When asked to declare our APIA interest in attending an MOT consultation on proposed emission standards, I told them that we were principally interested in staying abreast of any regulatory changes as we had commercial interests in providing repair parts. Any new rules that resulted in changes to the makeup of the NZ on road fleet was of interest to us because it provided the knowledge and lead-time to stock parts.
In addition I advised that, as practical people in the automotive industry we had developed realistic opinions in regard to the effects of legislative changes. In our experience and observation, the only people really effected by most of the new rules were those at the bottom of the socioeconomic heap. For example, the unmarried mother on the DPB with multiple children, insufficient income and real social problems, was totally uninterested and certainly not influenced with any rule change that resulted in her cheap mode of transport being declared illegal. In our view she will continue to drive it without a WOF or any other requirement simply because she has no other convenient transport option. To declare it suddenly unsafe because the frontal impact standard has risen or to tell her it is now a health hazard because Guvmint has declared a higher emissions standard is not going to impress her, or many thousands of other like her, at all.

Personally I have reached the conclusion that it is prudent to be concerned about 'possible' global warming through excessive greenhouse gasses and in-city health issues through excessive nitrous oxide, particulates and other nasty emissions. However, lumping all the salvation of the human race onto motorists is not only  ineffective but turns people away from considering the issue at all. For example, agriculture creates more greenhouse gas than all other sources combined. The development of new grass species and other good initiatives is working on that - just as the extremely responsible vehicle manufacturers are working as fast as they can on making vehicle emissions better. The large vehicle manufacturing countries are imposing realistic targets which vehicle manufacturers are meeting at an impressive rate. It strikes me as eminently sensible, for a small country like NZ to simply jump on the back of these very sound initiatives. Why do we have to continually reinvent the wheel ? Why do we not accept that our vehicle fleet is modernizing at an impressive speed (in contradiction to those keep saying the average age of the fleet is getting older - true but misleading) and that the emissions from modern vehicles is today a fraction of what it was only 10 years ago through the advent and commercialisation of Catalytic Converters together with other cunning technology. The problem is solving itself at an impressive rate ... but NZ is trying to do better. We may succeed in that respect but I fear that it will be at a terrible and unmeasurable social cost. The desperate 'save the world' ideology of our Lords and Masters is possibly doing more damage than good. People with a low standard of living and equally low esteem will do more harm to our environment than another who is educated to understand the issues and empowered to make their own decisions. Rather than continually imposing more rules I believe we should be educating and encouraging people to improve their small space in the cosmos. Collectively that is more likely to save the world - if that is, it needs salvation.

As a significant group within the NZ automotive parts industry I believe we should take the attitude that the world environment does need a help and we should all do anything we can to contribute positively within our business and personal lives. This does not mean selling the 4WD and shooting the flatulent goat. There are countless ways of being environmentally friendly and each of us should take an interest in discovering those which apply to our circumstances.

Some of the most interesting facts I learned was that road congestion raises the CO & HC emissions of a modern car from a factor of 1 up to 5. Older engines do contribute at a factor of up to 8 and cold operation is the worst polluter with a rate of 20-30.  This means that the cold start, short journeys contribute the greatest to pollution and requires the attention of the vehicle manufactures to develop engines that are more efficient during cold operation. The high emitting older engines are going to eliminate themselves from the fleet in the not too distant future and in my view should be ignored. The next biggest issue and the one that will be of far more benefit to solving pollution is traffic congestion. By channeling financial resources into better roading and eliminating congestion, the country will benefit far more than implementing all of the proposed new rules.

Maurice O'Reilly

APIA Spokes Person