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London pollution haze (CC licensed image by Alun Salt:Flickr)As air pollution levels soar should you stop riding?
Air pollution is in the headlines today as a variety of weather conditions including dust blown in from the Sahara combine to push the level of pollution to the top of Defra's ten-point scale in some parts of south-east England. Should cyclists be concerned and what can be done about it?
The immediate good news, according to Dr Paul Cosford, director for health protection at Public Health England, is that normally healthy people should have nothing to worry about.
Speaking on the Today program this morning, Dr Cosford said: “For normal healthy people, I am on my bike today and other people should be. We don’t need to buy little white masks, we need to increase the amount of physical activity that we do because it’s great for our health.
“So this is, in a way, a reminder to do something that is both good for the environment, let’s reduce the air pollution, but lets do things that are good for our health too, let’s walk, let’s cycle, let’s do all the things that are of benefit to us.”
Dr Cosford said that if you do feel the effects of the bad air, then take it easier.
“We may notice sore eyes coughs, or throat and maybe a little bit of a wheeze if we’re taking physical activity outdoors and if that occurs it’s sensible to reduce, during these high pollution episodes, the amount of physical activity.”
That's not to play down the risk to anyone with an existing condition, such as asthma. Dr Helen Dacre, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, told the Independent: "High air pollution levels can cause unpleasant and dangerous effects on health, both long and short term.
"Toxic gases, such as nitrogen dioxide and ozone, as well as fine dust particles in the air blown in from the Sahara and from burning fossil fuels, all contribute to cause problems for people with heart, lung and breathing problems, such as asthma.
"The problem is likely to be particularly bad today because weather conditions have conspired to create a 'perfect storm' for air pollution."
Because of air pollution’s effect on people who are already ill or elderly, it’s a major contributor to early death, according to Public Health England, which says on its website: “In the UK alone, it is estimated that the burden of long-term exposure to anthropogenic particulate air pollution in 2008 was an effect on mortality equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths at typical ages and an associated loss of total population life of 340,000 life-years.”
Diesel vehicles are a major source of air pollution. The UK is facing fines of up to £300 million per year from the European Commission for its failure to rein in emissions of nitrogen dioxide from diesels.
Governments were supposed to have reduced air pollution to “safe levels” by 2010. A five-year extension was granted to countries with problem areas, as long as they had “a credible and workable plan for meeting air-quality standards within five years of the original deadline” but Britain looks unlikely to hit the target in 2015.
“The UK has not presented any such plan for the zones in question. The Commission is therefore of the opinion that the UK is in breach of its obligations under the directive,” the commission said.
What steps can the UK take to improve things? You probably won’t be surprised to hear that experts think cycling can be a big part of the solution to pollution.
Dr Cosford said the answers included, “things like greening our vehicles, improving the public transport system so that it’s easier to use public transport rather than using cars, but particularly two other things: creating better green spaces in our cities and towns, and also the more that we encourage active transport like walking and cycling.
“That is particularly beneficial, it reduces the amount of road transport, reduces the amount of air pollution and also gives us that fantastic health benefit.”
While London and the South-East chokes and politicians quail from putting people’s health above the interests of the road haulage lobby, Paris has already taken steps to reduce motor traffic and therefore pollution at times of poor air quality.
The BBC reports that on Monday March 17, a car ban was imposed in Paris following pollution levels of 180 microgrammes of PM10 particulates per cubic metre on Friday March 14. The ‘safe’ limit is 80µg/m3.
Seven hundred Parisian police officers monitored the city’s roads from 180 control points around the region between 5:30am and midnight, allowing only vehicles with odd-numbered licence plates on the road. The next day it was the turn of even-number plated cars.
Police reportedly issued 4,000 tickets for a €22 fine by midday on March 17, with 27 cars impounded after their drivers refused to cooperate.
The preceding Friday (March 14) public transport was free of charge and that continued over the weekend into the Monday.
In October 2011 the Italian city of Milan banned all traffic from its streets for 10 hours in an attempt to reduce smog.
Active travel organisations have pointed out that the root of the problem is that motorised transport has been made a priority in city planning for many decades.
Philip Insall, Director of Health for sustainable transport charity Sustrans said: “Hardly a day passes without new and frightening evidence of the harm done by our obsession with motorised transport.
“The World Health Organisation has calculated that globally, air pollution kills seven million people a year. In the UK it is a grave threat to health – and yet right in front of us is a major contribution to solving the air quality problem: a shift to walking and cycling for local trips.
“More people travelling on foot or by bike would mean less congestion and also cut the death toll from climate change and from physical inactivity.
“Today’s air quality warning is another red light for traditional car-dominated transport policies. Government needs to do much more, right now, in the way of policy and dedicated investment in clean, healthy travel such as walking and cycling.”
Elliot Johnston contributed to this story.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 10 min 27 sec ago
An excellent idea but then - due to expensive lawyers and accountants - no doubt the richer would be found to personally not own or control a penny...
- chrisonabike 13 min 58 sec ago
I'd say "inconsiderate use" is pretty much a working principle of dockless bike share. The whole thing....
- mitsky 19 min 10 sec ago
Re: the shipping container bike lane......
- Willd 25 min 30 sec ago
The section being talked about is the southern part of Clifford Bridge Road from the B4082 to the B4027. A cycle route of sorts already exists on...
- Rapha Nadal 32 min 15 sec ago
I'd buy a motorbike fo rthat kind of money!
- hawkinspeter 51 min 1 sec ago
Article on the BBC - "thousands" demand halt: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6296300l05o
- wtjs 10 hours 54 min ago
There is an increasing 'disconnect' between comments in this topic and reality. Cords are either all cotton or mostly cotton and are going to last...
- ktache 11 hours 25 min ago
There are people out there who will make you the belt out of your old tyre.
- chrisonabike 11 hours 26 min ago
Furry dice and an air freshener for your helmet.
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44 comments
Oh dear a little bit of mist for a few days, and smog was really a mixture of smoke and fog, so unlike the pea soupers of the sixties, this is a rare tame event but here the predictable suspects target motor transport again.
Yes if we all cycled- and that ain't gonna happen ever- then the air would be cleaner but society wouldn't run at all and we would all very soon die from lack of basics including food, heat and water. Not very healthy that at all then. Since the motoring explosion we all live longer don't we?
So don't let's salivate about doom. A little breeze and a bigger story to fill the pages and this mist will be just an overblown distant memory.
There was fog on the Tyne this morning. Pretty sure it was mostly composed of actual fog but I put some extra tin foil on my helmet just in case.
Blame Gazza for that. It's all his, apparently.
You'll find that Lindisfarne are the original claimants, Alan Hull to be more specific. Gazza may well have made a later claim but he's not terribly reliable these days so it could be anyone's as far as I know. Quite surprised Sting hasn't had a go and flown it back to LA or wherever he lives when he's not reminding everyone he's a proper Geordie like.
Anyway, it's still there so if they'd like to come and collect before I ride home that would be nice.
"Current London air quality map. Very high readings. Funny how Saharan sand seems to blow along the busiest roads."
http://pic.twitter.com/OzQ7RNkOCr
But nearly everyone is ignoring the same old bull wrecking the china shop again
I don't usually notice, but yesterday evening it did feel a bit ozoney. The air felt oddly like a hot summer's evening, stuffy - but not so warm. Weird.
Mind you, the air in east London is quite often a bit 'ripe'.
I rode into work in central London today.
The air quality was poor, but similar to other days when it's not headline news.
Like this?
What make and model of pollution device did you use to measure the different types of pollution? No wait, let me guess, you have special magic eyes which you use to analyse the pollution which is not visible at a short distance.
My point was air quality in London is often very poor, but no-one cares when it not caused by Saharan dust (well 5% caused by Saharan dust, 95% caused by the usual air pollution).
Fair enough, it could have been read that you thought that pollution is not news-worthy in general. It bugs the hell out of me that 1/3 of people die from lung problems and yet society doesn't take pollution seriously. We have toxins in the materials that make our floors, walls, buildings, furniture, clothes, electronics, food containers, food, drink, fuel etc etc. And people don't see the link between this and cancer FFS.
Vehicle Pollution UK: 29,000 deaths
Vehicle Collisions UK: 1,754 deaths
Traffic pollution deaths in London : 4300
Cyclist accident deaths in London: 14
After a short but hard ride last night here in SE London I know have a horrid cough.
Was very wheezy on getting home.
Looking this morning at the smog I took the car!
Oh my, we've got a live one. I do love a conspiracy butter.
Just hoping the air improves by Sunday. Air quality is lovely here in Tenerife!
lol, how did this topic get onto chemtrails? It's not a full moon is it?
Neither is it 1st April.
Some people believe in fairies. Similarly, others believe in 'chemtrails'. Bless.
Nice fresh air up here in the North West!
I changed jobs this year, and used my car to commute from Milton Keynes to Ampthill in Bedfordshire during January and February. But as soon as I was able to bring my bike from home I've been back on two wheels. So I'm doing my bit. Didn't seem too bad today, it was very hazy.
Surpisingly there are some lovely quiet roads to explore around here
So you can get away from all the BMW and AUDI drivers who seem to think they own the road! I have no idea what it about these makes of car, but they seem to be the most selfish drivers.
northstar, you sound like a taxpayer-funded Common Purpose graduate whose lifestyle depends on the continued funding of Agenda 21. But since you don't have a single word to back up your position - on yer bike, love.
If high petrol prices won't reduce car use, pollution is not going to. The "normal" way for humans to get about is now via car.
I've identified a gap in the market for fitting HEPA filters to car ventilation systems though.......
True about the default way to get around, but I work in the breakdown industry and there's quite a lot of evidence that high petrol prices have reduced car use. All we can hope is that the government doesn't succumb to pressure to reduce duty. All that will happen is that the companies will raise prices to the same as they were but keep the extra profit.
The problem is that the rising prices affect those have have to drive (the disabled, people delivering stuff) as well as people who are driving half a mile to the supermarket when they could walk.
Or are you just seeing fewer breakdowns? I also suspect it depends where you measure it as congestion in and around Shrewsbury is, if anything, getting worse.
That's an old one. If there are so many disabled people driving where are they? Blue badge holders are a very small percentage of the traffic.
For delivery drivers it's just another component of the cost of doing business. Tough.
Colleagues at the office are talking about the pollution (though we're a long way from the South East) but none of them has even dreamt of using an alternative way of getting to work, like 99% of all drivers, I'm sure. They don't see that they are part of the problem.
Jenny Jones is asking why Boris & TfL aren't doing anything constructive:
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2014/04/why-is-boris-johnson-a-bystander-...
#BloodyMotorists
Take your chemtrail agenda off to a different topic, this has nothing to do with them.
It's not because of cars and taxis, it's because of deliberate political agendas, still living in ignorance?.
If you want me to take it to a different topic then don't finish with a question. Get it?
Clearly you don't because if you did you'd realise they are completely unrelated.
*laughing*
I honestly don't realise how a sudden spike in atmospheric pollution across the country is unrelated to a massive surge in chemtrails over the UK observed, photographed and posted to the internet in the last couple of days. Especially in a city like London that has no heavy industry, no coal fires, and traffic curtailed by swingeing road access tariffs, but where Saharan sand is suddenly announced to be a toxic hazard for the first time in living memory. I honestly would like you to enlighten me on that, O Star of the North.
*not laughing at all, in fact totally disgusted to be corresponding with Sally Bercow*
You mean you are corresponding yourself, "Sally"?
Your apparent deliberate ignorance(?) / just general stupidity(?) is quite amusing.
The massive spike in pollution is probably caused by the increased power consumption in data centres hosting conspiracy theory websites.
What you might be seeing is a spike in CON(desation)trails!!!
Or then again you might not because the air is so full of crap you can't see **** 100ft away!
Yes Sir, this is all because of cars and taxis. Nothing to do with the tons and tons of alluminium and barium pumped into the sky as chemtrails. No way, chemtrails don't exist. No siree, them persistent white lines in the sky next to the contrails is perfectly natural, yes sir. All that dust be comin from the Sahara, sho nuff. Blame dem cars, bossee.
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