Clean Air While Driving. 

Transportation environments pose a challenge to ensure safe air. Pollutants can originate from the car materials, from other passengers or outdoor air pollution. However, there are tools available to help. If they are used properly, travelling can be made much safer for everyone.

This post will first go through the main air pollutants that people are exposed to in cars. Then it will discuss the mitigation methods available.

Pollutants

Airborne Diseases

Ignoring air quality in cars can pose a significant threat of airborne disease transmission. The size of the space can play an important role in the risk of airborne disease transmission as smaller spaces fill up with pollutants quickly. Cars have a very small volume.

Even at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was evident that transportation was a high-risk environment for airborne disease transmission. If windows are closed and the ventilation is off, there is very little outdoor air entering the car, leading to almost no air cleaning and a potentially very high concentration of infectious aerosols.

Carbon dioxide

There is no clear consensus on whether CO2 directly harms cognitive functioning. However, there is agreement that poorly ventilated areas have higher CO2 concentrations and can impair cognitive functioning, possibly from other pollutants. In other words, CO2 might not be a direct pollutant, but can serve as a helpful tracer gas.

Without ventilation, CO2 levels in cars can get very high fast — even exceeding 5000 ppm. This can possibly lead to drowsiness and cause driver impairment.

Please read the remainder of Joey Fox's excellent and informative article via this link: 

https://itsairborne.com/clean-air-while-driving-ff82a737f045