How do motor vehicles contribute to air pollution in Ventura County?
There are currently almost 555,000 motor vehicles registered in our county. And, according to the Ventura County Transportation Commission, about fifteen million miles are driven in Ventura County every day. Why is this critical to air pollution? Motor vehicles are responsible for over 50 percent of the air pollution in Ventura County. A typical car equipped with air pollution control devices will spew out some 300 pounds of smog-forming compounds and 34 tons of carbon monoxide over the course of its lifetime! However, a new car sold today is 97 percent cleaner than its predecessor 25 years ago. The primary pollutants stemming from motor vehicles are nitrogen oxides (NOx) and reactive organic compounds (ROC). When these come in contact with sunlight, ozone is formed, and ozone is our most serious air pollution problem here.
