More and more motorcycles are not necessarily good news, especially for large urban areas like Taipei and Kaohsiung, which had a high concentration of motor-cycles to begin with. Besides being parked all over the place and charging into lanes reserved for cars, motorcycles are even more of a nuisance for the pollution they produce.

Despite their small size--as Jerry C.L. Chow, manager of the Motorcycle Technology Department at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, points out--motorcycles are noisier than cars because they lack an exterior body, not to mention the fact that many obnoxious owners remove the mufflers or add audio equipment, making them louder even.

Still more serious is air pollution. Studies in Europe, and North America over the past two decades have shown that most of the air pollution in major urban areas comes from vehicles, while a 1982 paper written at the graduate school of the National Chiao Tung University indicates that vehicles produce more than 90 percent of the air pollution in the cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Fortunately, the pollution caused by cars and motorcycles has received serious attention from the public and the government, and environmental authorities have already set emission standards for the next several years. The Environmental Protection Administration even announced its enforcement methods in advance to give the industry and owners a chance to be prepared.

But manufacturers and environmentalists alike have found that the most difficult vehicle to bring up to the stipulated standards will be "the little guy"--motorcycles, which also happen to be the most numerous.

To give makers more time to improve, the EPA has set different standards for 1991 and 1993. By that time motorcycles will have to pass a test conducted by the Industrial Technology Research Institute before being licensed by the Ministry of Communications.

But the dual standards have stirred up some controversy because of a technical bottleneck involving their engines. Motor-cycles come in both two-cycle and four-cycle models, and two-cycle engines use a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel, which produces a great deal of carbon monoxide and other pollutants.

So why not simply phase out two-cycle engines in favor of four? The problem is that four-cycle engines won't fit on smaller models, and two-cycle engines have a longer lifespan, simpler construction, and lower production costs, making them popular with both manufacturers and consumers. So two-cycle models still make up more than 80 percent of all motorcycles and motor scooters on the road.

And four-cycle models have problems of their own. They don't use diesel fuel, but the lead that is added to the gasoline they burn for greater efficiency produces harmful lead pollutants, just like cars.

Nonetheless, research in the advanced countries has discovered techniques for reducing pollution from cars that can be applied to four-cycle motorcycles, so as long as makers want to, they should have no problem meeting the standards for four-cycle motorcycles, Chow says.

What gives both manufacturers and researchers headaches is the difficulty of lowering the emissions of two-cycle engines, which use diesel fuel and are bad polluters to begin with. The only way for them to meet the 1993 standards may be to stop making them entirely.

Yang-tai Lin, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the National Taiwan Institute of Technology, worries that by setting unattainable standards the EPA may have caused manufacturers to go right ahead making two-cycle models as they always have and then "seeing what happens" in 1993.

"That would be unfair to consumers," adds Lin, who is also a commissioner with the ROC Consumers' Foundation. He explains that people may end up buying machines that they won't be able to ride a few months later once the standards go into effect.

But the EPA believes that if the air pollution problem is to be really solved there can't be double standards for twoand four-cycle motorcycles. The reason the standards were announced back in 1989 was to give makers time to research and develop new two-cycle engines in time for 1993. Motorcycle manufacturers have made a lot of money over the years, and now that the pollution caused by their products has become increasingly serious, "They're going to have to expend some effort," an EPA official responds.

While makers are still taking their time about it, the Industrial Technology Research Institute has been actively researching low-pollution two-cycle motorcycle engines. It has already developed a mini-computer-controlled carburetor system that meets the 1991 emission standards in the lab, and Willy W.L. Chiang, director of institute's Power Machinery Engineering Division, says that several firms have contacted the institute in the hope that commercialization can be achieved soon.

Besides the engine, the quality of the fuel they use also contributes to motorcycle pollution. Raising the quality of the gasoline they use must depend on efforts by the China Petroleum Corp.

In addition, motorcyclists themselves are key players in preventing pollution. Manufacturers in Japan offer motorcyclists opportunities for further training, where they learn about engine maintenance, thereby reducing pollution, as well as driving safety.

"It all ought to be put in the textbooks and taught in high schools and elementary schools," says Chen Yen-hui, director of the Railway and Highway Department in the Ministry of Communications, who points out that traffic safety is best taught to youngsters. "How many drivers wear helmets in Taipei?" he asks.

Be that as it may, even if every approach can be put into action and all the standards attained, that would only mean lowering pollution to regulation levels but not to zero. The only way to be sure that motor cycles and motor-scooters don't cause pollution is to control how many are made. "But the government won't have the right to get rid of them until the rapid transit system is perfectly planned and finished!" asserts Cheng Fu-t'ien.

All the various problems they cause seem to alert us to the fact that no matter how convenient they may be for weaving in and out of traffic, motorcycles and motor scooters are nothing but troublemakers when it comes to the environment, at least at present.

[Picture Caption]

The inadequacy of the mass transit systems causes the motorcycle to be the main way to get to and from work.

According to a report of National Taiwan University, not only do motorcycles produce pollution, but motorcycle riders are among those most seriously affected by pollution.

Although two-cycle motorcylces use unleaded gas, their engines are not so efficient in the first place, and they still produce a lot of pollution.

You can breathe easier if your motor cycle isn't an "octopus."

In the future motor-cycles will have to undergo a strict test before leaving the factory; only then can they get a license plate.

Does the reckless participation in motorcycle drag racing without any safety equipment show gaps in motorcycle safety education? (photo by Chi Kuo-chang)

So that everyone can breathe cleaner air, research units must focus on a motorcycle engine with the lowest possible emissions. The photo shows a successful micro-computerized fuel injection system successfully developed by ITRI.

According to a report of National Taiwan University, not only do motorcycles produce pollution, but motorcycle riders are among those most seriously affected by pollution.

According to a report of National Taiwan University, not only do motorcycles produce pollution, but motorcycle riders are among those most seriously affected by pollution.

Although two-cycle motorcylces use unleaded gas, their engines are not so efficient in the first place, and they still produce a lot of pollution.

You can breathe easier if your motor cycle isn't an "octopus.".

In the future motor-cycles will have to undergo a strict test before leaving the factory; only then can they get a license plate.

So that everyone can breathe cleaner air, research units must focus on a motorcycle engine with the lowest possible emissions. The photo shows a successful micro-computerized fuel injection system successfully developed by ITRI.

Does the reckless participation in motorcycle drag racing without any safety equipment show gaps in motorcycle safety education? （photo by Chi Kuo-chang）