Abstract
Traffic is a major source of urban air pollution that affects health, especially among children. As lower speed limits are commonly applied near schools in many cities, and different governments have different policies on vehicle fleet composition, this research estimated how different speed limits and fleet emissions affect air quality near a primary school. Based on data of traffic, weather, and background air quality records in Dublin from 2013, traffic, emission, and dispersion models were developed to assess the impact of different speed limits and fleet composition changes against current conditions. Outside the school, hypothetical speed limit changes from 30 km/h to 50 km/h could reduce the concentration of NO2 and PM10 by 3% and 2%; shifts in the fleet from diesel to petrol vehicles could reduce these pollutants by 4% and 3% but would increase the traffic-induced concentrations of CO and Benzene by 63% and 35%. These changes had significantly larger impacts on air quality on streets with higher pollutant concentrations. Findings suggest that both road safety and air quality should be considered when determining speed limits. Furthermore, fleet composition has different impacts on different pollutants and there are no clear benefits associated with incentivising either diesel or petrol engine vehicles.
Highlights
Research has shown significant associations between traffic pollution and adverse human health effects related to lung, heart, psychological, and other body systems [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
We evaluated a number of traffic management strategies that could have impacts on air quality near the school
The average modelled traffic volumes and speeds within the modelled area are summarised in Figure 3, showing the average hourly traffic data and average speed for all road segments within the baseline scenario during different hours of the day
Summary
Research has shown significant associations between traffic pollution and adverse human health effects related to lung, heart, psychological, and other body systems (e.g., increasing lung cancer, heart disease, dementia, and other health problems) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Children in particular have been noted to be at high risk of pollution-related disease. Traffic related air pollution is linked to worsening existing health problems in children, but is connected with the development of diseases, such as asthma [14]. Traffic related air pollution is harmful to the development of children’s nervous system, causing neurodegeneration, neuro-inflammation, and problems connected to cognition [15,16,17].
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