It is insane that given the destruction that cars cause we don't do more to reduce their use.
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UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
81–90 of 115 posts
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#82I wonder if they controlled for... why people choose to live where they live. I.e., this wasn’t an RCT; they could just assign people to live near highways or not. So the people who are living near highways are there for a reason. Are residences near highways, perhaps farther from certain other things, like city centres? Such that a certain type of person (people with pre-existing [perhaps subclinical] mental issues…
> To me, “living near a highway” sounds a lot like a euphemism for “living in the middle of nowhere”
I would have thought the opposite. Essentially no-one lives directly adjacent to a rural highway in the sense of overlooking it in the UK, even say the M25 doesn't have flats lining it, generally arterial roads have setbacks so you might be able to hear the cars etc but you've probably got a buffer zone measured in the tens of meters.
The actual roads I'd be thinking of are things like the A406 (North Circular Road), A40, A4, etc, which do have houses and flats immediately next to it. The sort of 'inner-city' 40-50mph urban clearways. There are also a ton of 30mph roads which serve a similar purpose. Basically what one would call a 'main road' as opposed to a side street.
Example of a sort of middling neighbourhood: https://goo.gl/maps/o6oSRW84dx147TK48 (this bit of the A40 is either 40mph or 30mph but has an absolute ton of traffic almost all of the time).
Example of a higher end neighbourhood in Central London: https://goo.gl/maps/am8ppgvNDGPcuxoB6 (5-star hotel)
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#83Anyone living near a busy road is swimming in particulate matter on the micrometre and nanometre scale, and particles on that scale bypass the normal defences, get into the blood stream and saturate the body. Small particles can even move down nerves, it’s really not surprising that long term exposure causes neurological problems.
And what many overlook is many of these particles have nothing to do with emissions. Brake pads and tires turn to dust. So too bits of the road surface are slowly converted to fine particulates. Converting everyone to autodrive teslas powered by fusion reactors wont stop rubber from meeting asphalt. (Switching to manual transmissions would probably reduce the brake dust. Id like to see if european roads suffer as muc…
Dumb question - how well would an attempt to suck in the particles work putting aside the obvious impracticality? There are currently tons of reasons not to do it today but could it theoretically be solved via clean and cheap energy to make the efficiency loss not a foregone self defeating act.
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
As well as all cars with manual transmissions.
"Engine braking" isn't just letting the engine spin down at 0 throttle. Propper engine braking, aka "Jake brake", is letting the engine spin at 100% throttle but zero fuel input (and some valve trickery). This lets air in to be compressed, releasing it before the down stroke of the piston. No car does that. It is a separate installed system on trucks. It can be almost as powerful as the engine. In a car, it could han…
Is this (jake brake) what the parent comment was referring to that newer automatics finally do?
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#85It is insane that given the destruction that cars cause we don't do more to reduce their use.
The automobile lobby is incredibly strong.
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#86With the way the Corona Virus is spreading we might all be wearing Face masks pretty soon. This may seem like common sense after Flint, but at this point I think a home water filter is needed for most parts of the country. Can't blindly trust the municipalities. A Home Air filter is probably needed too. Here's a growing list of things Youtube told me things one should invest: 1. Home Water Purifier 2. Air Filter 3. G…
But is it actually the air in the homes or just high amounts of exposure while they are outside?
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Re: Independent of income Living near a noisy highway is rarely prime real estate. How do we account forincome when there are so few in that subset? I also wouldn't discount the effect of endless stress. That is, the drone of noise. I recently moved from to a street that's fairly busy. Only in the middle of the night is it quite. I don't like it.
> Living near a noisy highway is rarely prime real estate. How do we account forincome when there are so few in that subset? By comparing to those with low incomes who don’t live near the highway?
Perhaps. But then you have to control for other variables, other unknowns.
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Re: Independent of income Living near a noisy highway is rarely prime real estate. How do we account forincome when there are so few in that subset? I also wouldn't discount the effect of endless stress. That is, the drone of noise. I recently moved from to a street that's fairly busy. Only in the middle of the night is it quite. I don't like it.
Also, the neighborhoods tend to be safer and more inviting than those right next to the major freeways. I was originally thinking air quality is the major reason, but Vancouver has really good air quality overall compared to where I live in Los Angeles. I would be interested in seeing this type of study be done across cities with different air quality.
I was thinking the same. Most major urban areas have air quality issues and warnings.
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Switching to electric vehicles would reduce brake dust even more, because they use regenerative breaking to avoid using the break pads when possible.
At least newer automatics finally do engine braking as well.
I mean, you can still shift gears in an automatic car. I used to do it all the time when I lived in a snowy, hilly city. I've never in my life seen an automatic where the only options were drive, reverse, neutral, and park. There's always some amount of control, even if it's only 1/2/3.
Edit: Upon reflection, I assume your comment meant that newer cars will somehow use engine braking themselves. Since electric brake systems are rare in ice cars, would this be referring to cruise control features?
Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Engine braking" isn't just letting the engine spin down at 0 throttle. Propper engine braking, aka "Jake brake", is letting the engine spin at 100% throttle but zero fuel input (and some valve trickery). This lets air in to be compressed, releasing it before the down stroke of the piston. No car does that. It is a separate installed system on trucks. It can be almost as powerful as the engine. In a car, it could han…
Is this (jake brake) what the parent comment was referring to that newer automatics finally do?
Nope. That was reference to automatic transmissions not up shifting immediately every time you decrease throttle.