Here are some healthier transport choices:

• Try to use your car less frequently, particularly for journeys under 2km. Cold start engines produce 60% more pollution than warm engines
• Use public transport when you can
• Walk your child to school: it's much healthier and teaches road sense.
• Find out if your child’s school has a walking bus. If not, find out more at www.walkingbus.com
• Try cycling: London's cycle path network is improving across the city
• Organise car sharing for going to work or visiting the supermarket
• Leave your car at home when there are high pollution alerts. Pollution can be three times higher in your car than outside.

Find out more about making the right travel choices for you at http://www.goodgoing.co.uk.

If you need to get to your destination by car:

• Ensure that you have your vehicle serviced at regular intervals
• Check the tyre pressure: as well as being dangerous, under-inflated tyres increase fuel consumption, and make your car more expensive to run
• Use ultra low sulphur fuel
• Don't start your engine until you're ready to travel. If you are stuck in a traffic jam, turn the engine off until you can move again
• Avoid rapid acceleration and heavy braking: they both increase fuel consumption and therefore pollution
• Stay within the speed limit: you use 30% more fuel to travel the same distance at 70mph instead of 50mph.

Every vehicle on the road makes the air quality worse. If you can think of ways to use your car more efficiently or if you can find opportunities to travel on a different mode of transport, you will make a difference to the air that you breathe.