Everyone knows that cars contribute to air pollution. And when most people consider the source, exhaust is usually what comes to mind.
Everyone knows that cars contribute to air pollution. And when most people consider the source, exhaust is usually what comes to mind.
However, new research led by the University of Pennsylvania’s Reto Gieré, working with collaborators across the world, is helping to illuminate another significant culprit when it comes to traffic-related air pollution: Tiny bits of tires, brake pads, and road materials that become suspended in the air when vehicles pass over.
“More and more I’ve noticed that we don’t know enough about what is on our roads,” says Gieré, professor and chair of Penn’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science in the School of Arts and Sciences. “If you have lots of traffic, cars, and trucks driving by, they re-suspend the dust on the roads into the atmosphere, and then it becomes breathable. To understand the potential health implications of these dust particles, it’s really important to understand what’s on the road.”
While regulatory efforts have helped make cars cleaner and more efficient, those restrictions do not address the pollution that arises from tire and brake wear. Increasing urban congestion stands to aggravate these as sources of pollution and possibly adverse health effects.
Read more at University of Pennsylvania
Image: Sampling containers collected airborne particles from the sides of highways in Germany as part of a study led by the University of Pennsylvania's Reto Gieré. The findings suggest that tire wear is a major contributor to roadside pollution. (Credit: Courtesy of Reto Gieré)
