New pedestrian lollipop measures real-time pollution levels during the school run
Did you know it’s illegal to keep your engine on unnecessarily if you’re not moving?
“Idling” engines can create double the number of exhaust emissions as engines in motion. And it turns out that since 2002, you’ve been able to land yourself a £20 penalty fine if you get caught parked up with your engine running.
Thankfully, in 2020, most of us are already pretty used to our stop-start engines automatically cutting out when we pull up at the lights.
In fact, I’m not sure I know a single person who’s been landed that whopper of a fine.
But amazingly, recent research by Renault found that 50% of drivers in urban areas admit to idling, and more than 28% leave their engines running for between six and ten minutes while stationary.
Which is why they’ve created the most modern road safety lollipop you ever did see.
One side of the lollipop displays the real-time pollution level while the reverse lets you know whether that level is “good”, “okay” or “poor”.
And yes, it’s got smiley faces on there too.
It’s amazing how quickly you can see the levels go from good to poor. Outside a school in Bedford, the concentration of particulate matter was deemed “good” until 7:45.
Then just 15 minutes later the figure had already exceeded the UK’s legal limit, as the school run picked ups.
Since traffic’s been getting busier again over the last couple of months, I thought this lovely lollipop would serve as a useful reminder to turn our engines off when we’re not moving!
