Injury and Environmental Epidemiology, a converging agenda |
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Authors: | Elihu D Richter Stephen M Reingold |
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Institution: | (1) Environmental and Occupational Health Unit, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, POB 12272, Jerusalem, Israel, e-mail |
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Abstract: | Reliance on motor vehicle travel and the internal combustion engine has provided mobility, but the public health costs are
substantial: Road deaths, adverse deleterious health effects from air pollution and noise, reduction in physical exercise,
and toxic hazards associated with the refining, transport, use and disposal of petrochemicals. For traumatic road injury,
kinetic energy is the pathogen. Risks for injury and death rise with the second and fourth power of increases in velocity
upon impact; emissions of many air pollutants also increase exponentially with speed. Models derived from vector transmission
in infectious diseases have proven useful for defining risks and designing interventive strategies. These models predict the
number of lives saved and injuries prevented from a package of low-cost, effective measures, which can be quickly implemented.
Eradication of road deaths and elimination of air pollution emissions are achievable public health goals.
Speed camera systems produce sustainable levels of detection deterring speeding, and thereby reducing human injury and environmental
damage. “Education” and building more roads, part of the scenario “predict and provide,” have not been shown to reduce injury
risks. Building more roads, which in the long run, promotes urban sprawl and congestion, does not reduce travel time.
High speed toll roads and circular beltways, which involve trade-offs among time-saving, risk of injury, and diversion of
traffic from population centers, need to be re-evaluated and compared to alternative strategies based on modal shifts. We
suggest that revenues resulting from massive use of speed cameras can serve as the first step for funding the first steps
of sustainable transportation policies based on developing alternatives to private vehicle use and trucking. Such alternatives
could lead to even further reductions in injury and death and adverse effects of air pollution. More involvement by epidemiologists
in overseeing and evaluating strategies can expedite progress towards the goal of eradication of deaths from road injury,
and at the same time, reduce emissions of air pollutants.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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