General Cycling Discussion - Smog, Pollution and Cycling

It occured to me today, that with on the all the smog and pollution problems that people would be a bit more inclined to do something about it. When the whole Ozone Crisis hit, there was direct scientific evidence that less ozone would mean more skin cancer and burns. As a result, virtually everybody was years ahead of the Montreal Protocol mandates.

Now, here we are again in a similar situation, driving a car increases the amount of smog and air pollution inside a city especially. There is direct tangible evidence that driving a car has a negitive impact on the envirmont (locally especially) and few people are willing to do anything about it. Most people still insist on commuting alone in traffic clogged highways.

Just my thoughts.

I heard a bad reason for driving a car from a guy who claims he´s a cyclist and do several houers on indoor trainer and on the road per week. He said his modern car was so clean that the air was cleaner when leaving his car than it was before at the highway. Polluted air should "almost" be cleaner leaving his modern environment-friendly car than when entering. If true, sounds good to me but say more about the bad air then his car.:rolleyes:

Anders K

That may or may not be true depending on a lot of factors. Where does your friend live and what type of car does he drive?

With a perfectly tuned modern car, with a warm engine, at constant moderate speed, and an uncontaminated catalyst, they can be very clean.
Add one aggressive driver, short journeys, stop/start traffic, some cat contamination and an interval since the last service and things are not so rosey.

Perhaps the owners of these so-clean vehicles should feed their exhaust through their air-conditioning intake.

Originally posted by MichaelW
With a perfectly tuned modern car, with a warm engine, at constant moderate speed, and an uncontaminated catalyst, they can be very clean.
Add one aggressive driver, short journeys, stop/start traffic, some cat contamination and an interval since the last service and things are not so rosey.

Perhaps the owners of these so-clean vehicles should feed their exhaust through their air-conditioning intake.

Yep, to get cats to work, they have to run hot, which they dont tend to in the average 30 min traffic jam.

Originally posted by Anders K
I heard a bad reason for driving a car from a guy who claims he´s a cyclist and do several houers on indoor trainer and on the road per week. He said his modern car was so clean that the air was cleaner when leaving his car than it was before at the highway. Polluted air should "almost" be cleaner leaving his modern environment-friendly car than when entering. If true, sounds good to me but say more about the bad air then his car.:rolleyes:

Anders K

Talk is cheap.

Ask him if he will sit in his running car in a closed garage.

Originally posted by bikerider
Talk is cheap.

Ask him if he will sit in his running car in a closed garage.

I second that motion. It amazes me how many people feign concern about the things mentioned in this thread and then try to justify their driving habits with the "my car is really clean" crap.

Originally posted by Spire
That may or may not be true depending on a lot of factors. Where does your friend live and what type of car does he drive?

We live in Sweden, pretty good air even in our citys, cant compar to a big city overseas. He´s got a Carisma.

Anders K