CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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Ok, not exactly an incisive critique, but an interesting mini-review of a couple of pollution masks all the same.
Does anyone use a pollution mask in Edinburgh? Reports of high pollution levels does make me wonder what cocktail of lovely substances I'm sucking down...
I don't use one, and I can't recall the last time I saw one in use.
They seem pricey, if you get one with a HEPA filter that goes down to trapping the PM1 particulates. And I wonder how often you need to renew that filter.
For gases, the better masks do seem to have filters that reduce NOx. Ozone and Carbon monoxide not always mentioned.
An article on bikeradar a while back suggested that for every 50 yards off a main road, the pollution level halves. So a quiet route probably does more good than a mask...and nicer too.
I just pull up my buff if its a bit stinky.
Budget solution :-)
sounds like a good idea
A few years ago I tried one of the Respro masks for a week. The deal breaker for me was the condensation which collects and drips from your chin. If you are breathing hard it really makes your face wet. I found a better solution was to use quieter roads with less diesel traffic.
These "pollution masks" are a waste of money, the most dangerous air pollutants out there are too fine to be filtered out by these masks, making them effectively useless. The risks from air pollution, however, are very real and shortening the lives of all of us.
A far better solution is to campaign for the pollution to be stopped at source. Its not just people who are riding bikes who are at affected, it is everyone.
I think you're actually better off on a bike because you're higher up (although you're probably breathing more heavily than someone sat in a car). It's the kids in pushchairs who really get the worst of it. The next time someone criticises anyone for having a kid on a bike seat - at least they're breathing (slightly) cleaner air...
Edited to add: http://hfcyclists.org.uk/2015/02/latest-issues/
I don't think you can effectively filter out things at the near atomic level like NOxes and SOXes with a particulate mask like this, not one that will allow you to easily breathe the volumes of air you require. Even the diesel particulates that cause most of the harm are those too small to be filtered in this manner. Unless you're going to cycle around with a closed-cycle rebreather or something like that, these masks aren't going to get the worst stuff out of the air that you breathe.
The article makes the point that the filter pads in the mask are dirty after a few uses, of course they are, as the masks are trapping the large sooty particles that you can see. Your respiratory system is pretty good at this too (if you breathe in through your nose). It's the stuff you can't see that will get your lungs; the stuff that modern diesel engines are pretty good at generating (it looks cleaner, it must be cleaner!).
The study referred to is also one done on walking level activity, not cycling.
"I think you're actually better off on a bike because you're higher up"
That's what I think.
I also think/thought that you were (mostly) better off cycling than driving in traffic due to relative positioning of air intakes and exhaust pipes in front.
But
I recently saw a BBC news piece with a reporter walking/cycling/driving around London with various monitors attached.
That showed better figures in the car 'due to effective filters'.
That may be the case for certain/newer cars, but don't know how 'universal'.
But yes, air pollution is a problem that needs campaigning against.
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