Group 1 Final Report of Problems Caused By Cars

MSTM 4060

Advanced Technical Communications

Report: Problems Caused by Cars

Group 1:

Jack

George

April 4, 2013

Jack & George

452 GuiGu Street, Beijing, JL

Phone: 139******** Email: jackwangyimin@https://www.sodocs.net/doc/1117603410.html,

April 4, 2013

Mr. Li, Premier of China,

The office of CCCPC,

Xicheng, District, Beijing, China.

Dear Mr. Li,

Here is a report about problems caused by cars.

We are the students of Lambton College-Jilin University. In our surrounding, we were tired of hearing so many complaints of problems caused by cars. Thus, we decided to send a report to you in hope of supplying some advice for the government. With the living standards rising rapidly, more and more Beijing residents have cars of their own. The increase in the number of cars brings about a lot of problems, such as air pollution, noise, traffic congestion and gas shortage. All these facts allow of only one solution: Beijing does not need more cars.

We expect the report of problems caused by cars can help our government find good ways to solve the problems. If you have any questions, please call me at 139********, you can also send email to wangyimin00@https://www.sodocs.net/doc/1117603410.html,. Thanks for your authorization to continue this report.

Sincerely,

Jack George

Executive Summary

Firstly, the purpose of this report is to let us to study the current environment situations of Beijing and the problems caused by cars.

In this article, we focused on the problems caused by cars, such as air pollution, noise, traffic congestion and gas shortage. We described the attitude from the Beijing people. We showed whether the people know the knowledge of car exhaust pollution or not. And, the reason that why China government doesn’t pay a lot of attention to the cars pollution. In addition, we demonstrated the data and the visuals. Behind each pictures, we analyzed the reasons and give examples. The process of the finding and result part are describing current situations about cars in Beijing, the attitudes of cars pollutions from our questionnaires, analyzing the information. Finally, in our recommendation part, we offered our opinions and suggestions.

Our opinion is that Beijing government should limit cars quantity. Beijing needs to be nicer and cleaner than before. People hope to own a beautiful environment.

Lists of figures and tables

Figure 2-1 Problems caused by cars-Traffic Jams (5)

Figure 2-2 Problems caused by cars-Traffic Accidents (5)

Figure 2-3 Problems caused by cars-Air Pollution (6)

Figure 2-4 Problems caused by cars-Noise Pollution (7)

Figure 2-5 The level of exhaust pollution that people chose (8)

Figure 2-6 The problems caused by car exhaust (8)

Figure 2-7 The effect of environment caused by car tail gas (9)

Figure 2-8 In people opinion, if China government has paid attention for the pollution of cars (10)

Figure 2-9 The GDP of per capita at current prices (10)

Figure 2-10 The percentage of people plan to buy private cars (11)

Figure 2-11 Trying to Breathe in Beijing (12)

Figure 2-12 The environment of Beijing (12)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letter of transmittal (ii)

Executive Summary (iii)

Lists of Figures and Tables (iv)

Table of contents (v)

1.0 Introduction (1)

1.1 Purpose (1)

1.2 Background (1)

1.3 Scope (3)

1.4 Methodology (3)

2.0 Findings and Results (4)

3.0 Discussion of results (15)

4.0 Conclusion (16)

5.0 Recommendation (17)

References (18)

Appendix (19)

v

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Purpose

Since joining the WTO in the 2001, China's auto market has unfolded to the world fully. Simultaneously, China's auto market started to boom. By the same token, so many large multinational automobile enterprises swarmed into China’s market. Thus, intense competition caused car prices to decrease. At that time, there was a slogan that said that “Let the car s entered innumerable families”. Correspondingly, the car yield increasing also caused a series of social problems. Such as oil price growth, traffic jams, cars emission are too big. Therefore, the automobile problem has been on the government's agenda. The purpose of this report is to let us to study problems caused by cars.

1.2 Background

After years of high development, China has become a global country. However, with the rapid development, various social problems are very sharp in China. Environment problem is very prominent among them. In nearly 30 years' development journey in the past, China government deliberately ignore a series of problems which caused by the high-speed development. Among them, the environmental problems and economic development has become a kind of mutual restriction factors. By the reason of China's cutting-edge technology didn’t occupy a lot of market

share in the world. Thus, China still do esn’t get rid of the title of the world's engineering in recent years.

As an advanced transport, cars make our life more convenient. Therefore, we can go to any place at any time. We also do not have to wait for the arrival of the bus or subway. We can directly reach the destination, rather than waiting at bus stations.

Cars benefit people, but there are also more and more kinds of troubles appearing in front of people. Traffic jams are the most obvious. Almost everyone needs to go out to work, to study, or to travel every day. Except for the railways, metros and planes, it is always hard for us to go smoothly when we are on the road of almost every middle and big city in China. This leads to bad temper, quarrels, wasting of time and inefficiency. “Cars make a lot of pollution, too. Factories can make over 100,000 pounds of waste just to make one 3,500 pound car. Building a car can make as much air pollution as driving the car for ten years”(Transit People).

In summary, in order to keep clean air, wide and safe roads, I think we should limit the quantity of cars in Beijing. As far as the great demand for means of transport is concerned, we can develop mass transit to take the place of private cars.

Finally, we hope to build a healthy living environment through our efforts, for ourselves, for our earth, and for our descendants.

1.3 Scope

The purpose of this report is to help people to know the problems about cars. Thus , these following questions we have referred in our report:

●What is the current situation about cars?

●What are the problems that the cars bring?

●What are the policies that the government published to solve the

problem?

●What are better suggestions we could offer?

This study focused on the analysis of problems caused by cars over the recently years in Beijing. The information or data collection is limited to Beijing. We also published the questionnaire on Internet. It helped us to know more levels of society’s people attitude of cars pollution.

1.4 Methodology

As a student, our findings for this report was limited, so the most part of the information were form Internet and primary resources, we scan many educational and professional websites to get the useful information. In addition to that, we copied 60 questionnaires for our surrounding people. After gathering information from the questionnaire, we compared and analyzed the data. Then, after combining the data form primary resources and the articles from Internet, we got our results.

2.0 Findings and Results

In recent years, the development of Beijing is very fast. In our opinion, the most obvious logo is heavy traffic on the street.

According to our research, until to 2013, the quantity of cars in Beijing has attained 732.677 million. This is a quite horrible number for a city. The quantity of cars in Beijing is the top of China cities. In high streets and small alleys of Beijing, kinds of cars drive constantly. Maybe it represents Beijing's prosperity. Nevertheless, through our online questionnaire survey, we found that the complaints from people were increasing about the cars. People started to complain about auto noise, exhaust gas and dust. In the article “Experts explore Beijing's air pollution,” (Chinadaily, June, 2012), experts trust that the cars exhaust pollution is the greatest source of Beijing's air pollution. According to the article,

More than 5 million vehicles are currently registered in Beijing, and the number keeps climbing, said Chai Fahe, deputy head of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

Chai said although the number of cars in Beijing is only half that in Tokyo, the frequency of use is much higher. Beijing cars run 45 km per day on average, while those in Tokyo run an average of 19 km per day. We have noticed that the incidence rate of bronchitis in Beijing is very high, and it is increasing.

Problems caused by cars are worthy of our concern. In fact, traffic jam is so heavy that it is becoming a parking more than a crowded street. Anxious passengers cannot take buses because there are very few buses. In contrast, the streets are filled with too many cars. Exaggerated as it is, the phenomenon is not uncommon nowadays as shown in Figure 2-1, and too many cars also can cause traffic accidents as shown in Figure 2-2.

Figure 2-1 Problems caused by cars-Traffic Jams

Figure 2-2 Problems caused by cars-Traffic Accidents According to eHow: “Vehicles produce several types of air pollutants. For humans, among the most harmful are hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide, which combine to form smog; particulate matter, which is harmful to lungs; and carbon monoxide, which is formed from the combustion of gas. The latter blocks oxygen's circulation in the body, a particular risk for the very young and very old. More than half of the cancers traced to air pollution are caused by a car's hazardous pollutants. In the atmosphere, substances like carbon dioxide, produced from the burning of gasoline in a car's engine, contribute greatly to the greenhouse effect and debilitating

climate change”(eHow).

Figure 2-3 Problems caused by cars-Air Pollution

According to epa: “Smoke is a by-product of incomplete combustion. Incomplete combustion can significantly increase the quantity of certain toxic chemicals discharged by vehicles into the air. These chemicals can cause mild to severe irritation to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. They can also be absorbed into the body and cause deterioration in general health. The extent of these detrimental effects on people's health is related to the length of time one is exposed to vehicle emissions, the concentration of fumes breathed and various other factors such as age and health. For example, an EPA study into the affects of air pollution found a link between high levels of fine particles, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide and an increase in the number of hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular disease (EPA Publication 789)”(EPA).

Figure 2-4 Problems caused by cars-Noise Pollution According to eHow: “Noise pollution affects sleep, eating habits, mood, concentration and body functions such as respiration and heart rate. When humans are unable to sleep due to noise, they get insomnia. Insomnia causes mood swings and can affect performance in all areas of your life, as well as negatively affect your health. Loud noises cause stress, increasing respiration and heart rate. Then your body begins to secrete hormones such as adrenaline, which prepare us for fight or flight. This response puts unnecessary stress on the body. As a result, your blood pressure increases, leaving you vulnerable to heart disease. Stress also

contributes to lowered immunity, which can lead to infection and illness.

Some scientists are now suggesting that psychiatric disorders are related to noise. This theory is still under investigation and is highly controversial”(eHow).

Next, I will show you data pictures.

Figure 2-5 The level of exhaust pollution that people chose

On the basis of figure 2-5, we could see that more than half of persons think the car exhaust pollution is very serious. Nobody felt satisfied for their living environment.

Figure 2-6 The problems caused by car exhaust

From Figure 2-6, we could know that many people have realized the harm of car exhaust. No one think it is OK. However, we also can know that some of the people know some environmental protection knowledge.

Figure 2-7 The effect of environment caused by car tail gas According to this picture, we know that many people know the knowledge of environment.

Figure 2-8 In people opinion, if China government has paid attention for the

pollution of cars

In our opinion, the China government has known the pollution of cars, because the situation is very obvious. Apparently, China government deliberately ignores these problems, because the increasing auto sales bring hu ge tax to the government. It makes contributions to China’s GDP and foreign exchange reserve .

Next, let us to see the GDP of China recently years.

Figure 2-9 The GDP of per capita at current prices Depending on the figure-5, in these years, Chinese is becoming richer despite the amplification is not very obvious. As we known, the number of China population is the largest. Thus that was a huge change. Nevertheless, with the development of per capita income of Chinese, the auto sales of china were huge. Especially, since joining the WTO in the 2001, China's auto market has unfolded to the world fully. Simultaneously, China's auto market started to boom. By the same token, so many large multinationa l automobile enterprises swarmed into China’s market. Thus, intense competition caused car prices to decrease. Nowadays, according to the data provided by the ministry of public security, China has owned 104 million vehicles. Do we need more cars? I don’t think so. Look at the pictures I have offered. People won’t to endure the worse environment. They want to fresh air and blue sky. Thus, I think the government should limit people buy cars. I hope the leader of government should be more powerful. Then, let us see the attitude of people. Do they want to buy cars?

Figure 2-10 The percentage of people plan to buy private cars

The answer is yes!!! After collecting the data from our questionnaire, we found that there are many persons want to buy a car despite they have known the harm of the cars. The idea here is that private cars stand for social-status for them sometimes. Nevertheless, the most important reason is that private car is more convenient. For this part, our recommendation is the government should increase the invest capital for traffic.

Please see the traffic of Beijing,

Figure 2-11 Trying to Breathe in Beijing

Figure 2-12 The environment of Beijing

Think about it, if you lived in Beijing, could you endure the environment? The answer is absolutely not. It seems that the environment reduce our lifetime every day. It was not very useful even though Beijing Government has published some measures to limit the cars quantity. Such as the odd-and-even license plate rule, license plate lottery. I wish Beijing government could be stronger! And I hope someday we could see nice and clean Beijing.

3.0 Discussion of results

After years of high development, China has become a global country. However, with the rapid development, various social problems are very sharp in China. Environment problem is very prominent among them. In nearly 30 years' development journey in the past, China government deliberately ignore a series of problems which caused by the high-speed development. Among them, the environmental problems and economic development has become a kind of mutual restriction factors. By the reason of China's cutting-edge technology didn’t occupy a lot of market share in the world. Thus, China still doesn’t get rid of the title of the world's engineering in recent years.

Car is a very representative product. In this article, we analyzed problems caused by cars. According to it, we analyzed the reason of the boom auto market in China in recent years.

We provided many data and simple pictures to show the seriousness of the problems caused by cars. In the end, we offered our recommendations. All discussion of result s were provided by our team.