Abstract: At various sites in Seoul (Korea) and Budapest (Hungary), road dust was sampled by simple brushing, and digested by reflux in glass like sewage sludge resp. soils with reverse aqua regia plus elemental bromine. Whereas ICP-OES was sufficiently sensitive to determine contaminant metals, ICP-MS was needed to get Pd, Pt, Ir, Au, Hg, Bi, and Tl. Positive interference of Y-O upon Pd-masses necessitated a respective separation, which was achieved by co-precipitation with dithizon.
Metal contaminant levels were significantly higher in Seoul than in Budapest. Pt and Pd concentrations hardly correlated with other contaminant metals. Hotspots of Pt and Pd occurrence were found at sites of intense traffic, particularly at stop-and-go sites, which seem to be the bridges in Budapest.

Keywords: road dust, Pt, Pd, dithizon, contamination index