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?

My DH has a 4 year old Mercedes estate that he bought second hand a couple of years ago.

As he uses it for work and needs ‘nice’ cars for this purpose, he gets a car allowance. He buys cars outright, keeps them a couple of years so they don’t depreciate too much, then replaces them and usually his car allowance pays for the depreciation.

He was due to change it this year but the car’s value plummeted overnight so, to be financially viable, he needs to keep it until his allowance pays off that depreciation.
Most people don’t have a few spare grand knocking about to change their car on a whim....

Get off your high horse. If you have children and eat meat you are causing just as much of a problem.

A lot of people are seeing my question as some sort of attack or a way of being competitively greener than them.

No love. A lot of people are seeing your question as deliberately goady, inflammatory and ridiculous

Doesn't mean we shouldn't try

Indeed. It should be a cornerstone of our morality.

So op, what do you propose we do with all the diesel cars that you want people to give up? And how do you feel about the pollution caused by making the new cars to replace them?

I'm fairly sure you are going to have to start growing your own food as those nasty diesel tractors that currently help produce it, and the murdering diesel lorries that help get food to the supermarkets are obviously not something you wish to encourage or feel any benefit from.

Until there is another viable alternative for cultivations and pulling power people need to use diesel engines. Cars included. I need a 3.5t towing capacity which I think pretty much limits me to diesels. I could be wrong about that, but I had a budget too which definitely meant diesel. Now if only the thing drank less to perform as it does I'd be happy with it.

On a very basic level I thought petrol was worse for the environment to produce and diesel was worse for the environment to use, or vice versa, I can't remember exactly.

2/10

Um. Bit of an ott title. We all do things that are pretty fucking bad for the planet, diesel cars are probably not the biggest issue we need to be dealing with.

Its always been know but for some reason the government encouraged it. yabu.

I hope you don't have kids OP, or live in a house, or carry out day to day activities like:

Paint your walls
Burn wood or solid fuel for heat
Have a gas fire or boiler
Cook
Buy furniture stuck together with solvents
Use chemical cleaners
Hang out wet washing indoors
Burn candles
Burn incense
Use air fresheners

... if you do then you are potentially degrading the quality of the air your children are breathing in their own home.

Regarding boilers. They are terrible. There are better ways available now. Heat pumps and recapturing systems.

But OP what would you propose people do about it? I can't afford to replace our diesel even though the links between diesel and pollution have been prominent. It would cost thousands.

I have a diesel and as some have pointed out for many years it was sold as being the better one to have over petrol I think you are personally being rather harsh to judge those who have diesels

I am not in the financial situation to just get rid of my car I need my car to get to work to have outside to run me and my baby to any groups we go to or heaven forbid for emergency’s so I think you need to get off your high horse and stop judging people

Smash the system

I can agree with OP that diesel cars are bad for the environment

What does the OP want me to do about it?

Get rid of the car? Happy to

Just need the money to buy a new one

If its any consolation two of our cars are reaching the end of their natural 'lives'

Fuck off with the goady ‘killing children’ crap!!

@RunningOutOfCharge except it's true, sadly. A very recent report on the effects of global air pollution is quite startling in describing how many millions it kills, and not just in "obvious" smog-ridden cities.

Here's the Lancet study: www.thelancet.com/commissions/pollution-and-health

Here's an article on how this affects, eg, London: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/23/pollution-toxic-air-london-vehicle-charge-gp

If it doesn't affect you, then great, I am very pleased for you. But it is directly affecting other people's children, and will for the whole of their (shorter) lives.

Haha op you’ve had your arse handed to you on a plate here love!!

Poorly worded question followed by the "you disagree therefore "presumably" you think [insert various absurdities].

It is not as clear cut as people think

See here www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41640746
In this article it is clear that some old cars are better than new ones for emissions, despite all the hype that new cars are cleaner than old. The problem is the testing is often done in "ideal" environments rather than in real life.

The issue is not diesel vs petrol (if only it were that easy). It is that there is no accurate data to compare how clean a particular car is compared to another in real life use. Maybe we should be campaigning for better testing so that we have accurate information rather than giving people a hard time for buying diesel cars that were actually promoted as more "environmantally friendly" only a few years ago

I don't have a diesel by the way so have no axe to grind but

We have a diesel 4x4 as need it for our business. If there was a petrol alternative that we could actually afford to run that had the same off road and pulling capability maybe we would consider it.

Our other car is tiny and does 70 mpg plus we walk to most places when we can so probably all equals out in the end.

You would need to look at each household as a whole to work out how much damage they are doing, do they fly a lot, eat meat etc etc etc.

It’s genuinely one of those things we all need to be making an effort to move away from. I have just replaced my diesel with a petrol hybrid a few years earlier than planned due to an accident. I was stuck with the diesel until I crashed it!

There are a lot of things I’ve stopped doing or cut down on. I hope we stop overheating our houses, replacing instead of repairing, buying disposables etc.

It’s getting pretty urgent. If there isn’t a huge change in practice soon, then things could get pretty hairy.

@ArcheryAnnie if the OP can be goady then so can I. I do love my diesel, it's the only car I've had in the last 6 years that hasn't caused me an absolute headache.

BTW I'm particularly interested in diesel because I remember what UK towns and cities were like before diesel took over. Most of you should too, but unlike many of you I was outside the country when diesel became a thing for normal people to drive. And I was prompted to ask my question by seeing stats on new car sales which show a lot of people still buying diesel.

Ooh Annie is this just the children who are dying in droves?

What about all the plastic tat these many many ( too many for our planet) children discard daily?

So op, what do you propose we do with all the diesel cars that you want people to give up? And how do you feel about the pollution caused by making the new cars to replace them?

...or people could find other ways to live which doesn't involve jumping into a car for every little thing. Yes, some people live rurally, yes some people need to get to work by car, yes some people have disabilities. But most people drive too often when they needn't, and plenty of people don't really need a car at all, just want one for the convenience.