Air pollution increases traffic accidents

According to London University of Economics, air pollution is considered to be the cause of hundreds of car accidents each year.

A study examining data for five years showed that when the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO ₂ ) increased by one microgram per cubic meter of air, the number of traffic accidents increased by 2%. Although this impact can be explained when traffic volume increases on the road leading to more pollution and more accidents.

Instead, they believe that toxic gas weakens the ability of drivers to concentrate, watery eyes and itchy nose can also distract the driver.

A recent study also found that air pollution in cars can be twice as much as outside because NO ₂ gas usually accumulates in a small space.

Lutz Sager, research leader from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment at the LSE, said: "Although it has been proven that air pollution adversely affects human health and ability to take responsibility work related to the mind, but this is the first study published to assess the impact on road traffic safety " .

NO ₂ gas can affect the driver that typically is nasal itching and loss of attention when driving.(Source: Sarah Knapton, science editor).

Sager added: "The analysis identifies an air pollution agent that leads to road accidents, but I can only speculate about the cause of the link. My main argument is that air pollution is an image. enjoy the driver's sanity ".

Air pollution can be a result of the accumulation of various toxic gases including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, small matter molecules and ozone . However, NO ₂ gas is found to have the greatest effect.

Mr. Sager, a postdoctoral researcher, divided the United Kingdom into a network of 32 regions, each covering 7700 square kilometers and mapping the number of accidents corresponding to air pollution levels since 2009. by 2014 provided by the Environment Department (Defra).

He found that an increase in the concentration of nitrogen dioxide to one microgram per cubic meter above the daily average is sufficient to increase the average number of accidents every day. Mr. Sager calculates that the area including West London, where the air pollution is the most severe, if cutting 30% concentration of NO ₂ can reduce the number of road traffic accidents every day up up to 5%.

The concentration of NO ₂ in contaminated areas of London can average 97 micrograms per cubic meter of air. About 150,000 traffic collisions injure pedestrians in the UK each year, if 2% reduction means that thousands of accidents are prevented.

Many accidents occur when heavy air pollution.(Source: Telegraph).

Sager said: "This analysis uses UK data but I think my findings are related to many other parts of the world. Additional costs from traffic accidents confirm more needs. Air pollution reduction, especially in crowded cities My analysis shows that air pollutants on road traffic accidents measured in this study are more likely to originate from gas. Nitrogen dioxide or other polluted gases that are not molecular molecules ".

However, other experts still have doubts about the link between air pollution and traffic accidents.

AA president Edmund King said: "If you think high air pollution areas have a lot of accidents, you have to look back. Look at Mumbai and New Delhi, these two areas are badly polluted. but traffic is also chaotic and complicated, so I think that this study is not practical, how can I prove that the clarity of the driver is weakened by pollution ".