Modern Invisible Hazard of Urban Air Environment Pollution When Operating Vehicles That Causes Large Economic Damage

Abstract

Currently, the planet population is terrified of the deaths of more than 4 million people from the coronavirus as they do not know that, according to the WHO, about 8 million of the population die annually in silence from urban atmosphere pollution by and with hazardous substances and particulate matters from the industry and automobile transport operation. These materials show the results of Russian studies proving that current urban pollution shall be defined not only by hazardous substances and particulate matters emitted with vehicle exhaust gases, but also by particulate matters from vehicle operation, first of all, from asphalt roadway wear, from tyre wear and from brake systems wear, which are not legally regulated either by nations or at the international level (UN Regulations) yet. The Russian studies (2015-2017) are presented regarding the comparative analysis of average emissions of particulate matters less than 2.5 microns (µm) from different sources: with exhaust gases (EG) (25%); from wear of brake systems (5%); from wear of tyres (8%) and from wear of roadways (65%), which were substantially confirmed by the studies conducted in Great Britain: from EG – 32%; from tyres – 18%; from brakes – 18% and from wear of roadways – 40%. Based on these results of the comprehensive studies, calculations of economic damage caused by the ecological situations and technogenic disasters of the current and future periods analyzed above, which amount to 65 quadrillion (65•1015) US dollars for the today's world and ca. 100 million dollars for the Russian Federation. According to the data of the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2018, 9 out of 10 people around the world breathe air with high concentrations of pollutants. For that very reason, from 7 to 8 million people die annually because of the consequences of breathing the air containing particulate matters less than 2.5-10 µm in size which are able to penetrate deep inside the lungs and cardiovascular system, causing such diseases as stroke, cardiac diseases, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory infections, including pneumonia.