Today is Clean Air Day, an awareness day that teaches us about the impact of air pollution, as well as giving us some advice about how we can all take action and make some easy changes to improve our air quality.
How we travel is a key factor that contributes to the emissions in the air we breathe, and something that we’re no doubt all aware of in some respect. Driving less and changing some bad habits when we’re behind the wheel can make a real difference to the quality of the air we breathe.
You might think you’re less exposed to pollution when you’re sat in a car, however an experiment found that a car driver was exposed to twice as much pollution as a pedestrian, and nine times as much pollution as a cyclist travelling the same journey at the same time of day.
Drives less. Don’t idle your engine. Drive smoothly. Get a greener car. Find out more about each of these driving tips to help you contribute to improving air quality…
We’ll start with the most obvious one – drive less. We know not everyone can ditch their car forever, but consider whether you need to take the car when you’re travelling short distances. If you leave the car at home and walk or cycle instead you’ll be reducing emissions. Something to remember when you’re walking or cycling is to take quieter routes, as it’s been shown to reduce your exposure to pollution by 20%.
Leaving your engine running might not seem like a big deal, but when you’re waiting to pick someone up, if you’re waiting for a minute or longer, it’s less polluting to turn your engine off and restart it than to leave your engine running. Idling your engine increases exhaust fumes in the air by up to twice the amount of a car that’s in motion!
When you’re behind the wheel, avoiding sudden breaking or accelerating reduces the amount of fuel you use, and therefore reduces emissions.
When the time comes for you to change your old car, consider the emissions of the one you replace it with. If you can go electric, then do. But even a newer, more fuel efficient, petrol car will likely emit less pollution than your older car.
If you do fancy getting rid of your car for good, or you’re upgrading to a greener vehicle, you can donate the value of your old car to Clean Air Day, definitely double points for you on the air quality improvement front if you do that!
If you want to learn more about air quality, you can check out the Clean Air Day website and the Clean Air Hub for all their fantastic advice.
