Eight NI primary schools are asking parents to make a pledge they will stop idling their cars and stop poisoning their children in the morning and at home time.
Ards and North Down Council is working alongside Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council to tackle air pollution through a campaign that focuses on the dangers of engine idling.
Harmful gases can be released when a vehicle engine is running but the vehicle isn’t moving. The ‘Prevent the Cough’ campaign, which is part-funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, began in the two councils in 2019. It aims to educate students, parents and the general public on the dangers of keeping their engines running while waiting in and around schools.
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Eight primary schools in both council areas are already taking part in the initiative while more are being invited to sign up. All schools are provided with educational materials and resource packs to help them develop their own ‘no idling’ projects, including signs to showcase their work around the schools.
A study by Unicef UK and Queen Mary University of London proved a child’s exposure to pollution is significantly higher during school time, more than at any other time during the course of their daily lives. Pupils roughly live 40 percent of the school week at school but receive 60 percent of their exposure to black particles of carbon between leaving for school and returning home.
These highly dangerous particles can stunt brain growth and cause long-term breathing conditions. Unicef estimates that one in three children are growing up in unsafe areas of particulate pollutants.
Children breathe faster than adults, taking in more air pollution relative to their body weight, and are exposed to greater levels. They are also generally exposed to higher doses of particles as they spend more time outside and are out and about at the height of vehicle emissions.
Car idling causes worse emissions than driving. When a car is driving the engine heats up faster and the catalytic converter becomes more efficient at reducing emissions.
The Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Karen Douglas, recently visited St. Mary’s Primary School in Kircubbin where students displayed their Prevent the Cough project work.
The Mayor said: “Our children are exposed to unnecessary air pollution by vehicles idling needlessly outside school gates at drop off and pick up times. This campaign will help to raise everyone’s awareness of the issue and help to limit air pollution during school runs.
“It is important that we all do our bit to tackle the problem and it was wonderful to have an opportunity to see some of the excellent work that the children at St. Mary's Primary School have created.”
Primary schools in Ards and North Down that wish to take part should contact the Council’s Environmental Health, Protection and Development team to acquire Prevent the Cough materials. For more information, visit here.
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