1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192 
111rudks are denier than ever
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
CLEARING THE AIR
That man Brian Weatherley has been musing on the gulf between the public's percept of truck pollution and the vast reduction in the level of killer exhaust gases. How on earth we spread the good news?
I recently received an e-mail headed: "Government Mini backs TransportEnergy call for cleaner air around school My first reaction was to junk it. However, as government departments have been known to hide truck-related stori in the middle of the most innocuous releases I opened it t I was right; there was nothing about trucks in it, although did contain the following sentence: "Traffic pollution can exacerbate respiratory disorders such as asthma, especially among children 70% of sufferers (3.5 million people) say traffic fumes make their asthma worse."
Its hardly news that exhaust fumes are harmful, nor tha PM1Os those soot particulates of less than 10 microns in produced by diesel engines are the nastiest little bugger: of them all. But the current Euro-3 regulations have more th halved the levels of NOx and hydrocarbons and slashed carbon monoxide levels by more than two thirds since 199 and particulates are less than half what they were in 199: In a recent episode of Coronation Street Richard Hillma used his 100hp people carrier in an attempt to gas his fami and nearly succeeded in a couple of hours. Just as well he didn't use a modern 400hp artic; it would have taken him tv weeks (thanks to John Parry for that). But when was the las time anybody told the Asthma Society, TransportEnergy or even a government minister how clean truck diesels have become? Why are we always preaching to the converted?
Talking of e-mails, I frequently receive them from a US tr association acting on behalf of remould tyre manufacturers Every time a story appears in the media questioning the sa record of remould tyres it bombards the publication or radic station with facts and figures putting them straight. If only w could be as effective in telling the Great British Public how trucks are now cleaner and greener than ever before.
Dream on Brian, dream on.