I can agree that cars aren’t great for cities. But some of the research he goes into is really doing it’s best to stretch the truth.
The fumes from a car in the city are not as concerning as the smoke from a cigarette for example. Same for household gas use.
This is exactly the mentality measured in the study. Car exhaust kills tens of thousands annually in the US alone yet it’s so normalized that people not only don’t think about it but actively try to downplay it. That’s cognitive bias at work.
Alright, and smoking kills hundreds of thousands. But more annoyingly, smokers puff their smoke into public spaces, like events, restaurants, streets etc.
They’re disgusting and you have to actively avoid them to not be bothered by them. Cars stick to the road tho.
perhaps a bit of context: I don’t live in the car dependent united states
Hundreds of thousands when you include smokers, sure. Unlike smokers, car drivers are not so considerate as to filter their fumes through their own lungs before exposing the rest of us. But smoking in public is not frowned upon because of its effects on smokers. It is because of its effects on non-consenting bystanders. When you look only at second-hand smoke, which is what the question was really about, the numbers are very similar, in the low 10s of thousands. So again, they are extremely comparable and your attempts to deflect here are exactly the problem we’re discussing.
But more annoyingly, smokers puff their smoke into public spaces, like events, restaurants, streets etc.
Your statement leaves me truly speechless. Where do you think car fumes go, the fucking moon??? It’s amazing that those tens of thousands were able to afford a trip to the moon where they died from breathing car exhaust. Except, no, fumes in the air do not behave differently by source. They disperse and are breathed by people regardless.
I used US statistics because it’s what I’m familiar with. I doubt any developed country is substantially different. Most people drive in most developed countries, even the least car-dominated ones. Maybe pollution is 10-20% lower if that fraction don’t drive but the overall picture is the same even with that reduction.
Turn your car on in your garage for 20 minutes then after that hot box the garage with cigarettes for 20 minutes and tell me which one you like better
