Children’s Exposure to Criteria Air Pollution Due to Drop-off Programs at School

Drop-off programs at schools are becoming more common with school boards because of the potential reduction in vehicle and student collisions compared to a disorganized school drop-off. Across North America, the number of students who are driven to school in a personal vehicle has been rising for the past five decades, with no foreseeable change in this behaviour. A drop-off program, where parents must line-up their cars and idle, is one that is very organized; however our research has identified that this potential increased safety measure is creating potentially hazardous air quality conditions. Air pollution health effect studies’ methods and technologies are continually evolving. We have demonstrated a further refinement of air pollution exposure science that incorporates the activity patterns of people into the process of measuring exposure. Our research sets the foundation for a technique to calculate personal exposure without personal monitoring units.