ModoVincere

Just wondering. I feel like I am sucking in a lot of exhaust fumes from cars and trucks on my commute. Its not that I'm wanting to stop, but are we kidding our selves saying this is healthy?
I feel like I might as well be lighting up a marlboro sometimes
Especially with some of the trucks I get behind sometimes. I mean, am i asking for black lung disease by sucking in deisel fumes?

a bit racialist

I've had some of the same questions while riding in traffic.

However...

I've lost around 15 lbs. in my first 3 1/2 weeks of bike commuting. I'd consider that 'healthier'.

chephy

Standard question: are there other routes you could take?

There was an article publicized here recently that warned of the dangers of exercising on or near busy roads. Your commute is certainly less healthy than that of someone who goes the same distance/terrain etc. but through quiet countryside or bike path. Whether it's healthier or less healthy than driving - who knows? There are positive and negative aspects of it, but how does one quantify them and measure them in any meaningful way?..

bike2math

One hires an actuary (Not my specialty though).

krazygluon

+1 for taking the road less traveled.

On the other hand...just because the air in your car doesn't smell like exhaust doesn't mean you're not getting your fair share of toxins while driving/riding in a car. I don't think NOx SOx or carbon monozide are really caught by a car's air filter.

chephy

Not mine either. But more importantly, where are the stats, and to what extent do they apply in this specific case?

max-a-mill

so when you breathe in that air that comes through your car's windows or air control system; how would it be any healthier???

if you want to convince yourself to stop commuting by bike, you don't need the internet's help.

crtreedude 

It doesn't have anything to do with biking, it has a lot to do where you live. Our decision to move to a healthier place occurred once after a snowstorm and we could see all the soot on the snow.

The thought went through our heads - we are breathing that junk!

Not anymore

thdave

I agree--no doubt the stuffy air inside a car is worse. No stats needed for me.

I might be fooling myself--but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

HardyWeinberg

It's not as stuffy if you set it from 'recirculate' to whatever the other choice is, but still, is there a filter on the air coming through the vent for a car? If not, or if not one to keep out particles smaller than squirrels and birds, then you're getting the same air in the car as you are on a bike, regardless of the smell.

cooperwx

The arguement in a previous thread was that cyclists are breathing MORE. Breathing heavier and deeper than our at-rest, vehicle-contained bretheren. So even if the air is the same for us as it is in a car, it's less healthy to breathe more of the same air.

That said, the weight-loss aspect may offset the poor-air intake.

ModoVincere

I guess I wasn't clear enough in the original post.

I understand that people in their cars are breathing the same air as me. However, we as cyclist are probably breathing the air much deeper due to increased exertion levels. Is there a problem with this? I am currently looking for a road less traveled...but lets face it. I live in a major metropolitan area, I work in a very congested part of town, and there are few if any back road options around here.

I'm not looking for a reason to stop commuting. In fact, I'm looking to increase the frequency to 4 or 5 days a week. But I am still wondering if the exhaust exposure is actually worse for us commuters.

megafrenzy

You are breathing the same air, but at a rest rate. In your car, you can hold your breath and go recirculated air when you get behind a stinky bus. On the bike, you are breathing heavy, (nothing like a lung full of diesel exhaust) and the only option you have is to avoid busy streets, which is what I try to do. Although I have to go thru one neighborhood on trash pickup day get pretty rank.

I'm more worried about fast moving vehicles than exhaust.

fordfasterr

I would say no.

I think that since we are not stuffed inside of an enclosed cage, the concentration of fumes is lower. Also, we don't spend as much time idling in traffic, or at red lights ... that alone reduces our intake of fumes by 1/3 or more...

So every once in a while you get a whiff of some exhaust gases, thats not as harmful as getting a continuous stream of it while stuck inside of a cage...

DataJunkie

I position my bike away from exhaust pipes. Seems to work for me.
That and I live in an area ranked fairly high for air quality.
My lungs are in much better shape cycling in traffic then they ever were when I was sedentary. Trying climbing hills 1 mile above sea level.

yes

In the cage, you are sitting right in the most concentrated area. Your car is sucking in air right at the mufler in front of you. There was a study recently that stated that the air in a car is much worse than what you might breathe on the side of the road or on the sidewalk. So, you will probably breathe in a higher quantity of air, but maybe less or equal amounts of crap. You could get an air filter for nasty stretches of road if you are really concerned - or just pick an alternate route.

bbonnn

One thing or another is gonna get you eventually. Maybe it will be the VOC's in your upholstery, or the phthalates in your shampoo, or bird flu, or the exhaust you suck when you bike. Maybe none of the above. Bike on, and leave a smiling, muscular corpse.

aMull

atbman

Every statistical survey, including one in Denmark with about 15000 subjects, shows that regular cyclists live longer than non-cyclists. Bear in mind also, that:

1. Our noses are higher than vehicle exhausts, whereas car vent intakes are lower
2. Not only do we breathe in more deeply, but we breathe out, ditto
3. US research showed that regular commuting cyclists take fewer days off sick
4. Interiors of motor vehicles have levels of pollution 3 to 4 times higher than outside

markcov

Cars have cabin air filters too. While they allow carbon and sulfur oxides or VOCs through, they'll stop most particulates at least.
While there might be a slight difference due to height, it seems like it should be small.
If there's somebody tossing up a lot of smoke ahead of me I'll try and grab their license plate number so I can report them. TCEQ Smoking Vehicle

...then I try and take a parallel road, or slow down and let them get ahead.

On a similar note, found a paper that says living longer is bad for the environment. People who ride their bikes consume more energy over their lifetime because the extra energy usage from living longer outweighs the energy saved from not driving. There's lots of assumptions, and the analysis seems a little incomplete to me. Here's the link to where I found it : https://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2006/0..._converted.php

markcov

PurpleK

I remember reading somewhere that a survey of cyclists revealed they had cleaner lungs than the auto bound commuters. The theory offered was that the stronger breathing of cyclists blew impurities out of the lungs.

DataJunkie

I can trump all the speculation:

I like it.

Too much thinking is bad for your health. Go ride.

SaabFan

Move out to where I live. The only "fumes" I have to deal with are the occasional fart from a toad sitting on the shoulder as I fly past.

CliftonGK1

squirtdad

a little off topic....but how clean the air is where you live in general probably has more to do with what goes in your lungs than just commuting. My grandfather lived on a ranch in the middle of nowhere in Montana (and this is middle of nowhere by Montana standards Jordan/Cohagen area if it helps), He used horses more than tractors. He was also a chain smoker, lighting the next cigarette from the previous butt. In his mid 80's he was xrayed and the radiologist proclaimed that his were the lungs of a man who had never smoked in his life! The clean air was a bigger factor thann his smoking.

So, cleaner air is better, but we can't all live where the air is clean, so enjoy the ride and don't work too much.

Life is 100% fatal, so live it well