School Bus and Auto Idling at School

If you’re at a school either before or after school, a familiar sight is that of lines of school buses and private autos lined up outside dropping off or picking up students. In Cincinnati, Ohio, the University of Cincinnati does a lot of research on environmental health. In Cincinnati, about 1 in 4 school-age children suffer from asthma. (We have a similar rate of asthma here in North Texas, which is high and continues to climb). The University of Cincinnati has a research project underway in conjunction with the Cincinnati Health Department and Cincinnati Public schools to help reduce asthma in the community. This research project’s goal is determine how idling school buses and proximity to busy roadways affects the incidence of asthma in school-age children. This is being studied in order to provide information to policy makers and public health officials regarding the extent of pollutants from idling school buses in order to guide policy decisions. (Research shows asthma is triggered by proximity to particulates from diesel emissions. The incidence of asthma attacks rise when school buses idle at schools, and also when schools are near major roadways.)
The research will occur in two stages. During the first stages, students with asthma will have the air sampled both at their school and home neighborhood. Both indoor and outdoor sampling will be done, and the school sampling will include areas near entrances, and in classrooms. In the second stage of the study, an anti-idling campaign will take place, with air sampling at that time. The children will have medical information taken at both stages. There is also an education component that will be at work in order to educate teachers, school nurses, bus drivers, and school administration about how to reduce the health hazards of bus and auto idling.
In green building, we talk about how air pollution is detrimental to the success of students. Air inside a school is never as good (clean) as air outside a school. So if outside air is polluted how will schools be able to provide a healthy indoor environment?
In another way of creating a solution for the problem of school bus idling, LEED for Schools provides a point for bike racks and for building where there are bike routes to school which avoid busy streets.
Also at work on the subject of school bus idling and Outdoor Air Quality (OAQ) is the American Lung Association (ALA). In North Texas, ALA has been lobbying the state legislature to pass a school bus anti-idling law. ALA is also working to educate teachers and administrators on how to limit outdoor time for students on bad OAQ (Outdoor Air Quality) days.
If you want to help the students at your school reduce absenteeism from asthma and other respiratory problems, try instigating a District-wide Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality program. Also contact your state and federal legislators to impress upon them the importance of supporting these measures.
http://healthnews.uc.edu
www.ala.org
www.usgbc.org