Environmental Injustice: Neighbourhood Traffic Hits Sicker Harder

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Community severance is the of traffic and transport infrastructure on the mobility of individuals, particularly pedestrians. Whilst awareness of the possible negative health consequences of community severance is increasing, valid and reliable measurements are lacking. As part of a cross-disciplinary project to measure community severance, this study investigated associations between characteristics of individuals and reporting an inhibitory effect of traffic volume and speed on ability to walk locally. METHODS: Two case study areas in London, United Kingdom, each bisected by a 6-lane carriageway, were selected by the project team as places likely to exemplify community severance. A questionnaire was administered to residents of the two inner London neighbourhoods: Woodberry Down (N=101and Finchley Road (N=209). Participants provided demographic, socioeconomic and health information; rated volume and speed of traffic on local roads; and indicated the extent to which traffic conditions affected their ability to walk locally. Associations were measured using logistic regression. RESULTS: In both case study areas almost 80% of participants identified the 6-lane carriageway as the busiest road. A majority of participants rated the speed of traffic on the busiest road as fairly/ very fast (52%) and its volume as fairly/ very heavy (74%). Only 14% of the whole study sample reported their ability to walk locally was often/ always affected by the speed of local traffic and the same proportion reported it was often/ always affected by the local traffic volume. However, the ability of those with an activity-limiting longstanding condition to walk locally was around eight times more likely to be often/ always affected by traffic speed (OR=8.1; 95% CI=4.0–16.4) and volume (OR=7.9; 95% CI=3.9–16.2) than those without such a condition. CONCLUSIONS: Participant ratings of local traffic corroborate the research team's selection of the case study areas as places with potential for traffic to constitute a barrier to personal mobility. However, the survey findings suggest that whilst local traffic conditions may be perceived as poor by a majority – as indicated by proportions rating traffic fast and heavy on the busiest road – they tend to inhibit local walking for a particular minority, those with a longstanding health condition whose mobility is already impaired. Longitudinal research is necessary to determine whether, in a vicious cycle, the health conditions of those who report traffic volume and speed inhibit walking are exacerbated by these barriers.