THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH DRIVERS
IN SCOTLAND
Roadside Vehicle Emission Tests
APRIL 2003 (Published in Scotland on Sunday, lightly edited. This is the unedited original):
I wish to take issue with the statement in Murdo MacLeod's (Scotland on Sunday, April 13) article on new roadside vehicle emission tests:
"air pollution, mainly from vehicles, is estimated to kill 2,000 people a year, five times the number who die in road accidents."
Compare the above statement with the research on which this distorted interpretation is based (Source: Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution (COMEAP), 1998)
"It is stressed that the effects on mortality have not been fully quantified. Many of the deaths associated with days of higher air pollution are in the elderly and the sick. Episodes of cold weather and epidemics of the common cold hasten the deaths of such people and it seems likely that air pollutants could act in a similar manner, hastening death by a few days or weeks. If this is the major effect, the impact of air pollution episodes on mortality will be relatively small, but we have been unable to establish the extent by which the time of death has been altered."
From the above, it's clear that the deaths don't result solely from air pollution. In contrast, road accident fatalities only occur because of an unexpected event. Therefore, to compare the two is wholly inappropriate.
The 1999 report, 'Transport and Health in London', prepared for London's NHS Executive, states "few traffic reduction measures are justifiable on health grounds." Also, the report demonstrates that, although pollutants from traffic are released in areas of concentrated population:
"It is not right to assume that traffic is the primary culprit responsible for atmospheric pollution."
So, Dan Barlow, head of research with Friends of the Earth Scotland, is not quite correct when he states in the same article:
"The key to protecting health and the environment lies in reducing the total number of vehicles on our roads."
Dan also quotes the same distorted air pollution/road deaths statistic as if it's proven fact. Looks like he's got a lot more research to do then!
Curiously, schemes that increase pollution, through generating stop-start traffic, and ultimately congestion, seem popular with bureaucrats and environmentalists alike. I talk of course of restricting road access through the introduction of road closures, road width restrictions for cars (including bus lanes), reduced parking provision, huge numbers of traffic lights and a cult-like enthusiasm for throwing speed bumps and 20mph zones around like confetti. Of course, only a cynic would suggest an alternative agenda was behind all of this!
Simon Tonks
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