Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a natural constituent of air. It is a colourless, odourless and noncombustible gas which is slightly more than 1.5 times as dense as air.

Carbon monoxide is an odourless, colourless, poisonous gas that interferes with the delivery of oxygen in the blood to the rest of the body.

It is produced by the incomplete combustion of fuels, this process is most commonly caused by car engines, especially under urban driving conditions when cars are idling and decelerating frequently. This produces an abundance of the nasty stuff.

75% of all carbon monoxide is caused by motorised vehicles in the UK.

Bikes on the other hand don't produce any CO. Neither do their riders.

Carbon monoxide is poisonous when inhaled because it combines with haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying substance in red blood cells. The haemoglobin then cannot get oxygen from the air. Lack of oxygen causes cells and tissues to die.

This always makes the motorised school run that much more interesting, knowing that as you idle at the school gates you are helping starve the little mites brains of oxygen and thus giving them the added challenge of starting the day with less brain cells than they had the day before.

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