Last Yom Kippur, Dan region air pollution monitors were
turned on automatically, just like any other day. However,
since Yom Kippur is the once-a-year-day when all vehicular
transportation, as well as industries, halt operation, the
monitors recorded a drop of 90% in the region's air
pollution. In other words, the air was nearly pollution-
free.
There is no doubt that vehicles and industry together
constitute the major cause of the country's air pollution.
Residence in a city like Tel Aviv, which is constantly jammed
with beeping cars, can frequently be dangerous. The main
threat is the emission of particles emitted by the engines.
The particles contain poisonous elements and nitrogen oxides
and, according to scientific studies, are liable to cause
cancer and chronic respiratory diseases in those inhaling
large quantities.
Tel Aviv's Yerukim (Green) party for ecology recently
prepared posters warning the public against bus pollution,
and has asked the Dan Bus Company, which runs most of the Tel
Aviv area buses, to post advertisements to that effect.
Yerukim claims that although buses constitute only a small
percent of the vehicles in Tel Aviv, they cause most of the
pollution, due to particle emission from their diesel
engines. Dan opposes posting the notices, and the
disagreement has reached the courts, which ruled that the
claim must be proven before such posters are hung.
In order to prove that, nonetheless, buses are preferable to
private cars, Dan has publicized the conclusions of a study
made by Professor Yishai Tzeder and Professor Yaakov Maman of
the Technion. The two examined the per capita formation of
air pollution, and said that one must take into account the
fact that a bus holds about 35 passengers, while each private
car usually has one or two. According to this, every
passenger in a private car in Tel Aviv produces an average of
29 percent more carbon monoxide, 5 times as much nitrogen
oxide, 26 times more carbon and 4 times as many exhalation
particles as one bus rider.
Recently, buses and trucks in Israel switched to low-sulfur
fuel, which causes less air pollution. In addition, the newer
the car, the less pollution it causes. Dan says that the self-
evident conclusion is to persuade people to use public
transportation, a step that would also ease the eternal
traffic jams in the Tel Aviv area. Many cities worldwide
prohibit the use of private vehicles in their city centers.
Of course, this would also extricate the bus cooperatives
from their deficits.
The court has yet to return its final decision on the
question, but apparently the final outcome of the issue won't
be determined in the court.
A study of the World Health Organization released last week
relates that the gas which is discharged from car engines
causes twice as many deaths a year as traffic accidents. The
study, conducted in a number of countries in Europe,
maintains that every year 20,000 people die from the
inhalation of polluted air, and 300,000 suffer from asthma,
and bronchitis.
