Following our report last week about the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and his plans for the introduction of an extra £10 charge for diesel cars to enter central London, drivers of diesel vehicles are now facing further penalties if they sit in their stationary vehicle with the engine running.
Councils have had the power to penalise drivers with £20 spot fines for idling under the Road Traffic Regulations 2002, this fine increases to £40 if the original penalty is not paid, but Islington council in London is the first council in England to actually begin to enforce the rule. Statistical figures have revealed that over two hundred deaths a year in Islington are caused by poor air quality. Executive Member for Environment of Islington Council, Councillor Claudia Webbe, said that as part of the air quality strategy of Islington Council “We are committed to improving air quality in Islington which is why we are clamping down on idling buses, lorries and diesel cars.” Councillor Webbe added ‘We are taking action to tackle the problem of air pollution in Islington but we need Boris Johnson to do his share: by introducing a low-polluting bus fleet, and addressing the high number of polluting lorries that travel through our streets on a daily basis affecting residents’ health.’ The fine will be given to drivers who refuse to switch off the engine of a stationary vehicle when requested to do so, it will include motorists who leave their engines idling unnecessarily and taxis and buses sitting with their engines running at taxi stands and bus stops. It will not include any vehicle stuck in traffic or at traffic lights.
This step is almost certainly to be taken by other councils across London as it is known that the Chair of London Councils’ Transport and Environment Committee, representing the 32 London boroughs, wrote to the Environment Secretary in 2013 to request greater action against pollution and for improving the quality of air in London. It was even suggested that spot fines should be greatly increased, with figures as high as £130 put forward as a possibility. Not everyone, however, feels the same way about diesel cars, the Communities Minister, Brandon Lewis, has described the actions of Islington Council as taxing drivers by stealth and is concerned that it will only deter shoppers from using their local high street. Mr Lewis said “This is systematic of a clipboard-wielding culture in many town halls where every response to a policy challenge involves a new tax or a fine on local residents,”
Scientists have discovered that scooters, far from being the greener option many of us think they are, actually produce more pollution than larger vehicles – including lorries!
A study has shown that scooters are capable of producing volumes measuring thousands of times more of the smog causing pollutants called “organic aerosols” than that of larger vehicles, consequently the comparatively small number of scooters are contributing relatively more pollution in cities around the world. The most worrying aspect is that some of the pollutants given off by scooters are particularly dangerous to the health of anyone exposed to them, these include benzene – which can cause cancer and a range of toxic chemicals called “reactive oxygen species”, levels of these pollutants were found to be high by scientists who say that the risk is so high, even waiting behind a scooter at a junction “may be highly deleterious to health”.
The study was carried out by a number of scientists, including some from the Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Cambridge and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, Markus Kalberer from the University of Cambridge said “We showed that, in contrast to the general belief, scooters can be a dominant source of air pollution, including soot and organic particles, in urban areas”, he added “We showed that the particles transformed the atmosphere from these scooter emissions are especially toxic.” It appears that the problem is scooters usually use two stroke engines which the scientists say are much less efficient at burning fuel, their exhaust systems do not have catalytic converters so they are far less effective in the removal of pollutants, meaning that exhaust emissions from scooters contain higher levels of the chemicals that are in the fuel and oil they use.
The scientists involved in the study tested the air pollution in various cities around the world, including those in Europe, United States of America and Asia and their findings were published in the journal “Nature Communications”. Their paper said that it is possible that scooters could be contributing up to two thirds of the roadside air pollution in some cities “Using average two stroke scooter emission factors… suggests that two stroke scooters contribute to around 60 per cent of roadside POA in Bangkok, where they account for 10 per cent of fuel consumption” the paper also said “Our data suggest that two stroke scooters are a significant, and in many cities, the largest source of vehicular particular matter and toxic secondary organic aerosols and aromatic hydrocarbons, despite being a relatively small fraction of the total fleet” adding “Therefore, given the alternative technologies available, restrictions on two stroke scooters, already implemented in China, could improve air quality in many cities around the globe.” Stephen Platt was the lead author of the paper and he said “Cars and trucks, particularly diesel vehicles, are thought to be the main vehicular pollution sources” adding “This needs re-thinking, as we show that elevated particulate matter levels can be a consequence of ‘asymmetric pollution’ from two-stroke scooters, vehicles that constitute a small fraction of the fleet, but can dominate urban vehicular pollution through organic aerosol and aromatic emission factors up to thousands of times higher than from other vehicle classes.”
Of course it is not only scooters that use two stroke engines, they are also found in lawn mowers, strimmers, chain saws, outboard motors, model airplanes and more.
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