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

Just realised that made me sound a bit like a perv!

I live half an hour away from school. One day a week I finish at 1 so I can take my daughter to ballet. I get to the school at 2:15. I wouldn’t have enough time to go home then come back again so I sit outside school and have an hour to myself and either do some work or read a book.

I usually mumsnet for an hour if I’m honest.

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44612642 This case was publicised early this year directly linking the death with higher pollution

Notum but you don’t sit in the car with the engine running?

my fans work without having to turn the engine on.

There's been a campaign running here in Liverpool for about six months.

Our air quality is terrible as a result of traffic fumes.

We have a higher rate of death, breathing issues and hospital admissions when our air quality is dropped.

The situation is that the taller you are, the better air you breathe. So babies/toddlers in prams are breathing in the lowest quality. Which then doesn't get much better until they are the height of an Adult, and then it's still poor.

We need regional solutions, like we should have for all issues.

Our transport system isn't fit for purpose. Our main employers in terms of Warehouses/Factories/Shopping complex are out of the way and not everyone can ride a bike, or often, it isn't safe to do so.

They are forcing people into cars.

Likewise our rail systems are fully joined. The EU was a big investor in our transport and I can see our infrastructure breaking down, shortly.

That should have been, our rails systems aren't fully joined. You have to go part way and double back on yourself, to carry on your journey, to get anywhere.

I don't get why people leave the engine running, not a good message to their kids.

This isn't about the transport system though. We get it, cars are needed.

This is about pollution that's entirely preventable. When stationary, switch your engine off.

That's all.

Thank you ivykaty44

I wonder how many of us on here would do what Nigel Havers does in attempt to halt this wasteful and harmful practice

I thought all car fans ran without the engine running? As long as ignition is on.

Something I heard earlier, we are the planet's disease.

ivykaty44 that makes grim reading
That mucus is shocking.

pepple in london and citites are suffering ore lots of idling around schools because they dont want topark 300 yards away

The Highway Code is quite badly written with regard to this as it say you must not leave a car running on a highway “unnecessarily” there is no definition of necessary reasons. If I want to run my heating or AC then it IS necessary to have the engine running.

It is my personal bugbear at pick up times. My engine automatically shuts off anyway, but I am constantly annoyed at those large diesel emitting tractors that sit outside our school, blowing clouds of fume into the school grounds. So selfish. In Winter it is because it is cold, in Summer it is too hot. I haven't been brave enough to say anything this term, as last term, during the Summer heatwave, I suggested to a mum that she might open a window rather than leave her engine running. She told me to fuck off and mind my own business. Lovely.

Maybe car smartmeters? So you can directly see how much a journey/idling costs.
But the reality is cars are cheaper in terms of fuel than buses. Which is actually ridiculous especially when the buses are almost empty.

That is lovely isn't it! older Charming, really charming, well done for saying it though. I have an engine that shuts off too, and in this summers heat we would have to get out of the car or expire in the 40°. I have aircon but use it when moving as it all shuts off when stationary.

Walking or cycling every time if you can

We shouldn't all be driving to do the school run anyway. It's bloody ridiculous.

DS goes to a school 3 miles away, along with about another 20 kids from our village, and at least 10 kids from that village go to our village school (they are very very different schools in terms of ethos, and parents have Distinct Preferences). DS's school is booming, and has recently doubled in size, and all the cars lining back up along the lane really do my head in.

We're talking about trying to get some kind of minibus going, but it's difficult just as parent volunteers, with no help or funding. It would be a lot easier if there was some kind of government support or infrastructure for this.

This is a picture of the side of a house opposite me. It was clean before selfish school drop off and collect parents sit with there engines running! The worst time is at school pick up when they start queuing up at 2.30pm for the school to open at 3.15pm!
It is so inconsiderate to sit for this amount of time 5 days a week with their engines running. The fumes stink especially from older cars. There is no respect for us as residents from the 50/60 cars that do this in a cul de sac with the school at the end.
How an earth did a previous poster get the council on board banning school traffic? What a good idea!!

School (well preschool as mine aren't old enough) is a 15 minute walk and lots of people are astounded when I tell them I only drive if I'm running late or am going to/have come from somewhere else. They always say "your crazy, I'd just drive". Tbh I'm astounded at their laziness

I have to drive my children to school, I have two at two different schools and both of them are not within walking distance but I never get there early to ensure I get a spot and I never sit there with my engine running. I would love to be able to walk my children to school. I like the idea of closing the road leading to the school. Not possible for all schools but this could definitely be done at one of my children's school. I feel sorry for the kids trying to navigate past the cars who have parked over the crossing to a road or who think it is wise to speed near schools.

There is definitely a mentality in lots of people that if they have a car they will just drive everywhere and walking is considered "odd".

My DC go to a (secondary) school that is 15 minutes walk away. I refuse to drive them ever, but my neighbour drives her DC at least 2 or 3 times a week - generally on the basis that it is too cold/too hot/too wet/ they are tired/they have a lot to carry ... you get the idea. She thinks she is doing her DC a favour as well ... I think the opposite.

Car =carnage and carcinogen

My neighbours live less than 5 minutes walk from school and they drive their children to and from