A community wide campaign in which both bus drivers and parents completely turned off their vehicle engines while waiting to drop off and pick up kids at school resulted in a significant reduction in traffic related air pollution.

This anti-idling campaign took place during the fall and winter of 2010-2011 and was led by researcher Patrick Ryan, PhD from Cincinnati Children’s.  Ryan and his colleagues studied outdoor air quality at four different public schools in Cincinnati both before and after the anti-idling campaign took place. They sampled pollutants before buses and automobiles arrived in the morning and again after they left in the afternoon.  Samples were also taken at four sites in the areas surrounding the schools.

Prior to the campaign, the air quality measurements exceeded community background levels at three of four schools.  The differences were greatest at the school with the most buses.

After the campaign  ended, researchers  measured air quality again.  At the school with the most buses, 39 total, background levels of particulate matter decreased 76 percent and elemental carbon decreased 63 percent.

The campaign included:

An educational program for school bus drivers and parents, followed by an anti-idling pledge

Anti-idling signs near school drop-off and pick-up zones

Student and staff assemblies regarding air quality

A student-led movie

Monitoring of idling activity

The study involved Cincinnati Children’s, Cincinnati Public Schools, the Cincinnati Health Department and the University of Cincinnati Department of Environmental Health.

“Anti-idling campaigns are frequently attempted to improve air quality, but until now, no one has evaluated how effective they are,” says Ryan, lead author on the study. “The results of this study demonstrate, for the first time, that not idling is a simple and effective policy that can improve air quality at schools, especially schools with a large number of buses.”

A full report of this project can be found online in the journal Environmental Science Processes and Impacts, published by The Royal Society of Chemistry.