Azernews.Az

Friday March 29 2024

Outdated vehicles threaten environment

30 September 2015 09:00 (UTC+04:00)
Outdated vehicles threaten environment

By Vusala Abbasova

Do you know that vehicles also have a shelf life? And, what is more important, the use of outdated vehicles may be harmful not only for you but also for people around you.

Emissions from the outdated vehicles contribute to air pollution by releasing particulate matter, acetaldehyde, acrolein, benzene, 1.3-butadiene, formaldehyde, and diesel exhaust, and pose great health risks.

Currently air pollution is recognized as one of the top crucial environmental problems.

As a country with quickly developing economy and industry, Azerbaijan is not an exception in the list of countries struggling to curb air pollution.

More than 70 percent of environmental pollution in Azerbaijan comes from motor transport, Chairman of the Green Movement of Azerbaijan Farida Huseynova told Day.az.

As part of its air pollution abatement policy, Azerbaijan has transitioned to the Euro-4 ecological standard starting April of 2014 in order to help reduce the emission of vehicle pollutants into the atmosphere and improve the environmental situation in the country.

The adoption of the Euro-4 standard significantly restricts the import of used cars, many of which are vehicles imported from Georgia.

Among the measures on air pollution reduction in the country, Azerbaijan has restricted the import of cars manufactured before 2003.

Moreover, State Traffic Police in cooperation with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources inspect compliance of transport emissions with the adopted Euro-4 standard.

Tractors and similar vehicles used for agricultural purposes are consistently monitored by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Azerbaijan has about 105 million vehicles that have been operating for over 30-35 years, the head of the Public Relations Department of the State Traffic Police Department of the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry, Police Colonel Kamran Aliyev recently said.

He also stressed that these outdated vehicles are dangerous for people's lives, especially because of their technical ineligibility.

While these cars could be in good condition mechanically, they are indeed worn down, their metal is not resistant, and they have much less safety features, which make death in traffic accidents a near inevitability. The bodies of such outdated vehicles aren't able to sustain a serious blow during a road accident, said Aliyev.

Therefore, a drastic reduction in the number of outdated vehicles on roads would significantly reduce the number of accident fatalities in the country, he believes.

The number of vehicles in the country is increasing day by day, but, unfortunately, many of them do not adhere to Azerbaijan’s high environmental standards, resulting in harmful pollution being released into the air, according to Chairman of the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology, and Patent Ramiz Hasanov.

He promised to put in place a range of strict measures in order to reduce the quantity of harmful vehicles on the roads of the country.

Hasanov hopes to increase the requirements to the safety system of vehicles, including the presence of several airbags to ensure the safety of drivers in case of car accidents.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Free Consumers Union of Azerbaijan Eyyub Huseynov recently proposed creating a recycling center for vehicle metal in the country.

Huseynov stressed the necessity of these measures, as the outdated vehicles are harmful for the environment, dumping the vapors of residual fuels and lubricants into the atmosphere.

In order to facilitate the process of eliminating outdated vehicles, Huseynov suggested the free transportation and delivery of these vehicles to the recycling center.

Farida Huseynova also recommended the creation of a recycling center or outdated vehicles as fast as it possible, before it becomes the ecological disaster.

The measure is currently being discussed by Azerbaijani officials.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

Loading...
Latest See more