Irish Examiner View: Clear the air and cut the engine

Sitting idling while fumes swirl around schoolchildren is not an option 

Smoke emission from exhaust pipes can be toxic to our health.

It’s no surprise that there might be popular support for a new law in Ireland that would ban drivers from idling their car within 100 metres of a school. Poor air quality is the world’s second biggest cause of early death (the only factor responsible for higher levels of premature mortality is tobacco smoking) and the last thing we want swirling around our classroom gates is toxic fumes.

The surprise is that we should need legislation at all when common courtesy, and common sense, dictates that there is little to be gained, and much harm to be done, by leaving the engine ticking over.

An inquest last spring into the death of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who was also an asthma sufferer, resulted in her becoming the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death. Research at Imperial College, which has provided the data justification for the congestion charge, the low emission zone, and the ultra-low emission zone which is being introduced next month, has also established direct links between the polluted areas and high levels of dementia diagnosis.

Change is coming in our relationship with our cars, and their place in towns and cities. The school run will be part of this transformation. Drivers would do well to get ahead of the curve. Switch that engine off while you are waiting.