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Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

e360.yale.edu

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Re: Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

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post #357
post #88

The Yale article and the paper both highlight the fact that EVs use regenerative braking and produce less dust. I was worried that this was a rehash of the astroturf campaign from a few years ago focusing on EV weight and how that was so bad for the environment because of tire and road wear. Unfortunately you need to read through the whole thing (instead of the headline and a few paragraphs) to see that information.

I think someone eventually pointed out that a typical bus weighs around 10x that of a car while having maybe twice the tyre surface area in contact with the ground. According to the 4th power law that translates to 625x the road (and thus also tyre) wear, meaning even a fully loaded bus should produce significantly more particulates than the equivalent in cars with just one occupant each.

Well on that busy road the bus might only come once every 10 minuted or less and contribute to taking maybe 50 other cars off the road.

Re: Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

#413
post #345
post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people live in locations where walking, the bus, or subway are never going to be practical and/or do regular activities that need personal transportation. If a car cost $100K I'd almost certainly still own one.

These locations are probably not financially sustainable. I would also say it's not impossible to make them urban friendly. For example, I think of stroad as opportunities to implement public transportation by getting of a lane or two. It is also easier to add bike lanes since you aren't constrained by how wide the streets are.

Those locations also include things like not having a subway in a short walk. There’s just no money to give everyone a train going to every wish and want in life a few steps away at all times.

Re: Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

#414

I wonder about the larger context here, though. No matter what academic studies discover or examine, the rise of anti-intellectual culture suggests that we as a species are going to need to pivot to documentary efforts, in a hope that what we learn in isolation now survives to be acted on in a future, more exploratory, generation.

We could also try to fix the anti-intellectual culture instead of just griping about it and/or retreating. It didn't emerge out of thin air, it emerged as a reaction to a mostly-accurate sense among non-intellectuals (i.e., the people who make most of the world actually work) of being constantly condescended to by the intellectual class. What we need isn't to go all prepper for some kind of dark age, what we need is…

We are fundamentally at a loss here because of the dynamics of propaganda. Simply put more money is spent misinforming than informing and since this will always be the case due the the powerful incentives of population control, there will always be some degree of idiocracy happening. Short of probably redistributing all resources equally and eliminating the money and economic system we have that lead to these incentive structures.

Re: Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

#415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I still don't understand how they expect to solve the occupant safety issue though. What issue? I would regularly go 50km/h down hills on my road bike. That was completely my choice and if I came off I'd suffer the consequences. The problem isn't the occupants. Nobody is forced to travel at high speeds (except on motorways). The problem is the people around and the environment. I definitely would not ever go that f…

> I definitely would not ever go that fast in town, even down a hill, because it's generally not safe for the people around me. If you're on a bike, then you should also prioritise your own safety as you're likely to come off worse even when colliding with a pedestrian. Anecdata time: my brother (over 60 years old and a very experienced cyclist) was heading down a hill, presumably at some speed and a young boy steppe…

Yes, and cyclists generally do, as do motorcyclists. It's kinda natural by the time you get up adulthood to assess your risk and behave accordingly (ie. lower speed, don't walk close to the edge etc) The difference with cars is they are not at risk and they can't even see/hear/feel the speed and impact they are having on others so their judgement is completely screwed. Many of them have never even experienced the road outside of a car.

Re: Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

#416
post #399
post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my perspective is someone where the city has been largely built for cycling, which leads to less deaths overall. Population of Malmo is actually higher than Orlando, FL for example. Yet, for Skåne (the region where Malmo is; pop: 1,421,781), 25 traffic deaths were recorded in the year 2019[0]. 173 road deaths were recorded in Orange County (where Orlando is; pop: 1,429,908), during the same period.[1] That’s a differ…

So if everything is different, everything is different?

Make life require cars: more fatalities.

Seems pretty evident.

Arguably the conditions are better for personal electric vehicles and bicycles in Florida (than the comparatively frigid and rainy conditions of Sweden).

Even the topography is flat[0][1], it's literally the perfect place for cycling, but the US has chosen something else.

So, yes, if things are different they are different: comparable populations, a better climate and an equally flat topography and somehow 7x the amount of deaths; and the only difference is the approach to infrastructure by the county.

[0]: https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/map-c3fdcz/Orange-County/?...

[1]: https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/map-5749m/Malmö/

Re: Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

#418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having lived next to a semi-main street through a smallish California coastal city without much rain it is pretty eye opening how much black dirt and junk just coat everything next to the road. One day I made the mistake of leaning against the wall in a TTC subway station while in a white shirt. I didn't realize how much oil, brake dust, and other mechanical grime there was until that moment. I had to go home and c…

I think some research group did measurements of the AQI in the TTC stations and found the average air quality in the winter was actually comparable with the smog in LA or Beijing.

and people still look at me funny when I wear a mask in there

I wonder what platform doors will do: the stations depend on piston effect for ventilation, but walling off the tube from the station might keep it more in the tube?

Re: Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

#419
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't cylinder deactivation for when you are at constant speed at low throttle?

They open the exhaust valves of every cylinder while coasting. Therefore, the engine keeps running, but there is no combustion. You can see your live fuel consumption go to 0 when you lift the gas pedal on a modern ICE car.

That is whats always happened when you lift your pedal on a manual car at least.

Re: Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds

#420
post #155

Related. Pretty sure there have been other major threads - if anyone can find more, let me know! Tire-related chemical responsible for salmon deaths in urban streams (2020) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41450563 - Sept 2024 (37 comments) EPA bans asbestos, a deadly carcinogen still in use decades after partial ban - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39746806 - March 2024 (393 comments) Vehicle brakes prod…

Also: Tire-related chemical responsible for salmon deaths in urban streams (2020) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41450563 - September 2024 (37 comments)

Added above. Thanks!
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