Traffic Pollution: A Silent Killer in the U.K.?

(Photo: Joe Buckingham)

A new study claims that traffic pollution “is more than twice as deadly as traffic accidents.”  Scientists Steve Yim and Steven Barrett “estimate that combustion exhausts across the U.K. cause nearly 5,000 premature deaths each year,” writes Roland Pease. “The pair also estimate that exhaust gases from aeroplanes cause a further 2,000 deaths annually.”  The study also points out that pollution travels:

Of the 19,000 annual U.K. deaths estimated, 7,000 are due to pollutants blown in from the continent. In London, European pollutants add 960 deaths each year to the 2,200 caused by U.K. combustion fumes.

But the international trade in deaths goes both ways. More than 3,000 European deaths can be attributed to U.K. emissions the authors say.

Yim and Barrett estimate that premature deaths are costing the U.K. billions of dollars a year, and suggest reducing black carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions and investing in public transportation.

(HT: Naked Capitalism)