Forum topic: "Black" air quality alert - time for action!

More car costs announced: Following the announcement of Mayor Khan’s intent to charge the most polluting vehicles for driving in the capital, some boroughs charging larger / diesel cars extra for parking permits and Waltham Forest charging vehicles left idling outside of schools, we now have Hackney council giving up with apparent road rage, pavement driving and air quality issues outside two of its schools and banning cars altogether. Fines of £130 a time will apply for vehicles using the nearby road at morning and afternoon school open / closing times. The Evening Standard indicates that if popular more schools are likely to follow in that borough and floats an all London potential to get kids walking and cycling to school. The external costs of a car-centric culture in a dense urban environment are really starting to be picked up.

Personally I’m forever struck by the immense change in traffic volumes during school holidays, not only at school start and end times but also throughout the day.

I am no longer surprised but find my heart always sinks to read yet another damming scientific study reporting on the effects of air pollution. In this case, a study by Imperial College of over half a million recent London births suggests that exposure to air pollution from road traffic during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of low birth weight babies born at full term - up to 6% increased chance of a low birth weight and up to a 3% chance of being small for gestational age.
As the main paper starts:
“Air pollution is a major public health issue. It has been associated with reduced fetal growth through which it may have extensive and permanent influences on the life course.”
Extensive and permanent possibilities then on our children and future generations.
Again, as with so any previous studies, they call for action on traffic borne pollution. While many politicians do little but listen to the lobbyists from the motor, oil and anti-change sectors, we can all help by doing our own little bit and get active.