Six per cent of bikes and 70 per cent of three wheelers run on two-stroke engines in India Two-stroke scooters and mopeds are a significant source of vehicular pollution. According to a study by researchers of Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, low-powered vehicles are a major source of toxic air pollutants such as particulate matters, secondary organic aerosols and aromatic hydrocarbons. These vehicles form a small fraction of the total fleet of vehicles in many towns of Asia, Africa and southern Europe, yet they emit more air contaminants than cars and trucks.

The researchers measured the emissions from different category of vehicles and from different regions and found that the exhaust from two-stroke scooter was as high as 300,000 micrograms per cubic metre (or 146 parts per million by volume). Explaining the severity of the amount of emissions, the researchers say, “Occupational safety recommends that workers wear special breathing equipment when exposed to benzene (a type of aromatic hydrocarbon) at levels exceeding 1 ppm for 15 minutes. Waiting in traffic behind a two-stroke scooter, at junctions and while the scooter is idling, may therefore be highly deleterious to health.”

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