this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Fuck Cars

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The snow exposed to cars is covered in grimy residue, while the snow away from traffic remains clean.

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[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 44 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

That rationale is just stupid. It is indeed a lot of dirt, as every tire caries dirt and many tires = many dirt.

Of course it also includes the other shit. I am just not so sure about the claim that “this is no dirt or else it would be also visible on the top road”

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 7 points 7 hours ago

I'm not denying that cars are dirty either, but it's also easy that the bottom pic could look like the top pic and vice versa based on when the photos are taken. Timing of the snowfall, if one road gets sanded/salted and not the other, etc.

[–] Mr_WorldlyWiseman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (2 children)

In places where lots of people walk, the snow is white. In places where people cross a road, the walking paths leading from the crosswalk are brown.

The "dirt" comes from cars and is highly toxic.

[–] reabsorbthelight@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

It's usually sand. The snow is dirty where they put a lot of sand if people walk there. I hate cars too, but it's not all from cars

[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago
[–] how_we_burned@lemmy.zip 12 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

He isn't wrong

Cars exhaust contains nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapour, oxygen, argon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, unburnt hydrocarbons, methane, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, lead, platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel, copper, zinc and chromium. These drift around, settling on roads. Albeit in trace amounts.

These are in turn washed into storm waterways and creeks where the heavy metals end up in the sediment.

Car tires and plastics used in roads (cats eyes for example) are also causing major microplastic pollution, again because it again washes into waterways and accumulates.

In 2004 it was confirmed that creatures at the bottom of the food chain ie bivalves, polychaete worms, sea cucumbers, amphipods, isopods, lugworms, oligochaetes, chironomid larvae and deposit feeders etc are eating that shit up.

Which, when consumed by predators, bio accumulates in their flesh which we in turn eat.

Incidentally asianometry just released a video on this incredibly fucked up and depressing topic.

https://youtu.be/Th1tBdDl5CY

[–] hector@lemmy.today 1 points 57 minutes ago

Plus you have particulates from the tires themselves to add to that.

[–] zikzak025@lemmy.world 14 points 13 hours ago

Look at the backs of some large trucks and you'll see the sort of crud they're emitting just sticking to them, too.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 14 points 14 hours ago

the forbidden Oreo ice cream

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 10 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

As a kid in the city, the bottom picture was pretty normal to me.

I now love a bit farther away from high traffic areas and it sort of looks like the above. I still see the nasty residue.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 1 points 55 minutes ago

I moved in the country, and if I say jog on a back road here, a single vehicle might go by, and fouls the air for a couple of minutes. In the city I wouldn't have even noticed it, there would be a thousand times that in the air at any given moment.

[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.social 3 points 10 hours ago

Before it fell off the ice stuck behind my tire was pitch black

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 6 points 12 hours ago

Anywhere you see piles of snow it should be turned into pedestrian only space (since it's obvious the cars don't need it)