Day 4 Pollution Check

Today is the last day of the car ban. While on the road these past few days, I have made the observation that most people followed the rule - at least from what I could see. I think I only saw 1 or 2 “offenders” - those driving when they weren’t supposed to - i.e. if it was an even day but their license plate ended in an odd number. Continuing with my daily “pollution check”, I bring you this morning’s photo, again, from my apartment. It looks worse than yesterday. I’m at the office right now and it doesn’t look much better. On the drive to work today, the roads (specifically the 4th ring road, one of the “limited” access “freeways” we have here circling the city) was quite fluid - certainly a welcomed sight. So, until we hear any “official” statistics from the “air quality stations” that the authorities spread around the city for these 4 days - I’m going to guess that the car ban helped with traffic congestion (I said “helped” not “improved beyond belief”), but not with the pollution - at least noticable. The air still looks gross. My eyes still get sore from time to time. Granted, I haven’t been known to cough due to the air in Beijing, some people I know who do have said they haven’t noticed much difference. I think my 2nd suggestion from this post will really bring quantifiable improvements- not to mention an additional source of revenue to the traffic bureau! Update: I took a photo from my office in the afternoon.  No real improvement over the morning…