Traffic Clippings

[traffic-clippings]

Bajar un decibelio el ruido del tráfico evitaría 468 muertes al año en Madrid

Un estudio calcula el número de fallecimientos producidos por enfermedades asociadas a la exposición al ruido y calcula los beneficios de reducirlo

[traffic-clippings]

Pollution and infant mortality in Flanders, Belgium

Our study shows that air pollution standards have to be taken more seriously. We estimated that 43% of mortality during the late neonatal period may be triggered by peaks of PM10 > 50 μg/m3. We do not claim that air pollution was the major, let alone the only, cause of death in these infants, but our data suggest that air pollution may precipitate death in infants with preexisting conditions.  (...) European regulation, which currently uses standards that are considerably higher than those of the WHO (2006), stipulates that we may have a maximum of 35 days/year with a mean PM10 > 50 μg/m3. In Belgium, this standard is barely met at present, and although minor improvements due to emission reduction measures are expected, the limit value of 50 μg/m3 will continue to be exceeded frequently in the coming decade. 

(...) The argument that it is difficult to meet standards in densely populated areas ignores the fact that the importance of a factor with respect to public health increases in proportion to the number of people who are exposed to it.

From the case-crossover study "Does Air Pollution Trigger Infant Mortality in Western Europe?"

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Muerte legal

La UE ha fijado un límite para las partículas finas de 25 mg/m³ -superior a los 10 mg/m³ fijados por la OMS-, y se ha demostrado que los efectos adversos de la contaminación del aire sobre la salud están presentes incluso en concentraciones muy por debajo.

(...)

Los resultados mostraron que entre los 312.944 participantes, 2.095 desarrollaron cáncer de pulmón durante los 13 años que duró el seguimiento. Los investigadores vieron que por cada incremento de 5 microgramos por metro cúbico de contaminación (PM2.5), el riesgo de cáncer de pulmón se incrementaba en un 18%

El resto aquí. Es escalofriante.

[traffic-clippings]

420 raisons

La Belgique s’est en effet fixé l’objectif de réduire de moitié le nombre de décès sur les routes entre 2010 et 2020. L’objectif intermédiaire vise à ne pas dépasser les 630 tués en 2015 pour finalement atteindre la limite des 420 tués en 2020

Service public fédéral Économie de la Belgique, ici. Il faut se demander qui sont ces 420 personnes; pour quoi on nous présent leur meurt comme quelque chose d'inévitable; et en nom de quoi ils doivent mourir.

[traffic-clippings]

Alergia al tráfico

La contaminación explica por qué hay más prevalencia de alergia en las zonas urbanas, con muchos gases tóxicos procedentes del tráfico. Los pólenes se vuelven más agresivos (...) El ozono, por ejemplo, tiene la capacidad de lesionar directamente las mucosas del aparato respiratorio, de forma que las proteínas del polen le hacen más daño. También sucede con las partículas del diésel; son contaminantes que incrementan la inflamación que genera la propia enfermedad”

[traffic-clippings]

How the car industry outlawed crossing the road

Pedestrians had been "impeding traffic and causing too many accidents and deaths", one traffic police official said

[traffic-clippings]

What we found was that as the expensiveness of a car increased, the driver's tendencies to break the law increased as well. None of the cars, none of the cars in our least expensive car category broke the law. Close to 50 percent of the cars in our most expensive vehicle category broke the law. We've run other studies finding that wealthier individuals are more likely to lie in negotiations, to endorse unethical behavior at work like stealing cash from the cash register, taking bribes, lying to customers.

[thisiscitylab]

Driving is actually less energy-efficient than flying.

[explore-blog]

If you can walk to work or take your bike on a daily basis, I think that’s just about the coolest thing that there is. Every morning I listen to the traffic on the radio, and they talk about how they are jammed and I just laugh. I love traffic. I love traffic reports because I’m not in any of them.

Jerry Seinfeld said.

(via explore-blog)

[nickkahler]

If you ask people today what a street is for, they will say cars. That’s practically the opposite of what they would have said 100 years ago.

Peter Norton, Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, 2008 (via atlantic)

[traffic-clippings]

Humor en El País

"Los coches devuelven el optimismo a Detroit". En serio, ese es el titular.

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Asocian el ruido del tráfico a una mayor mortalidad por enfermedades respiratorias

Investigadores españoles han conseguido relacionar por vez primera el ruido ambiente de Madrid con un aumento de la mortalidad por enfermedades respiratorias, y apuntan que podrían ser extrapolables a cualquier núcleo urbano que registre niveles de ruido similares a la capital madrileña.

el efecto del ruido sobre la mortalidad es del 6,2 por ciento por cada decibelio (dB) de incremento de los niveles de ruido.

[traffic-clippings]

My architect has forbidden me to

When Americans think of health, we instinctively see in our mind’s eye the medical profession and the hospitals and clinics in which they treat illness. We usually do not think of architects and other design professionals. But what if we invited designers to help us reinvent aspects of preventive medicine? What if we adopted design strategies that lead to less sedentary lifestyles?

Report on "the state of health + urbanism" from MIT. Seen here.

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Agua y petróleo

En Venezuela, una botella de agua de 600 ml. cuesta en una discoteca unos 13 bolívares (2 dólares), mientras que llenar el tanque de un carro de 40 litros de gasolina cuesta $0.50. En el país con las mayores reservas mundiales de petróleo, el precio de la gasolina ha permanecido congelado desde 1996. Ahora el Gobierno valora revisarlo al alza.

Leído en El Faro: El país en el que es más caro comprar un botellín de agua que llenar el tanque del carro

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11 years less

"We've all woken up to the fact that in London over 4,000 people die prematurely every year because of the air quality - that's worse than 9/11," he said.

"We're not just talking about a few elderly people dying a few months early. On average they're dying 11 years early.

Former London's mayor Ken Livingstone, here.

[oahficw]

And so when the local government inexplicably banned cycling on major roads people turned out in force to protest and demand the right to travel by bicycle. 

Share your best urbanism #didyouknow with us!

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[astudyinmovement]