Atlantic article: US Driving Laws and long term impact

"Toxic" is not an accurate reading of Timmers and Achten 2016.

Some work cited there may be worth following up. But for now I'm rolling with noonm @19. Combustion aerosols and gases are very reactive. Lung surfaces (of necessity) are large and welcoming.

 

Analyzing roadside dust to identify potential health concerns -- ScienceDaily

If tire bits are mostly larger than 10 microns, it matters because those fall promptly. Bigs that get to your snout don't get into lungs. Because of evolution and whatnot.

It would be kinda simple, actually, to convert tire-wear rates to weight of material that might become airborne. That fraction as sneaky few-micron inhalables seems much more important.

 

Personal vehicular mobility engenders (difficult to quantify) benefits and (difficult to quantify) harms. Lightweight analyses on harms side ignoring benefit side may feed egos but may also fuel 'fake news' hounds. Just flip that for lightweight analyses on benefits side.

I 'tire' of all this. Human enterprise has serious matters to attend to, All under performing analyses cloud the field. We are still, apparently, at a moment when click-baits are better than thing knowing, thing understanding and thing doing.

Could change though eh? I hope to live so long...

 

The author may have some valid points, but the biased ones make them hard to pick out. For example, I do vaguely remember a job I interviewed for mentioning deducting parking fees pretax, as mentioned in the article. What was not mentioned was that such programs are in place for public transit fees. Meanwhile, the IRS frowns upon deducting miles commuting in a car.

This, or a similar study was discussed here some years ago when it made the head lines. It wasn't an actual study of such emissions from BEVs though, but meta-analysis of past research and applying it to EVs. The four main sources of non-exhaust particulate emissions are brake dust, tires, road, and resuspension which is includes the other three, plus dirt and exhaust particles getting kicked up from the road. IIRC, resuspension was the largest category.

Past research has shown vehicle weigh is a factor in these emission levels, but the heavy vehicle includes commercial trucks, big, boxy things, and I don't think anyone has looked into the effects of vehicle aerodynamics in the amount of particulates that get resuspended. A less turbulent air wake will kick up less dust, but our proxy vehicle wake turbulence is just weight with the heavier examples being dominated by less aerodynamic vehicles.

His linked source was talking about particulates, not toxic, emissions.

 

We might assume that tire dust and (modern ceramic) brake dust are non toxic as produced. If urban air has oxides of nitrogen, ozone, and other troublemakers floating about, those particles may acquire surface 'flavoring' before they get to lung surfaces.

 

Darn good stuff there.

Sampling aerosols of specific sizes like <2.5 microns requires complicated gadgets, usually ending with collection on some type of sticky surface. I wonder if that surface could instead be coated with a bacterial culture that is susceptible to harm from common urban pollutants.

'Inhale' a sample, wait appropriate time, then open 'er up and see how unhappy bacteria are. Yet another wacky idea for me to pitch (cold) to experts in the field. Another that would never crossed my mind without PriusChat.

Youse guys...

 

i agree with the premise of the article. we have promoted automobiles to the exclusion of other types of transportation for decades. probably due to lobbying.

but the horse is out of the barn. people have a love affair with their cars, even prius drivers.

so instead of whining, come up with some sensible, workable ideas, and figure out how to politicize them.
but of course, that would be way too much work.

 

......when you pry my cold dead hands from the steering wheel......