A Redditor recently encountered some exceptionally poor behavior on the road and posted about it on r/mildlyinfuriating.
The original poster shared a photo of the back of a pickup truck spitting massive plumes of smoke from its exhaust. This is known as "rolling coal." The driver has likely removed the diesel particulate filter to intentionally emit as much pollution as possible. This puts soot and incompletely burned fuel into the air, causing a wide range of damage.
Diesel exhaust from these vehicles includes carcinogens such as benzene, arsenic, formaldehyde, and nickel. Nitrogen oxides are also present, which can exacerbate asthma. In the short term, this exhaust can irritate the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. It can precipitate coughs, headaches, lightheadedness, and nausea.
While numerous health issues are associated with this behavior, the increased pollution also exacerbates destructive weather patterns such as floods and droughts. Light-duty vehicles are major contributors to the atmospheric pollution that is heating up polar ice caps and raising sea levels. Those gases also enter the oceans, acidifying them and threatening marine ecosystems. By bypassing emissions standards on cars, motorists such as the one in the photo are only accelerating these negative consequences.
Drivers typically roll coal to make a statement to electric vehicle drivers or cyclists. In this instance, the "Don't Tread on Me" Gadsden flag along the license plate suggests such targeting is political. Luckily, people rolling coal have been known to get caught, as mentioned by one Redditor commenting on this photo.
"Under the Clean Air Act, tampering with a vehicle's emission control systems and selling tampering tools is considered illegal," said one community member. "Aftermarket modifications that aim to disable emissions control technology are not allowed under the law. Report them to the EPA!"
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"It's so annoying and nobody thinks it's cool," said another.
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