Dear Dr. Penney:
Was hoping you would be able to assist me with your thought on the
probability of 'Carbon monoxide poisoning' or problems with inhalation due to the fumes from and abundance of 'classic cars'.
I was at the "Woodward Dream Cruise" this past Saturday August 19,
2000, in Michigan (I'm sure you could probably find something about it on any search engine).
Anyway, there were supposedly something like 20,000 old classic cars there, that cruise up and down these 6-8 lanes on both sides of the street, and are usually moving between 1-20 mph. There were something like nearly 1 million people lined up on both sides of the street to watch them go by.
I do not believe that these old classic cars have to pass any type of emissions testing, do they? Well the fumes were incredibly horrible. Our seats were no more than about 1-2 feet away from the tail pipes of these cars. We were there for approximately 1 pm - 6:30 pm. That's 5 1/2 hours of inhaling these fumes of thousands of old cars that were going by us. (oh, there were also regular cars allowed in a couple of the traveling lanes).
What would you think the exposure/hazard is, from something like
this. We were actually gagging, coughing & choking at many times. I
noticed later when we went back to our Hotel, that my eyes were slightly dilated! That seemed strange to me. I looked odd, like an alien from another planet or something.
Coincidentally, I have come down with the first cold or upper respiratory infection that I've had in years. Coughing, sore lungs, fever, headache, and very strangely my teeth and jaws were very painful. It has subsided somewhat today.
So my question to you, is this ........... are 20,000 old cars in one place SAFE? Is this HEALTHY? I remember thinking that if someone was out there with some kind of air pollution tester that it would probably show something pretty bad.
If you can be of any assistance or help, at all with my question, I would certainly appreciate it. Maybe something needs to be done to test for the safety of thousands upon thousands of old cars running at the same time, for air pollution safety.
Thank you so much.
Bobkat