To think that people that drive diesel cars know that they're killing children

[dieselKiller]

Diesel cars are destroying our towns and villages. The health effects on kids are particularly bad. People must know this by now. So AIBU to think that people who drive diesel cars know that they're killing kids (and everyone really)?

It's like smoking: it's not possible to smoke in public without affecting others' health. This seems to have been accepted by most people. What makes diesel different?

how about getting petrol drivers to turn off their engines when outside the school waiting on their kids......or, when at the level crossing waiting 7 minutes for the train to come?

Completely agree, MuppetMagic. What are you doing to help make it happen? Have you talked to people who do this, or talked to the school so they put a note in the newsletter? Have you asked the council to put a notice at the level crossing? All pretty easy things for you to do, and wouldn't take much time.

(I complained to a company that had a large lorry that was idling outside my block of flats for nearly two hours in the small hours of the morning - it woke me up and I thought it was stupid. Nearly two hours! They promised to send a note to all drivers to turn off engines if they were going to be waiting. All it took was a phonecall from me.)

Not at that conference. Have a look into who commissions these reports/scientists.

What, like the funders of the group that put on that conference?

I thought engine idling had become a fineable offence

It is fineable, but no one bothers.

People keep engines idling to keep warm, to keep cold, to speak on the phone, while they wait.

It's annoying and I wish something could be done about it.

In the US a lot of cars have remote start so you can idle your car to warm or cool it before you leave.

I normally use it to defrost the truck in the winter.

Oh dear Vitalogy that article you linked to was almost 8 years old.

Even the Telegraph doesn't publish nonsense like that any more.

Are you Nigel Lawson in disguise? Or maybe Donald Trump ...

Sorry to bore on about electric cars, but I can keep the heating on in mine while I've stopped without emitting anything.

And the best thing is I can remotely defrost & heat the car from my phone without leaving the house - and get into a nice toasty car on our 7.15 school run departures in winter.

GrumpyOldBag

I would totally consider a electric car if it could replace the functionality of my current one,

www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2008/Chevrolet/SILVERADO-2500-HD-PICKUP-3-4-Ton-V8/Crew-Cab-LTZ-4WD/Specs

Have you ever experienced issues with the battery freezing in the winter?

A few things I learned recently:
NO2 can be absorbed through your skin as well as your lungs
NO2 damages your sense of smell
NO2 has direct effects on reproductive health (in addition to lung damage and other negative effects on health)

Someone on this thread wanted to be reassured that driving polluting vehicles in the countryside was OK. I'm not an environmental scientist or a chemist, but it seems to me that while you'll be damaging fewer people's health directly and immediately (compared to driving in a city), that you're still contributing to health damage. The products of fuel combustion do not all breakdown or combine harmlessly over time. In particular diesel fuel combustion contributes disproportionately to acid rain.

I also read an article from March that said VW was expected to shell out $20bn in the US as a result of their cheating. Any VW owners had any luck getting compensation in the UK?

My phev is lovely. It defrosted yesterday while I was still in the house, and my usual miles are all electric. I use the petrol engine for motorway journeys, or trips which are longer than approx 25miles.

And so cheap to run.

Are the electric cars half electric and half petrol engine?

Any VW owners had any luck getting compensation in the UK?

The UK isn't as litigious as the States so it won't happen.

It shouldn't happen anyway, no-one buys a car based on emissions, they buy them based on running costs - i.e. MPG, Tax etc. (Que 20 saintly bullshitting Mumsnetters saying they only buy cars based on emissions.....)

Tax is loosely based on emissions anyway - my lovely diesel, which is gets awesome MPG, is only £30 a year tax & as such will be with me for a long time yet - long after London has been pedestrianised....

I bought a new VW diesel a few months ago, long after the 'scandal'. A great efficient car, meets all the regulations, and costs £30 a year to tax.
I don't drive in London BTW.

You can only judge if you don't have a car at all and never travel by plane. Otherwise you are only slightly better.

I have a diesel but only drive it every other week and not in town or in rush hour. That's better than someone who sits outside a school in their petrol car every day IMO.

You can only judge if you don't have a car at all and never travel by plane

We can all work to decrease our environmental impact.

You can only judge if you don't have a car at all and never travel by plane. Otherwise you are only slightly better.

I don't drive a car and fly something like once every 8 years. Is that good enough, carefreeeee?

But your basic point is that nobody is allowed to comment on anyone else's actions unless they are perfect themselves. Which is ridiculous as nobody is perfect, nobody would be allowed to comment, and things would just keep on getting worse.

When I bought a diesel in 2013 it was so green it paid no Vehicle Excise Duty. I changed it last year but if I still had it I wouldn’t feel guilty because Someone On High now thinks diesels are not green after all.

I wouldn’t feel guilty because Someone On High now thinks diesels are not green after all.

Damned experts.

I flew very long haul in the last couple of weeks. It would really be hypocritical of me to feel good about replacing my diesel car which I cannot afford to do

PiffleandWiffle There are some people on this thread who are choosing cars based on emissions. None of them are saints as far as I can tell. Certainly none have claimed to be. They seem like ordinary people trying to make the best decision they can in the circumstances.

Isn’t the best choice to keep using an existing car in emissions terms? The carbon footprint of getting a new one exceeds the tailpipe emissions considerably in most cases

It's not just about carbon. It's also about gases and particulates that have more direct effects on health. That's why I started the thread about diesel specifically.

Total replacement is only one possibility: it's not like diesel cars have diesel windscreens and diesel wing mirrors and diesel tyres and diesel doors.

But you are correct that there are no easy answers and in any one person's case, replacement may not be the answer.

There are some people on this thread who are choosing cars based on emissions.

Where? The defining factors I could see on here are MPG, tax & cost...

We chose one based on emissions because the tax was lower on it.

It is a diesel. I don't use that much othet than commuting, bought because ut was £30 tax and we were told it's the eco version and it has good fuel efficiency.

We will use this one until it becomes unusable (like we did the car before).

I don't buy the idea that people driving around on small petrol cars on PCPs abd getting a new one every 2-3 years are better for thr environment than me with my diesel. There's an environmental cost to manufacturing.

I do feel a little bit like there's quite a superficial side to a few eco people. E.g. I'm so eco that each time a more eco version of something comes out I'll buy it because it shows how much I care about yhe environment.