Another consequence of heat: pollution. The prefects of Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse and Var alerted the ozone pollution alert procedure. Prevention, but also increased speed controls, are the measures put in place. In Paris, the speed must be reduced by 20 kilometers per hour.
They are invisible, yet extremely harmful. In the atmosphere, fine particles of less than 2.5 microns (PM 2.5), mostly from diesel engines, are a public health concern. Until now, conventional pollution detectors did not take into account particles below 10 microns.
48,000 deaths caused by fine particles in France
This little blue box, the Pollutrack, is going to change how we think about pollution. Set up by the Paris City Council on Enedis' service vehicles, it makes it possible to detect these invisible particles. Objective: to make a street-by-street comparison to make traffic recommendations for pregnant women, children or all sportsmen, in short people exposed. Soon, there will be a map of the capital that will allow us to pinpoint the sources of emissions of these particles: PM 2.5. These particles have real effects in the development of pathologies. In one year in France, 48,000 people died from fine particulate matter.
Full publication (Fr) : francetvinfo.fr Published in June 2017