It's called rollin' coal. Diesel truck owners spend anywhere between $1,000-$5,000 to thumb their nose at fuel efficiency, sometimes literally leaving greener cars in a cloud of smog produced by one or more smokestacks, according to Vocativ. That belching black smoke that covers the road is produced by hitting an installed switch that feeds excess fuel into the engine; a practice started in the rural motorsport known as truck pulls.
These days, drivers will roll coal to pollute, harass pedestrians and punish green drivers -- or really anyone else -- for their choice of car. It may seem like good old boy fun, but it's dangerous as well as dirty. These enthusiasts will often blind cars following too close or coming from the other direction, greatly raising the risk of a crash. Talking Points Memo reached out to Liz Purchia, the press secretary for the EPA about rollin' coal.
The idea of "rolling coal" has been around for a little while, but now it has become a full-fledged anti-environment protest. Essentially, diesel truck owners with a strong desire to preserve their right to be as thick-headed and inconsiderate as possible modify their trucks to increase fuel intake. Excess fuel inhibits combustion enough that any fuel which isn't combusting is exhausted as soot. These mods are expensive, so a person has to really commit to being this hateful.
The problem with rolling coal is not just environmental though. Exposure to diesel exhaust is also a health hazard. But, why would these guys care if people get cancer, COPD, heart disease, etc? I mean this is about FREEDOM and their RIGHT to pollute as much as they want because nobody likes the Prius.
Diesel exhaust and many individual substances contained in it (including arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde and nickel) have the potential to contribute to mutations in cells that can lead to cancer. In fact, long-term exposure to diesel exhaust particles poses the highest cancer risk of any toxic air contaminant evaluated by OEHHA. ARB estimates that about 70 percent of the cancer risk that the average Californian faces from breathing toxic air pollutants stems from diesel exhaust particles.
Exposure to diesel exhaust can have immediate health effects. Diesel exhaust can irritate the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and it can cause coughs, headaches, lightheadedness and nausea. In studies with human volunteers, diesel exhaust particles made people with allergies more susceptible to the materials to which they are allergic, such as dust and pollen. Exposure to diesel exhaust also causes inflammation in the lungs, which may aggravate chronic respiratory symptoms and increase the frequency or intensity of asthma attacks.
