To be shocked - Schools at pick up time are the most polluted area in a town?!!!!!

[ChristmasSprite]

Parents picking up outside school running engines are causing highest concentrations of pollution

No, not only 4x4 at all. Pointing particularly at bigger engines and diesel being more of a problem, especially else's tractors complete bloody lunacy.
All cars. No cars should be idling.
Think of the poor residents and shop owners that are around railway crossings too! Although many years ago there were signs going up around local crossings to switch off engine be cause of double the pullution.

Many cars have a shut off feature now too, which helps, but you can override it.

*Chelsea - not elses

At my DC’s school parents and carers arrive in their cars to get pole position outside the school gates and along both sides of the narrow road leading up to the school over an hour before school pick up time. The overwhelming majority of children at the school live within the catchment area and even for those who don’t or have parents who need to get to/from work straight before/after drop off and pick up, there is a bloody free car park at the community centre just 1 minute walk from the school! With the exception of disabled people, it really boils down to laziness. Pollution obviously an issue, but also the fact that in an emergency situation some emergency vehicles would struggle to get down the road due to the parking on both sides of the already narrow road. The school has even had a PCSO outside the gates on some days - it’s not made much difference though!

They banned smoking in pubs, so adults don’t get diseases from polluted air.

Yet parents sit outside schools polluting the air inside and out / it’s worse in the car than outside, so if they have child in car seats they are literally poisoning them with toxins

People running their engines is a pet peeve of mine. When I drop DS off at swimming there’s this same mum who sits in her car outside for the duration of the lessons with her lights on and engine running. This is for nearly 45 minutes. Surely it must cost a fortune in fuel?

Has anyone died as a result?

Only about 40000 people each year in the UK

The engine in a 4X4 is the same as an 'ordinary' car.
NONE should be left idling particularly because the engines are unlikely to have properly warmed through and catalytic convertors do not work until they are hot.
It was made illegal. Get the local police or community officer to 'pop by' one afternoon to have a word.

I couldn't care less if bears shit in the woods that's not causing dc/teachers/residents serious health concerns and death.

Pretty sure the reference to bears shitting in the woods didn't mean "you shouldn't care about this". It meant "this is a blindingly obvious fact". Pause to think about it. It's a short, concerted time period. Just look at the congestion it causes. It's pretty obvious that schools will be the worst areas for air pollution.

We need much more joined up thinking about this to shift people out of cars and into walking, cycling and public transport. For that to happen, facilities need to be much better for those user greener methods, and much worse for those using cars. We need to give more space over to the more environmentally friendly methods of transport.

Where I live, having 1 bus a day is no help.

Not shocked.

Personally I think sitting in a car, not moving, with the engine running, should be illegal. Or maybe petrol companies could be made to temporarily put a pigment in fuel so that exhaust fumes are purple and we can all see how bad this issue is. Or maybe I need

Colourininpro it is illegal.

4x4 cars are not 1000cc or less really. Maybe minis have fwd, then I stand corrected...although some minis have 1600 engines, come to think of it!

But, yes is any car, just said that already, but maybe its just perception that 4x4 are generally bigger vehicles, more likely to be diesel, with bigger engines.

Why the heck would anyone sit in a car for an hour with the engine on? Plan to get there later, or get out and go for a coffee or something (you can't all have schools in the literal middle of nowhere).

My DC's school is quite far from any coffee shop or anywhere I could go and sometimes I have to arrive early for tedious reasons. I wouldn't dream of sitting with the engine running. I bring a coat and a book.

1tisILeClerc the local bobby popping by is even close sadly...was mentioned ^ already

*isn't

doesn't surprise me at all.
2 schools in the area are trialling road closures at drop off/pick up times. so far it's positive.

I was once completely stationary on the motorway for 2+ hours. Sunny day in December so some warmth in the first hour while the sun was at its highest. Some prat ran their engine for the whole time until the motorway reopened

I'm not surprised that school pick-ups are a prime occasion for air pollution. Our school has a small catchment and the majority of children live within 10-15 minutes of walking. There is official parking at a public building 2 minutes away, and an unofficial car park 1 minute away, so those with accute time pressures are catered for. Even so, by 25-20 minutes before pick-up, the road begins to line up with cars. I'd be astonished if anyone arriving then didn't have the time to spend a few minutes driving on to home then walk back. Our parking issues are nowhere near as bad as larger schools on busy residential streets, with greater travel times.

Drive-throughs are other hotspots. One of the worst pollution points in the city are by a major roundabout of two primary routes with a busy McDonalds on the corner.

Totally agreeing there Pidgey macD have a LOT to answer for on the pollution front, so do KFC, and so do any of those drive-through's.

The shocking bit for me though was the sharp increase in pollution where our young DC go, everyone's.

Just stopping the idling at schools, train x-ings, drive-thro's, in jams, would have a significant impact, I believe.

When I think of the hours spent just trying to get through London in rush hour! The amount of time spent stationary.

OP you may like this. Nigel Havers was on the radio about this last year. mobile.twitter.com/bbcbreakfast/status/838654151231840260?lang=en

It'd make me chuckle if I saw him knocking on the window of someone idling.

Very old news!
Me and many of my school mates were “guinea pigs” for research in the early 1980s to examine the effects of air quality on the IQ of children. School drop off/pick up was noted to be the most polluted time of day even then!

How? Just how? You were guinea pigs in the 80's, and yet...here we are, all a lot worse off and all these deaths later.
Where did the 40k deaths a year stat come from?

Nigel havers is knocking on peoples windows, hah, good for him. God I thought he must be over 60 by now, ah, maybe its just something he likes to police rather than it being his own young DC.

My corner shop: the drivers leave the engine running when they go inside to get morning paper/fags/lottery ticket. No one left in car, and engine left running. See it all the time.

Very common round here too. I don’t understand it. When I was young, and cars were shit, you’d do it because if you stopped your car it could be a fight to start it again.
I go for a run about 6am and pass a number of cars and vans running but empty to warm them up. It’s not that cold here.

Yes it might be illegal but the police are struggling to manage as it is. I expect this if far down their list.

Great link Cheshire mirroring here, except just anyone parked up. I don't understand it tbh.
Surely tere s a more money than sense'ness about it also, because of burning a litre of fuel every 10 mins of idling.

*10th [of a litre]

Some prat ran their engine for the whole time until the motorway reopened

It's a good way to give yourself CO poisoning. I used to call handle for an OOH service. There were a few places that were notorious collision blackspots and traffic would grind to a halt for hours. You could guarantee that over the next 24 hours we'd get calls with suspected CO poisoning from people stuck in the queue. Twazzocks.

Yes it might be illegal but the police are struggling to manage as it is. I expect this if far down their list.

Or they know these idiots will die sooner from poisoning themselves