10 signatures reached
To: Hon. Caroline Mulroney (Minister of MTO), Megan Skinner (Director of Policy of MTO), Jordanna Colwill (Director of Issues of MTO)
UNDER-INFLATED TIRES CAUSE EMISSIONS! FREE FILLING STATIONS NOW!
Some days while walking down the sidewalk, I can hear the tires on cars wrinkling and reforming as they roll down the road! This is causing a lot of extra emissions from vehicles as they use more fuel to deal with the added rolling resistance. Many people avoid inflating their tires because of the high prices charged to use tire pumps at the gas stations. Other people don't use the tire pump because they are unaware of the benefits of keeping their tires properly inflated. Properly inflated tires can easily make a 0.6% - 3% reduction in fuel consumption (1 + 2).
If the nearly 250 million registered passenger vehicles in the United States (according to a 2005 Department of Transportation study) were only 7 percent underinflated, and brought their tires up to the specified level, together they would save about $23 billion per year. (3)
The MTO needs to build free tire filling stations in as many locations as possible such as EV Charging Stations, Shopping Malls and Public Parking Spaces that give permission. The MTO also needs to educate the public about the importance of keeping their tires properly inflated due to small leaks in the tires and seasonal changes in air temperature. (1)
Filling the tires in your car is the most basic maintenance a person can do. Every driver should know how to do this and not have to pay high prices for air at the gas stations. This may also cause gas stations to lower the price of using their air pumps. This could have a big impact on emissions for a low cost to the MTO. Just the cost of a few air pumps and a little advertising / education.
Sign the petition now if you think this low cost solution will greatly reduce vehicle emissions!
Sources:
(1) https://driversed.com/trending/how-does-tire-pressure-affect-fuel-economy
(2) https://www.motorbiscuit.com/will-properly-inflating-tires-actually-improve-gas-mileage/
(3) https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/edmunds-employees-put-to-the-tire-pressure-test.html
Why is this important?
Because passenger vehicles account for such a large percentage of air pollution in Canada, just a small reduction in average emissions from vehicles can have a very positive impact on our environment! This is also a time and cost effective solution that could be rolled out quickly. And it is a problem that will never go away. If we were all driving Electric Vehicles today, they still require properly inflated tires to preform efficiently. Let's get those tires inflated!!
"Cars, pick-up trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are all types of passenger vehicles used for personal transportation in Canada. Given that there are approximately 18 million passenger vehicles on Canadian roads, they are a major contributor to air pollution, particularly in urban areas. Air pollution has major adverse impacts on the environment and the health of Canadians. While emissions of some pollutants from passenger vehicles have declined over the past two decades, air pollution continues to be one of Canada's highest environmental priorities and challenges. Passenger vehicles emit various air pollutants including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO) and sulphur oxides (SOx). Both nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds(VOCs) are involved in a series of complex reactions that result in the formation of ground-level ozone, which is a respiratory irritant and one of the major components of smog. The Criteria Air Contaminants Summary presents the emission estimates of these pollutants from transportation sources in Canada. Passenger vehicles account for a considerable proportion of the total national transportation emissions including:
approximately 21 per cent of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions
approximately 51 per cent of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions
approximately 4 per cent of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) emissions"