{"id":294243,"date":"2026-02-20T23:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/294243\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T23:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T23:45:09","slug":"diesel-vehicle-pollution-is-an-unseen-killer-neil-kirton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/294243\/","title":{"rendered":"Diesel vehicle pollution is an unseen killer \u2013 Neil Kirton"},"content":{"rendered":"

After motor vehicles, which contribute 75% of NO2 and fine particulates, domestic fires are the second major contributor to Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s air pollution problem.<\/p>\n

Diesel vehicles in particular are heavy producers of NO2 and PM2.5.<\/p>\n

Diesel produces far more of these harmful contaminants than other engine sources because diesel engines operate at higher pressure. <\/p>\n

During combustion, this favours NO2 production which reacts with the air, producing a fine soot that we breathe in.<\/p>\n

Diesel-engine-produced particulates can lead to cardiovascular and respiratory disease. The study found their impact on New Zealand\u2019s health system is estimated at $10.5 billion annually.<\/p>\n

And yet our heavy and light diesel vehicle fleet is increasing, with a trend away from petrol vehicles and stalled electric vehicle uptake.<\/p>\n

We keep older vehicles in service much longer than many developed countries.<\/p>\n

We are not well informed about the harm diesel vehicles can have on our health. <\/p>\n

There is a lack of information for car buyers to assess their buying decisions and deter diesel vehicle purchases for health reasons.<\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s outdated emission standards for vehicles means that vehicle manufacturers and importers have a free run to supply poorly performing vehicles that do not comply with international emission standards.<\/p>\n

Most developed countries have much stricter vehicle emission requirements. These include particulate filters on exhaust systems and catalytic reducers.<\/p>\n

There is a need to pay much more attention to the health effects of vehicle emissions and other air-quality problems occurring in our region.<\/p>\n

Former regional council chairman Rex Graham\u2019s crusade on outdoor fires is fully vindicated by the data. The impact on people\u2019s health from air pollution cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n

The regional council is pursuing electric alternatives to diesel buses for the public transport network. We need to look at shifting to electric council vehicles. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also time to seriously question the wisdom of celebrating Matariki with mass fires along our coast.<\/p>\n

Locally, the respiratory medicine wards at Hawke\u2019s Bay Hospital are full. Our physicians see hundreds of patients with severe respiratory illnesses that are preventable.<\/p>\n

The region cannot claim a clean, green image in the face of this serious environmental air pollution, causing serious illnesses and premature deaths.<\/p>\n

Neil Kirton is a Hawke\u2019s Bay Regional Councillor and chair of the Regional Transport Committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After motor vehicles, which contribute 75% of NO2 and fine particulates, domestic fires are the second major contributor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8831,54239,162501,71,185,14235,123472,11788,111,43,139,69,4987,130306,6845,6861],"class_list":{"0":"post-294243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-an","9":"tag-diesel","10":"tag-dieselpowered","11":"tag-from","12":"tag-is","13":"tag-killer","14":"tag-kirton","15":"tag-neil","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nz","20":"tag-pollution","21":"tag-unseen","22":"tag-vehicle","23":"tag-vehicles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}