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Outer London traffic (image CC licensed by nikoretro via Flickr)UK air pollution killing tens of thousands says Defra and calls for upgrades to cycling infrastructure
A new consultation document, drawn up by the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), states that over 50,000 people a year die prematurely as a result of UK air pollution that is directly linked to vehicle emissions. The report calls for upgraded cycling infrastructure as one means of addressing this.
The document was launched by the environment secretary Elizabeth Truss at the same time as the announcement of the new Labour party leader on Saturday. One of the most striking elements within it is the estimate that around 29,000 UK deaths are hastened by inhalation of particulate matter (which is linked to fuel emissions), on top of 23,500 that are brought about by nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
The report goes on to state:
“On average around 80% of NOx emissions in areas where the UK is exceeding NO2 limits are due to transport, although non-transport sources of NO2 are still considerable contributors. The largest source is emissions from diesel light duty vehicles (cars and vans) where both the emissions standards have had least impact and there has been significant growth in vehicle numbers over the last ten years.
“Addressing transport therefore presents a significant opportunity to improve air quality. Transport is a key part of almost everything we do, as individuals or businesses, and its impacts are much wider than air quality. As such it is essential we take an integrated approach. By the careful choice of measures, recognising the economic impact and value, we can deliver much broader benefits alongside air quality.”
Speaking to BikeBiz, Chris Boardman reacted to the report by proclaiming himself mystified as to “why these preventable deaths aren’t being treated as a national emergency, a full-blown crisis.”
Defra had previously expected seven UK urban areas to still be breaking EU law in 2020. However, in April the Supreme Court ruled that this was unacceptable and ordered the Government to submit a new plan to meet European air pollution limits. It now expects all areas except Greater London to comply with EU pollution laws by 2020 with the capital meeting targets by 2025.
To achieve this, the government is asking local authorities to consider various moves such as; creating Clean Air Zones within which only certain vehicles are permitted; introducing low emission buses and taxis; and using data to inform new road layouts. Other suggestions include upgrading cycling infrastructure, providing networks of electric car charging points and introducing or expanding park and ride schemes. Truss invited both local authorities and the public to share ideas on what can be done with the consultation open until November.
However, many campaigners remain unimpressed. Alan Andrews, the director of Client Earth – the group of environmental lawyers who took the government to court – told The Guardian that it was merely passing the responsibility for action onto others.
“The first reaction is disappointment. We are heading in the right direction but we are not seeing anything like a clear commitment to doing anything. The government seems to be passing the buck to local authorities. There has to be a clear legal commitment to act, otherwise the plans will be rejected by Europe. If we are not convinced, we will go back to court.”
Simon Birkett, the director of Clean Air for London, echoed those sentiments. “Defra is passing all responsibility, without money or new powers, to local authorities. It is flouting the Supreme Court ruling to submit proper plans to the European commission by 31 December by intending instead to submit a ‘plan for plans by others’.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 5 min 7 sec ago
Condolences to this young man's family....
- chrisonabike 19 min 2 sec ago
Also don't forget - Sustrans are a charity *....
- chrisonabike 30 min 40 sec ago
Yes ... but (just due to the large numbers of people affected) this likely would only proceed in the UK at a very ... cautious ... pace....
- hawkinspeter 36 min ago
A handful of acorns should be enough to keep you going
- hawkinspeter 43 min 6 sec ago
Pfffft! Tampico is so last-year. The best artisanal fibre for cleaning bikes is obviously free-range squirrel hair.
- EK Spinner 48 min 8 sec ago
Arsehole in the van not with standing, how did they manage to get a risk assessment allowing a race (a group not a TT) group to be competing on ...
- RafaDy 43 min 32 sec ago
I think reviewer completely missed the point here trying to match bike's name with what it can do. Ribble is namin git's bike weirdly, the...
- Moist von Lipwig 4 hours 9 min ago
Bit of googling gone wrong in the article - the JAT is the Junction Assessment Tool, the Joint Approval Team appears to be a coutner terrorism...
- HKR 5 hours 24 min ago
Can't believe that child threw his bike on the floor at the end of that. Young people today have no respect... ;))
- Griff500 4 hours 11 min ago
Its not the same stem fitted to the two bikes though, and we aren't talking about HTA we are talking about stem inclination or "stem rise" to use...
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26 comments
Worth noting demand nos. 7 and 9 from the campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists...
7. Stop the Killing from Lung, Heart and other Diseases caused by vehicular pollutants
9. Stop the Killing from Climate Crisis caused by CO2 emissions
Ref: THE 10 DEMANDS
And now we have VW admitting its various car brands were deliberately test-rigging so their emissions appeared to be lower than they actually were.
Before that scandal story broke, the Guardian reported: "Nine out of 10 new diesel cars exceed EU pollution limits, report finds"
~Andrew~
I've said it before and I will say it again, until unnecessary car journeys are seen as being as unpleasant as passive smoking, there will be no change.
As I understand it, smoking bans in pubs only came in because bar staff in the USA threatened class action law suits against big tobacco. Perhaps our cycling friends in the USA can help us again against bug automobile?
Sorry for my apparent idleness, 12 hour shifts are not conducive to research.
The point still stands; yes, I'm sure air pollution has a massive health impact, but let's see the evidence rather than a big number.
Compare the numbers given above with actual mortality statistics and you might begin to question them.
If it still stands then it does not stand still, for the sneaky little minx has eluded me all the while.
Tell me about it. I missed this is the linked paper (first link): "Our calculations estimate that the effect on mortality linked to anthropogenic particulate air pollution (expressed as anthropogenic PM2.5) was equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths in 2008 in the UK as a whole."
The UK mortality rate is about 0.934%, so more than six hundred thousand Britons die every year. As has been stated, the report is making an approximation from life years shortened. So it wouldn't be quite that 8% of UK deaths are a direct result of air pollution, but that an equivalent (in life-years) amount would be hastened by them. But again, I have no idea how that relates to your point, or what that point is, or what it has to do with the matter at hand.
And again, I have no idea how you can possibly pretend to engage in a relevant discussion on the possible methodological errors of a report on environmental epidemiology you haven't actually read on the comments section of a bike news site. If you want to quibble with the numbers in more than just a very general sense then I'd suggest you try to find the time to actually read the report, and then if you feel qualified (I'd suggest a graduate degree in medicine, statistics, and/or applied health might be desirable) quibble with the appropriate people in the appropriate forum. You can start with the guy who chaired the committee that prepared the report:
Professor Jon Ayres OBE BSc MBBS MD FRCP FRCPE FFOM FRCPSG
We can't just accept claims like this because they fit with our presuppositions.
Claims of this kind require rigorous examination of the evidence even by cyclists, because when motoring lobbies examine them they will attempt to question the numbers and if the evidence is found wanting, our credibility will fall.
So I'd like to see the evidence for the figures quoted.
The metrics are different (they calculate life-years, an approximate conversion should be simple enough) but the base report is linked to in the draft report. So it's been a few clicks away this whole time.
But if that was just too hard, you could also just google it .
I don't have the time or the standing to appropriately vet either report. And like the health effects of concussions, smoking or strychnine once were, the evidence is may be not altogether bulletproof on this at this point. But given the fact that EU regulations exist and that major European cities are taking actions at great expense to address the issue and that the studies backing up those regulations and those actions have not yet been seriously debunked, I'm guessing there's a little fire under that smoke. So while the exact number will likely remain but a rough estimate, you can safely assume at least thousands and likely tens of thousand of lives are in jeopardy.
That's enough for me to support a call for action. Meanwhile you have very right to remain skeptical and make sure they've dotted every I, crossed every T and carried every 1. Given the huge effort you've made so far to merely find the reports, however, I'm going with all smoke and no fire on that one.
Oh yea. When I spoke to the specialist he just said glibly "Welcome to London"! Like it was normal. Surely this is shocking?! Or should be...
I was diagnosed with asthma this year. Finally told this is due to pollution. Fine in deep rural areas. Terrible in London. As a cyclist I find this particularly saddening, as this prevents me from riding...Further reducing my health. Then there's my children...
I had my diagnosis last year, to my mind clearly related to motor vehicle pollution due to the pattern of effects.
Switched my Salbutamol (Ventolin) relieving inhaler to a brown Clenil Modulite inhaler which is preventative. The blue is retained in case of acute problems of course. This helped enormously, and I now very rarely experience breathing issues.
Worth looking into.
The fact brown inhalers are steroidal and I'm now not-quite-as-slow is surely unrelated...
Hey, if you found something that works for you it's good news, and Big Pharma is always coming up with sightly evolved versions to minimize the side effects, but I'm always extra careful around corticosteroids.
Would like to see the comparable pollution figures for cities in Holland and Denmark where the investment in cycling infrastructure seems to have a positive impact on the number of vehicles.
Having cycled in Amsterdam this year i think I have been spoiled!!!
More tax on diesel, same on petrol, less on LPG (which burns cleanest).
Showers, changing rooms and bike racks should be tax deductable for businesses promoting cycle/run/walk to work.
I've thought for some time that government as an entity does realise the health and economic problems caused by excessive reliance on cars but dare not take action, regardless of party, because to do so is a sure vote loser. Therefore they have been for some years (decades even) prodding local government to take on this resonsibility.
That's it, i'm getting a mask.
The Particles in vehicle emission pollution are very, very small, masks are rendered useless as the particles pass through too easily and are breathed in. It's why it's such a cause for concern. The small particles get deep into the narrower airways of the lungs (Bronchioles) and can cause severe respiratory problems.
...and that's on the death certificates as the cause of death?
So you don't think smoking kills anyone either? Or obesity?
Can we see the evidence for this claim, please?
The evidence is in Defra's document. 29,500 deaths caused by particulates and a further 23,500 deaths caused by NO2.
Who ever heard of anyone dying from NO2 poisoning? Has this EVER been written on a death certificate? Do we see thousands of people slumped dead over the steering wheels of their vehicles? I don't think so. This report is bollocks. Whilst poor air quality does affect people's health - respiratory illnesses, indeed possibly cancers,etc. but to claim 23,500 die as a result of elevated NO2 levels is fantasy. People die of heart attacks, brain aneurisms, cancer, old age. The Government was in denial for decades that smoking caused lung cancer but now the link is established but people STILL choose to smoke. I suspect smoking, being fat, type 2 diabetes kills many many many more than poor air quality with elevated NO2 levels.
Vehicle engine technology has improved massively in the last 20-30 years. I say this as if you are out for a ride on a lovely sunday morning and a group of "classic car" old bangers passes you, you know old MGs and Triumph cars driven by fat old duffers wearing golfing jumpers and peaked caps, you will literally feel like you are being gassed as the engines from vehicles made decades ago emitted extremely high and dangerous levels of CO and also lead as they used to use leaded petrol. Current car and vehicle engines are much cleaning owing to European legislation requiring vehicles manufacturers to make their vehicle engines more efficient and cleaner. I think we are now up to Euro 6 compliant engines. But there is still room for improvement especially with HGVs, buses, coaches and taxis.
So what is the reason for Defra's report? Trying to justify it's remit to give it's fat bureaucrats something to do to fill their days? If they don't spend their budget on pointless reports then they won't get any further funding for the next financial year. No doubt in producing this report they have themselves added massively to CO2 and NO2 emissions and air pollution.
Nothing will change. I'm pretty sure more people die from smoking and how many quit smoking? People of London are prepared to sit in traffic for 3 hours everyday, pay congestion charge, parking, fuel when it take me about an hour and a half to get to and back home in rush hour with a bike. As I've said before it will take one famous person to get hurt on a bicycle for others to take this seriously.
People can choose to smoke or not smoke. I just conducted an experiment and breathing is definitely non-optional.
Defra's admission of 23,500 deaths from NO2 seems to be new, and will almost certainly be used by many campaigners in the future.
However, the fact that Defra is now championing cycling – and cycling infrastructure – is also newsworthy, a point I stress at http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/defra-calls-for-cycleways-after-admitti...
Now, Defra – like DfT – is merely suggesting local authorities should do stuff but the language used is nevertheless strong.
And Defra says the most polluting vehicles ought to be prevented from travelling on thousands of miles of roads (700 in London alone).
That Defra is talking about "access restrictions" is significant. Hopefully, much of this thinking will influence the DfT in due course, and local authorities, too.
I'm sure I'm not the only person to be cynical about the comment that the report release coincided with the Labour party election result. Burying bad news... old government trick.
Imagine if the water supply was killing 50,000 people every year. There would be uproar.
When motor transport is the culprit, heads disappear into the sand.
but, but, cars are good, progress, jobs, tax revenue, must go faster, must get goods to market.....