The usefulness of pollution examinations of on-road vehicles—The case of Jerusalem

• Pollution examinations should be served as a tool of vehicle emission control.
• The examinations can indicate special problems and trends.
• A desired reduction in PM and CO emission values for appropriate vehicles.
• A worrisome increase in PM and CO emission values for inappropriate vehicles.

This paper focuses on the usefulness of pollution examinations of on-road vehicles as a tool for vehicle emission control. The case described was carried out in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, between the years 2005 and 2010. A total of 43,293 on-road vehicles, which represented approximately 5% of the vehicle fleet at that time, were tested: diesel engine vehicles (21,861) were checked for their PM emission levels and petrol engine vehicles (21,432) were checked for their CO emission levels. The results show that these examinations can indicate special problems and, based on re-sampled vehicles׳ data, lead to benefits such as a reduction in motor emissions over time. More specifically, the share of high-emitting vehicles (i.e. vehicles that do not meet specific emission standards), especially petrol engine vehicles, is declining over the years. However, we observe a worrisome trend for high-emitting vehicles, as the average value of PM emission from diesel engine vehicles, and particularly the average value of CO emission from petrol engine vehicles, has increased over the years. In addition, a significant gap was found in the level of pollution between high-emitting vehicles and appropriate vehicles, especially for petrol engine vehicles. Monetary evaluation of externalities indicates that annually the excessive cost of PM and CO resulting from high-emitting vehicles is 9 million NIS ($1=NIS 3.846). The pollution examinations were found to be economically justified; therefore, they should serve as an efficient means of vehicle emission control.