Rolling coal is a childish way some drivers use to "own" pedestrians, cyclists, and electric vehicle drivers, but it can also be incredibly dangerous. Aside from the harmful health effects of spewing toxins from illegally modified diesel engines, some coal rollers risk their lives and others' to commit the crime.
That's what this YouTuber documented on a heavily trafficked Miami highway. A large truck first zoomed around the Tesla Model 3 before cutting it off, expelling the noxious fumes, and repeatedly slicing across several lanes of traffic to continue the assault.
The manufacturers and sellers of the aftermarket products that discharge the vision-obscuring exhaust have been taken to task under the Clean Air Act from at least 2017 to as recently as September, when the Department of Justice sued eBay, alleging violations of environmental law.
People who roll coal have crashed into highway barriers and been pulled over by authorities, including the Massachusetts Environmental Police and even cops on horseback.
The practice emits excessive nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In a 2020 study of Class 2b and 3 trucks, they issued 30 to 300 times more nitrogen oxide pollution and 15 to 40 times more particulate matter when all emissions controls were removed or disabled, known as "deleting."
With Texas, Florida was one of the top two states with the most estimated deleted vehicles from 2009 to 2019.
Diesel exhaust has been linked to allergies, asthma, other respiratory illnesses, and cardiovascular diseases, one study showed.
"Share this video with the police so this guy can get a helping of sweet digital justice," one user wrote.
Another said: "Please report him this sort of crime should be punished. This is ridiculous and so childish. The change is coming whether they like it or not and obviously they don't give a crap about our environment."
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