U.K. Times reports bikers inhale five times as much fumes as drivers

Sharrows in Richmond BC

Not only do bikers need to worry about being hit by cars while riding, but now research shows they have to worry about the tens of millions of toxic particles that fill their lungs on each breath. Researchers in Belgian used devices to count the particles that bicyclists encountered and the rate at which they breathed to determine that in a whole journey of biking, billions of toxic nanochemicals, emitted mostly by car tailpipes, will enter the bicyclists body.

And bikers beware, before you start thinking about wearing a mask to mitigate the damage these toxins do to your body, think again because nanoparticles are too small to be filtered out by such a basic device. Instead, Jonathan Hiskes suggests that planners be more aware of the dangers floating in the air to and create some better buffers with trees, parked cars, or something else that will keep a bulk of the nasty air away from their mouths.

This suggestion comes a little counter-point to the ideas of sharrows that are spreading quickly around the Northwest. Me, I’m not sure how to solve this issue – to separate vehicles and bikes or to integrate them into denser areas…that is the question.

[Via: Grist]
[Source: The U.K. Times]