollution.

 

[ufkacbln]

Step away from the car........

Simples....... prevent vehicle access to high pollution areas

Make the journey impossible and remove the choice

 

[KnackeredBike]

There was a bloke on 5live the other day complaining that because of all the polluting cars he had to wear an air mask. Whilst driving his car.

 

[mjr]

There was a bloke on 5live the other day complaining that because of all the polluting cars he had to wear an air mask. Whilst driving his car.

Did anyone point out that he's causing the problem he's complaining about???

 

[KnackeredBike]

Did anyone point out that he's causing the problem he's complaining about???

Sadly not, probably to avoid a thousand people calling in to say that there's no point stopping driving because the Chinese are building coal burning power stations anyway. A rather strange justification admittedly, but it seems to be rolled out as some sort of polluting checkmate.

 

[crazyjoe101]

There's a middle ground, of course. Just take drivers off the list. Give advice to non-polluters about avoiding pollution, and let polluters work it out themselves.

The issue being that they won't sort it out themselves. I understand that 'don't teach people how to avoid x, teach the people who do x not to do x' doesn't work most times, but unlike other issues, polluting vehicles are relatively easy to control should there be the appetite to do so.

 

[Drago]

In the real environment some lf these diesel cars are churning out more pollutants that buses. Saw a thing on the news yesterday that a firm is trialling a 'black box' system for diesels that measures live emissions, the idea being the more you pollute the more you pay, thus encouraging people to drive less and/or drive more carefully. No bad thing. If it proves viable the Mayor of London is considering introducing it on some vehicles.

 

[NorthernDave]

This is a tricky one.
I've already posted on here about my trial at using public transport instead of the car late last year and how it simply didn't work for us (cycle commuting isn't an option for us either unfortunately).
For all the faults with public transport the main one is that in this part of the country it is struggling to cope with the passengers already using it.
Trains and buses are packed to the gunnels now, so they'd be completely unable to cope if passenger numbers increased only relatively modestly.

I fully agree that something needs to be done, but there need to be alternatives in place.

 

[ufkacbln]

Some 40 years ago, there started an interesting (and easy to introduce) system with car registrations

On certain days only cars with even numbers can enter and on others only odd numbers

Now Rome, Paris, Mexico City, Bogota, and Beijing have similar systems with varying success


However it was not a perfect system

Delhi managed an almost immediate 11% drop in pollution levels. However where drivers would own a reasonable , they sold these and bought an evan and odd numbered banger - the end result being a 13%rise in pollution

Mexico City had less car numbers, so only prohibited the last digit - this was more successful as even buying a banger, having ten cars was not going to be possible

Paris was a resounduing success when tested, but a blanket speed limit reduction may also have been a contributing factor

Beijing managed a 40% reduction in pollution, but again subsidised the registration system by banning all HGVS, older vehicles and drivers who lived tside the city

There are some simple systems out there, and it was only 5 years ago that the Paris experiment proved successful, all it needs is litte determination and the guts to stand up to the motoring lobby