What’s the most polluted street in the world?
In 2013 Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London revealed that Oxford street was on some days the most polluted street in the world. But then in 2014, Brixton Road in Lambeth was at times, worse than Oxford, according to BBC.com.
London clearly has some cleaning up to do and in July, Sadiq Khan unveiled his plan to deal with the city’s pollution problems.
According to London Air the reasons for high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are:
- The street is embedded in the centre of a very large source of NOx i.e. London
- It is completely dominated by diesel vehicles (buses/taxis) and has among the highest flow of buses of anywhere in the UK
- A large fraction of the bus fleet uses technology based on CRTs (Continuously Regenerating Trap) and similar technologies that deliberately produce increased emissions of NO2, as described above
- It is a street canyon whose orientation also serves to maximise concentrations. Street canyon locations are not as well-ventilated as open locations and this tends to result in increased concentrations.
“In 2014, which is the latest full year for which data is available, Oxford Street had an average of 143 micrograms of NO2 per cubic metre and there were 1,532 hours during the year when that figure was above 200, although there were gaps in the data collected from Oxford Street,” reported BBC.com
However in 2014, Brixton Road in Lambeth had 153 micrograms per cubic meter making it the most polluted city in the world.
There’s little to no information available to suggest which street in South Africa is the most polluted, however earlier this year businesstech reported that a new city had overtaken Joburg’s status as SA’s most polluted city: Hartebeesport.
What drivers can do to reduce pollution
As part of its efforts to curb air pollution the City of Cape Town appealed to the public to report excessive smoke emissions in vehicles, earlier this year:
“Vehicular traffic is the biggest source of air pollution in Cape Town, accounting for up to 66 percent of the visible portion of air pollution,”
mayoral committee member for health Siyabulela Mamkeli said.
Also read: 6 ways to become an eco-friendly driver
City health tasked an air quality management unit to enforce the provisions of the Air Quality Management By-law. This by-law bans the use of vehicles that emit dark smoke, one of the major contributors of air pollution.
“Where such vehicles are spotted by the public, the owners are requested to have a free emissions test conducted. Should the vehicle fail the test, a repair notice will be served on the owner, affording them the opportunity to have the vehicle repaired and to submit it for a re-test. Non-compliance can result in the owner being served with a summons,”
Mamkeli said.
The by-law also states that vehicles that are emitting dark smoke, may even be towed away. The costs of which will be the vehicle owner’s responsibility. Anyone who is found to be guilty of an offence related to this by-law, can even face imprisonment not exceeding 30 days. The city’s traffic service teams up with a dedicated team, in order to conduct roadside diesel vehicle emissions testing on a daily basis.
Last year, between July and December, 3947 diesel vehicles were tested. Out of these, 14 failed to meet the diesel emission standards.
“That’s less than half-a-percent, compared with the 17 percent failure rate when the city first started doing the diesel emissions tests in 2000. I think the substantial drop can be attributed to visible policing; improvement in the quality of diesel (5500ppm sulphur in diesel when we started testing vehicles in the year 2000, down to 500ppm since 2006, 50ppm is freely available); continual improvement in emissions control technology of the modern diesel engine; and vehicle owners improving on maintaining their vehicles,”
Mamkeli said.
Members of the public are urged to report excessive smoke emissions from vehicles to the city’s air quality management unit. To do this, simply call 021 590 5200 during office hours. You will need to record the vehicle’s registration number, make, model and location of the vehicle. As well as the date and time of the observation.
“Our officials are then able to obtain the owner(s) details with the help of the traffic department officials and send them a letter requesting that the vehicle be submitted for a free emissions test. “It is key to get all vehicle owners to assess their behaviour and determine whether they’re contributing to the problem. Get your car serviced regularly and take public transport or join a lift club if possible to help ease congestion and pollution. Challenge yourself constantly to see how you can help reduce vehicle emissions and challenge your family and friends to do the same,”
Mamkeli said.
Source: IOL