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?

We have a diesel Audi 😂
I deliberately drive at children to make sure I get full value of the killing potential 🙄

I drive a diesel because it costs me shed loads less than running a petrol car with my commute. I would have to leave my job and attempt to find one closer if i had to run a petrol.

Plus, i like smaller 3 door cars with big engines because i like to get where i am going without planting my foot to floor to get to 60mph all the time. New small cars don't have big engines which annoys me, they are very sluggish compared to my 2.0 tdi. I did test drive loads with the recent scrappage schemes that are happening and nope, couldnt live with any of them!

I'm super bad though, as i have a diesel car AND horse lorry polluting away when i am whizzing around.

Yes my desire the kill children is the only thing stopping me from running out and buying a new electric car and scrapping my current diesel

3 litre V6 turbo diesel Mercedes Benz. 12 years old so barely Euro IV compliant and only manages 35mpg at best, cost £300 a year to tax. I now drive the thing purley out of spite for those who demand I do otherwise.
Unless you never travel by road, rail, air. You never buy anything that's been delivered by a lorry. You never use electricity, or a phone, or eat food produced from industry, then you are a fucking hypocrite.
Greenhouse gas emissions are down 40% from peak, and particulate emissions will fall year on year as older cars and trucks are replaced and electric becomes a realistic propersition for most families. Until then, fuck off.

OP how many children do you have, and do you eat meat?

Yes, every time I go out in my diesel car I cackle and congratulate myself for helping with the problem of over population.

Havent read whole thread so someone may have already linked to this
this

We have a diesel car, bought, as has been said, because it was recommended. Do you, OP, and the Government not realise that people don't just have the spare cash lying around to replace what is arguably one of the most expensive investments we make (second only to a house) just on a whim? What if we replace it at great expense and 5 years later someone decides it's unsafe too? Absolutely zero understanding of the lives of ordinary people.

I've bought a second-hand new'ish diesel car. Has really low emissions, lower than any other medium/small'ish car we looked at.

Very unreasonable. You obviously haven't been around very long!
We had a diesel car up until last year, and had chosen it 5 years prior, as it was considered the environmentally & economically friendly option!
What a ridiculously hyperbolic thing to say

I see the OP has not answered a single question about the way they are protecting the environment. Leading this thread like a journalist with a deadline OP isn't going to win you any favours.

& Just to clarify I think that the Daily Mail is staffed by a load of lazy peanut brained morally bankrupt cunts, just in case you were thinking about putting this in your sewer of a paper

So, OP Do you have kids, use electricity or gas, travel by plane, buy packaged goods from the supermarket, buy clothes, use any cleaning products or buy or use technology? What are YOU specifically doing to minimise the issues of global warming, over-population and the damage humans are doing to the planet and all the other species other than posting poorly worded hyperbole on the internet? Do you drive a car & if you do what fuel does it use?

Or do you live off grid, totally self-sufficient growing organic vegetables and wearing clothes you made from your own hemp crop? In which case how do you access the internet?

Until you can clarify that you are not making a single choice that is not affecting the planet negatively then you haven't got a judgey leg to stand on. Also what do you mean by I remember what UK towns and cities were like before diesel took over - what exactly is it that has changed as a result?

Why aren't people in the UK more upset at being ripped off?

Because too many Brits fail to make sufficient fuss, perhaps?

Look at the difference between the US and UK compensation arrangements and weep

Everyone who says the Government used to encourage diesel cars because they emit less carbon dioxide is right and it's true, they do emit a bit less carbon dioxide.

Everyone who says that in fact, diesels emit lots and lots of other nasty pollutants and much more of them than petrol cars is also right. Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and little flakes of soot that lodge deep in your lungs. And yes these pollutants are killing people right here in the UK and shortening the lives of everyone.

Why didn't we know the truth about the other pollutants ?

Because the big car companies told a BIG FAT LIE ABOUT "CLEAN DIESEL".

The car companies, notably Volkswagen but also most of the rest, should pay for this disaster. They caused it by lying to make money and they should pay for it.

Honestyl - read the BBC report. Diesels are not the evil force here.....

And I was prompted to ask my question by seeing stats on new car sales which show a lot of people still buying diesel.

Sales of all new cars have falled. But the biggest drop has been in diesel. So the message is starting to get through. But these things don't happen overnight. Just like lots and lots of people carried on smoking for years and years after learning they were bad for health

Falled? Fallen!!

We love our diesel car, its big fairly new and tows our caravan. I do only have one child though so am doing my bit.

dont be so bloody ridiculous

The car companies, notably Volkswagen but also most of the rest, should pay for this disaster. They caused it by lying to make money and they should pay for it

Indeed ... but they won't do it willingly and our own government is far too supine to face down the massively powerful car manufacturers' lobby

Totally agree, @RatRolyPoly. I think the flights to target are not necessarily the once-a-year-on-holiday ones, but the frequent fliers, who - far more than the one-holiday types - make up the bulk of the problem. It's much easier to argue that civilisation shouldn't collapse just because someone wants a weekend minibreak six times a year, or because they fly between their home in London and their second home in Scotland once a month, rather than trying to wrangle the lesser problem of a once a year family holiday.

(Full disclosure: I average about one flight every 8 years, at the mo. I'm not perfect, but I do actively turn down holiday offers that involve flying!)

Why aren't people in the UK more upset at being ripped off?

I don't feel ripped off. If i was forced to but a petrol or electric car, it would cripple me financially

I am surprised by this. My last car was a diesel, bought about 3 years ago and chosen over other cars because it was sold as being the 'greenest' car on offer. The official mpg was 84.something and it was zero-rated for road tax because it was supposedly so low impact. I chose it over a much larger hybrid as the combined mpg on the hybrid was higher and there were environmental concerns at the time about the batteries.

Has something changed since then, or was I mis-sold?

Incidentally, I purchase vans for our small business and petrol engines just don't have the torque required for the equipment we carry. Ironically, we do something fairly 'green' in construction!

(My last car was a Toyota, btw)

Oh and planes.

You do know plane fuel isn't even taxed?
How is that environmentally friendly?

I drive a diesel and I'm a teacher. So I'm educating them but killing them too.... wow..... a lot to process on a weds morning.....