And How You Can Do Better for Yourself and Our Region

The domino effects of driving alone

And how you can do better for yourself and our region

Drive time in Pima County amounts to a rodeo of cars without passengers. About 75 percent of local adults get around that way, driving all by their lonesome.The biggest consequences of riding alone aren’t instant, so the trend persists. Now imagine for a moment if every time you drove to work alone, you had to watch a crop dying, an asthmatic struggling to breathe, a day subtracted from your PTO for respiratory illness, the price of fuel going up, or a pinch of sand removed from the hourglass of your life. These are the real costs of too many solo drivers on the road. They're the results of believing our region's air quality relies on some unseen force. In reality, commuters can lead the charge for clean air, because overhalf of our region’s human-generated air pollution comes from motor vehicles.

Pima County is home to lots of people with a heightened risk for health complications from polluted air: 185,865 seniors, 74,276 adults diagnosed with asthma; 52,700 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); 492 with lung cancer; and 66,528 with cardiovascular disease.* For them, the cost of air pollution is measured in things such as health complications, medical expenses and lost income from missed work.

These are the kinds of revelations that led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to tighten its national air quality standards for ground-level ozone in 2015. Did you think ozone was that helpful blanket of gas around the planet, destroyed by hairspray and other propellants in the '80s? You’re right, but that’s the so-called “good ozone.”Ground-level ozone, or “bad ozone,” results from chemical reactions between sunlight and emissions from sources such as cars and gasoline vapors, so drivers hold some realsway over how bad it gets.

Of course, it’s easier to think of air pollution as a problem of industries rather than individuals, but the truth is that single-occupancy vehicles play a major role. The math is plain: more commuters sharing the ride means fewer vehicles on the road, and fewer vehicles on the road means less air pollution, especially during summer months when ozone levels can increase as a result of high temperatures combined with other factors. While our region currently meets federal air quality standards, we want to be sure we maintain healthy air. This summer,several air quality advisory alerts about high ozone levels have been issued by the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality.

Along with now having about 249days of “good” air annually based on the EPA's Air Quality Index, on most days we have a 360-degree view to enjoy our mountain ranges in their full splendor, and the economy is strengthening, attracting new residents every year. Of course, with them come more vehicles—or more potential carpooling buddies and more reason torethink the real costs of how we choose to get around.

Sign up atwww.SunRideshare.orgto see how carpooling and other transportation options will work for you. If you’re a business owner, consider offering carpool or transit subsidies, offering telecommuting options or bike-to-work incentives. For help getting started, contact PAG at (520) 792-1093 and ask to speak to the Travel Reduction Program outreach coordinator.

*Source: American Lung Association, State of the Air, 2017

**Source: EPA Outdoor Air Quality Data, Pima County, 2016

Article republished courtesy of Pima Association of Governments, Tucson, Arizona.