The Kids on the Bus Go Cough, Cough, Cough

Kids on school buses breathe more dangerous air than pedestrians

Kids who ride the bus to school may be exposed to higher levels of pollutants than those outside on the street, a new study suggests. Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley measured the air inside six school buses on a route through Los Angeles and found that exhaust was leaking inside the passenger space. According to Julian Marshall, the lead researcher, a child on a school bus may inhale some seven to 70 times more harmful fumes from that one bus than a typical L.A. pedestrian takes from the total school-bus emissions in the area. "Because so many children ride school buses," Marshall says, "reducing the emissions of a school bus would give policy-makers more bang for their buck than the same reduction of emissions from other diesel vehicles."