Commuting - Are you concerned about air pollution during commute?

I commute during peak traffic hours. I guess most commuters do. Are you bothered about the pollution?

I am considering going back to training rides after work in the back roads of the woodland area I live in. I'm quitting bike-commuting.

Actually i do hear car-drivers breathe more pollution in.. but, there are cars out there like **** diesels and 1994 jobs without catalytic converters.

The pollution is gonna get you somehow.

^ yeah of course, the pollution will get you. The thing is, on a bike, you're so breathing a lot deeper, a lot faster. In a car you;re just sitting down in a relaxed pose. Also, in the UK at least, diesel has become REALLY smelly. I dont know if they've just added something to the diesel mix.

^ yeah of course, the pollution will get you. The thing is, on a bike, you're so breathing a lot deeper, a lot faster. In a car you;re just sitting down in a relaxed pose. Also, in the UK at least, diesel has become REALLY smelly. I dont know if they've just added something to the diesel mix.

Urea is now injected into the exhaust to neutralize some harmful chemicals. NO2 maybe.

It varies a lot - the amount of pollution you encounter everyday. Around here in the winter and the colder morning, cold engines pollute horrible since the catalytic converter isn't warmed up. I would be worried about asthma if you're breathing in that much.

Have you tried a good filter mask, not a cyclist one but a commercial one.

I'd heard that there's a higher concentration of pollution inside of the average car than outside of it. Don't know how true this actually is. True or not, breathing exhaust sucks.

I figure that as long as I'm no safer from pollutants in the car, and am getting a cardiovascular workout while I'm on the bike, then the bike is still healthier. And I'm not adding to the pollution to boot.

It seems that many feel that exercising when there is a lot of air pollution is a bad idea but I haven't seen any articles specifically measuring these effects on bicycle commuters. The air is generally pretty good here in Hawaii but Kilauea has been acting up lately and we are getting a lot of vog. Just doesn't seem to bother me when others are complaining. The worst air I get are from the stupid 2 cycle mopeds (although school buses are a close second). I'm starting to see a few electric mopeds and they are so quiet and clean I wish they would catch on.

I don't worry about the pollution aspect too much. It doesn't seem like taking another transportation mode would make much difference in your overall health. I only feel the pollution effects when riding in/alongside wall-to-wall cars that are inching along, and we don't get that around here much.

+1 on getting behind one of dem 2-stroke scooters.

The air is the air, don't worry about the things you can not control. It is better than it was 10 years ago. In the colonies I sware 1/2 the cars are those Toyota Prieus things.

I don't think it's any worse than the cigarette I light up after my rides.

I don't pay attention to it, just like with global warming.

I don't think it's any worse than the cigarette I light up after my rides.



Or during my rides!

Urea is now injected into the exhaust to neutralize some harmful chemicals. NO2 maybe.




Urea might make your crops green and healthy,since it is the active chemical in products like Vigaro, but a cars exhaust?

At least you aren't commuting here. (http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/03/23/hong-kong-air-quality-severe/)

I dont think the pollution is too bad where I live, my health would suffer more if I quit commuting by bicycle.

not that serious man

if anything you'll contribute with drivving

No,I'm too worried about other things...like getting hit.

I'm not worried about it, but my traffic level is pretty light. The health benefits outweigh the risks, IMO.

Nope... not worried.

Only if it gets bad enough that I chip a tooth.

No, because I'm riding in an area that's in the 90+ percentile for clean air in the US. I looked it up a few months back and every place I've lived has been in the 90+ percentile, one was in the 98th percentile - to do better I'd pretty much have to live in a national park in Alaska.

Long ago, I read that the benefits of cycling outweigh the detriments of the pollution. Of course, this could be different in some places. It was written in the 1970's in the US.

I can say that after spending some time in Mexico city that anywhere else you go can only be up...

Research studies (will have to find them) show that the air quality outside a car is significantly better than inside as the car absorbs pollutants and also out gasses a lot of chemicals from the interior materials.

Riding and maintaining a healthy cardio system goes a long ways toward fighting bad air but there really is nothing like getting out of the city where the air is fresh and the only pollution smells like manure and sileage.

There was a study that said that bus and car users get more pollution than cyclists who then get more than pedestrians. I'm not too worried about it tbh.

Getting stuck behind one of these at a junction in Sheffield is not good. They smoke like crazy on set off and the position of the exhaust sends it directly into your face.

Buses are touted as the greenest transport but they are the dirtiest on the road, much worse than lorries.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r270/yaztromo/1166.jpg

Gotta get some speed up and overtake them then! Or just drop back a bit so it isn't directly going in your face. The only time I get that is in a traffic jam, but I try to filter past them most of the time. (A london commuter here).

I worry more about about the long term effects of pollution. My commute takes me through downtown Los Angeles during rush hour, and it can get pretty nasty at times. Fortunately, really smoggy days re relatively rare, and the air is cleaner than it used to be. Still, you have to wonder how healthy breathing in a lungfull of diesel fumes is for you . . .

You get more pollution in a car - just be thankful that you can filter through the traffic, they have to sit in it, in a closed car.

I don't pay attention to it, just like with global warming.

Lol! I feel exactly the same.

I get far less pollution whenever I commute by bike. Part of my commute involve riding a train which rail is high above city street. When I do have to drive, I usually inhaling my daily dose of smog in stopped freeway traffic.

Part of life irony is that one of my car is a gross polluter which is going to the junk yard soon (reason why I commute by bike). With that being said, I worry more about pollution while driving instead of biking. I seldom get other car tailing me behind the "curtain of smoke" but too bad I cannot use some of that smoke to keep cars off of me when I am biking :)

Mmmmm nothing like the smell of diesel in the morning.

It's a big concern for me. I know that air quality is just as bad inside cars, but there's something about being at a light turning green when everyone hits their gas peddle at the same time. :(

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, car pollutants cause ground-level ozone which damages your lungs and is extremely harmful to people who have asthma and other types of lung disease.

Riverside, CA is where I call home. And I'm lucky to breathe all this smog (http://www.flickr.com/photos/marinacastillo/1336733006/in/set-72157602181436652/). :D

I commute during peak traffic hours. I guess most commuters do. Are you bothered about the pollution?

I am considering going back to training rides after work in the back roads of the woodland area I live in. I'm quitting bike-commuting.

This has been a concern of mine for some time. I even have a mask for keeping dust out of my lungs, when I am using the leaf-blower. The problem becomes, that I can't wear the dust mask for a long period of time. I have a bi-weekly commute that takes an hour and, a weekly commute that takes 2.5hrs.

As for you giving up bike commuting, because of pollution, you would go from being part of the solution to, part of the problem. The only way to not contribute to vehicle pollution is, to not drive.

Take a look at this website: http://onelesscar.org/page.php?id=1

It's a big concern for me. I know that air quality is just as bad inside cars, but there's something about being at a light turning green when everyone hits their gas peddle at the same time. :(

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, car pollutants cause ground-level ozone which damages your lungs and is extremely harmful to people who have asthma and other types of lung disease.

Yeah, the ozone is bad enough to burn sensitive crops in some areas. You can be sure it is doing the same to your lungs.

Schools and School buses are the worst spots, you can smell the idling fleet of buses and parents a mile away if the wind is blowing the right way.