Tag Archives: air quality

Illegal pollution and road closures

Like most traffic “experts” on the BBC, Prof Andrew Lewis failed to mention on the World at One (7.12.20) the role of traffic lights in producing congestion, and contributing to the premature death of 9 year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah. Will the … Continue reading

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Another nail in coffin

Brake dust is as bad as diesel for producing tiny particles that penetrate heart, lungs and bloodstream. It may be even worse because it produces them in greater quantities. The stop-start drive cycle caused by traffic lights and priority junctions … Continue reading

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Air quality post-Corona

The lockdown means less traffic and less polluted air. But 45,000 sets of traffic lights still operate, producing 57,000 tons of CO2 every year, just from the electricity that powers them. Rarely reported is that lights produce congestion by blocking … Continue reading

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Another pitch to the Press

No doubt you heard about the Max Planck study which found that poor air quality is a greater threat to life than war, malaria, HIV or smoking. Replacing conventional traffic control with freedom to filter at low speeds and low … Continue reading

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More policy inanity

The congestion charge exemption for sub-75 g/km vehicles ends in Oct 2021, and from 2025, zero emissions cars will lose their exemption too. Sadiq Khan’s rationale? Traffic pollution damages health and development. We know that. But zero emissions cars emit … Continue reading

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Taking the drama out of a crisis

Today’s Guardian led with a piece about a comprehensive Chinese study which shows that air pollution (already implicated in 7 million premature deaths a year worldwide) damages intelligence and cognitive function, not just in foetuses and children, but in adults, … Continue reading

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Cuts, air quality, and how Sadiq Khan has it wrong

While the public spending axe falls left, right and centre – this week it was MoD cuts – a thick seam of beneficial cuts lies neglected. I’m talking about traffic control: a field of vast public expenditure which is vexatious, … Continue reading

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Censorship?

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve pitched these ideas, to no avail, to the likes of The Today Programme. Likewise, my latest pitch about air quality, emailed today to two people at Newsnight and two at The Times, has … Continue reading

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Air quality and mortality

UK deaths linked to particulate pollution, blamed on diesels, is put at 29,000 a year, including 3,400 in London. Moreover, campaign group Clean Air in London estimates that 7,500 people a year in the capital die early from NO2 and particulate pollution … Continue reading

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Traffic lights and air quality

In No Idle Matter (2007), I wrote that the stop-start motion caused by traffic lights multiplies emissions and fuel use by a factor of four. In this piece, Prashant Kumar (University of Surrey) says air quality at signal-controlled junctions is no … Continue reading

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