Putney dad launches app aiming to end confusion about which cars are highly polluting


Putney High Street - one of London's most polluted roads

A Dad from Putney has launched a new free app that helps drivers cut air pollution. David Nicholson grew up in London and has lived in Putney since 2004. “I love the area and it has so much to offer but as the father of a young child I became frustrated about the high levels of air-pollution we have in Putney and other urban areas across the UK.”


David Nicholson

The question is, what can we all do about it as people who live, work, go to school or spend our leisure time in the borough. The answer according to David is, quite a lot. After all roads like Putney High Street aren’t naturally polluted - he says all the pollution comes from the vehicles that drive along it.

David claims that around 75% of the new diesel cars on sale today produce more air-pollution than three petrol cars and that the dirtiest models on sale are as polluting as around 25 petrol cars.

He says, 'What the Myurbancar app does is take the independent “on the road” emissions test results from Emissions Analytics and tells you how polluting they are. We’ve made it really simple - if you look up a car and it has “8x” in a circle, that one car is as polluting as a line of 8 petrol cars! If it’s “3x” it’s at polluting as 3 petrol cars. If it’s “0x” it has zero exhaust emissions such as an electric or hydrogen car but 1x is the cleanest you’ll get on a conventional petrol or diesel car.

'The difference between the cleanest & the dirtiest super-polluting cars is so great that if you lined up 42 petrol cars in a line across Putney Bridge you would only need two of the most polluting models to produce the same total air-pollution. If half of parents drop off their children by in a new (Euro 6) diesel, the air-pollution from NOx outside the school goes up four times compared to petrol cars alone. And if the diesels are are more than three years old it’s even worse – 7x times as much pollution at school gates. You wouldn’t let your child drink poison why make them breathe it?

'Of course although our children are affected worst (it prevents their lungs from growing properly & stimulates asthma) everyone who walks, cycles, drives or even goes to shop near traffic is affected. It doesn’t just make the air smell, it makes it toxic to breathe and sends 40,000 people a year coughing their way to an early grave. Thats more than 40 times more than the chance of being run over.'

Electric vehicles will be competitive for all types of car by 2021. Until then, the petrol & diesel cars we buy today need to be as clean as they can. It’s not just good for health, it will improve our quality of life and encourage people to go out and make the most of our area. David says that in 10 years time the idea of letting a dirty car drive in a city will seem as alien and unacceptable as a passenger lighting up a cigarette next to you on a flight.



The MyUrbanCar app is free to download for iphone on the iOS app store and Android Google Play.

May 17, 2018