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?

Piffle I'm one.

I pay no road tax at all and my MPG are humungous.

I love my car.

It’s a diesel. I chose the diesel option.

It tows a caravan. It’s big, it’s roomy, it’s all I want/need from a car.

It’s cheaper to tax, and run than my dh petrol. I get 58.9mpg from the beast.

But I somehow doubt me driving my car produces the same amount of deadly fumes as the empty buses which drive past my road every 20 mins do.

I have nothing constructive to add to this thread.

I pay no road tax at all and my MPG are humungous.

Yes and I bet those are the reasons you bought it - same as mine. £30 per year & humungous MPG.

But now someone has moved the goalposts & now apparently I'm killing children whilst you waft around with angel farts coming out of your exhaust.

10-15 years ago it was the other way around. Now they're pushing Electric despite the issues with making batteries & the fact that the UK power infrastructure isn't geared up to most households charging their cars at night - useage is going to rocket (more oil & coal), no cheap out of hours charging etc.

Then the Electrics will get taxed to buggery once we've run out of cobalt & the disposal of the batteries is wrecking the environment & we'll all be "encouraged" to buy the next good thing....

So I'll just stick with the "Baby Killer" for the next decade or so....

But Piffle, you know that whether or not you are killing more kids than the next driver has got nothing to do with the position of any goalposts, right?

I understand being frustrated with commercial interests btw, but neither imaginary goalposts nor business trickery changes the fact that choosing a car means choosing how much damage you cause and to whom you cause it.

We have a Tesla and solar panels.

OP You are missing piffle's point.

What they are saying is that when thry bought their diesel (like me) it was lower tax BECAUSE its emissions were lower. So people like us bought them.
Now the goalposts have been moved and suddenly diesels are awful and we should all get electric hybrid cars.

The issue is

1. That means scrapping perfectly useable cars and all the manufacturing impact of it
2. Chargung cars using electricity on an infrastructure not built for it and a national grid predominantly built on fossil fuels (which is hardly eco friendly).

For that reason, people like me are going yo keep our car and then make a decision in due course about what to do. My next car will be a hybrid probably bit i'll get one when this one needs replacing and hopefully by then we'll have done more for renewablea.

People acting like they save the children and earth because they gor rid of one vehicle in favour of another which needs electric powered by fossil fuels make me laugh.

Maisy, who is calling for "scrapping perfectly reasonable cars"?

Why aren't you mad that the government mislead you using the tax system?

All the preaching and condesending when you drive a diesel you are murdering children. Get electric ones. They're so kuch better. Look at how virtuous I am becasue I'm saving you all from your ignorance crap is along those lines.

No I am not annoyed at them.
At the time when that tax was done there was a set if criteria. Since then it has come to light there is a different, potentially better, criteria.

What annoys me is people with a little bit of information about a topic presenting a complex topic with a naive simplicity as if the rest of the world is too stupid to have considered the topic.

I am not convinced that electric is the wonder fuel that people are going on about. We spend far too much time generating electricity from fossil fuel abd nuclear.

My next car will probably be a hybrid, but I'd rather have more money inyo sensible renewable power before convincing people who buy lots of shiny new eco cars.

choosing a car means choosing how much damage you cause and to whom you cause it.

Ah, sorry OP - you appear to be under the misapprehension that I give a shit.

In case my previous posts were too subtle, "I DON'T CARE"....

What don't you care about PiffleandWiffle?

Aren’t the goalposts metaphorical rather than imaginary?

Technology moves on, knowledge grows. The more you know the more you find there is to know.

People make decisions using the best knowledge they have at the time. Not everyone can just scrap a car because something new has come to light about it, and replace it.

People don’t generally want to kill babies.
People need to use cars.

What do you actually think people can do, op? You are showing a worrying degree of naivety.

AIBU to think given that @dieselKiller uses an electronic device containing cobalt mined by children in Congo they KNOW that they're killing kids?

AIBU to think that given dieselKiller is keen for us all to drive electric cars with batteries containing cobalt mined by children in Congo, they're just asking us to kill kids in a different way?

AIBU to think given that dieselKiller probably owns a cotton garment farmed by children or stitched by children, they KNOW they're killing kids?

Etc, etc, etc...,

jux Exactly. When it financially makes sense we will replace our diesel with a non-diesel. But as we bought it for the right reasons at the time we will continue to use it and not care that we might be 'killing kids'.

NotBad - get away with your inconvenient facts. He/she isn't called CobaltKiller

Jux, the original question was whether people know that diesel is disproportionately harmful to human health. It seems that most people that responded do know this. But the reactions to discussing this issue varied. I won't recap all the responses, but there are many that attempt to justify complete inaction by focusing on my actions. It's an interesting response. You're all thinking adults, why not try to think of some solutions yourselves?

All the same, while I wasn't intending to propose solutions, I did propose some upthread.

Hang on - you started a thread accusing people of being child killers, knowing that a car isn't something you replace like a pair of socks - and you "didn't intend to propose any solutions"???

what was your intention then? Apart from possible GF-erage!

My car is diesel but low emissions .... we only pay £20 a year road tax. Newer diesel cars are better than older ones.

Jux, the original question was whether people know that diesel is disproportionately harmful to human health

No it wasn't, it was a nasty uncalled for and almost certainly inaccurate assertion that you have since tried to dress up as some kknd of intellectual response to an issue.

NotBadConsidering, YABU since you know literally nothing about my vehicle ownership or driving habits (unless you know me IRL and recognize my writing).

YANBU to think that I try to be conscious of my impact on the environment and recognize that some of my actions literally hasten the deaths of people.

I heard on the radio that oxford city centre plans to put £500,000 of electric charging points. By 2030 they want every car driven in oxford to be electric to improve the quality of air. You all could be bullied into buying an electric car eventually.

That should be every car, bus, taxi and vans to be electric.

YANBU to think that I try to be conscious of my impact on the environment and recognize that some of my actions literally hasten the deaths of people.

This is really getting boring. The biggest issue the planet faces today (apart from overpopulation, which is the overarching theme giving rise to all issues) is agribusiness. Not diesel.

I'm not suggesting that you can't worry about something unless your contribution to the issue is zero. It's more that I think we've obsessed about non-renewables (rightly) to the point that we've made some inroads, meanwhile agribusiness is perpetrating its crimes against the planet with relative impunity.

Which is why I find your posts unbalanced and seemingly unaware of the big picture. You've continuously chided diesel without even a thoughtful analysis of the environmental impact of the production of new 'green' cars (unless I've missed it).

Museum, I posted upthread a link to an article about the environmental impact of new EVs. Taking all the lifecycle emissions into account and even if fuelled by electricity generated from fossil fuels (rather than renewables), they are still lower-carbon.

emoji, not a question of being "bullied", more about incentivised.

There is no transport solution which is completely free of issues, we are (mainly) just trying to find the least-worst.

Rebecca, my intention was to get some info about how people think about diesel before discussing solutions with people that recognize the problem and are interested in doing something about it, my hope was that other people would have interesting solutions.