Applied to Australia,the findings suggest vehicle emissions cause 11,105 premature deaths,12,210 cardiovascular hospitalisations,6840 respiratory hospitalisations,and 66,000 childhood asthma cases every year. Last year,1187 people died on Australian roads
Lisel Thomas,who has lived in Yarraville for 20 years,said she was not surprised to hear the health cost of road pollution may have been underestimated. Residents in the inner-western Melbourne suburb live with heavy pollution from trucks serving the Port of Melbourne andhigher than average rates of lung and heartconditions.
“We’ve got young families in this area,as well as other people with chronic health conditions being really badly impacted by something where there are solutions,” Thomas said. “It just makes me feel really upset that 20 years down the track,the problem is still here.”
Thomas,55,said she believed road pollution triggered her asthma – she had a flare-up as soon as she returned home from overseas last week – and may have also caused her now-adult son to develop the condition.
Cities such as London,Tokyo,Beijing,Barcelona and Madrid have banned older,dirtier trucks from residential areas.
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Thomas said that would be a good solution for her community if the issue was taken seriously.
“Part of having those things happen is people understanding,with hard data,what the impact is of cars and trucks and other vehicles on their health,” she said.
Australia is one of the only developed nations without laws controlling how much pollution new vehicles can emit,a situation experts say has turned the country into a dumping ground for dirtier cars. Average emissions from new passenger vehicles sold here are 45 per cent higher than for those sold in Europe,according federal environment department.
Melbourne University health and air pollution researcher Clare Walter,who co-authored the report,said Australia should conduct its own comprehensive research.
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But she said there was no reason why the New Zealand results would not apply to Australia,considering the two countries have similar fuel quality,vehicle regulations,rates of urbanisation and underlying population health.
“There’s every reason to think the New Zealand figures,if anything,possibly underestimate the Australian context,” Walter said.
Asthma Australia,the Heart Foundation,Lung Foundation and the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance,whose members include the Cancer Council and Stoke Foundation,have endorsed the statement.
The Albanese government has been working on introducing fuel efficiency standards and increasing Australia’s globallyslow uptake of electric vehicles as part of its climate change policies. Passenger vehicles contribute about 10 per cent of Australia carbon emissions.
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Western Sydney University’s Vicki Kotsirilos said that along with vehicle emissions standards,Australia had not implemented other strategies used elsewhere to limit the effect of vehicle emissions,such as “anti-idling” laws,low-emissions zones and pollution barriers around schools.
“As soon as we inform the public that these vehicle emissions are so toxic to human health,then all it takes is simple strategies,” Kotsirilos said.
Walter said the lack of recognition of the full cost of road pollution was leading to policy failures in government,from emissions standards to urban planning.
“We’ve got a lot of people that are affected by vehicle emissions,but I haven’t seen any sort of public awareness campaigns or preventative strategies,” Walter said.
“You wouldn’t put your child in a daycare centre with people smoking cigarettes indoors,but we’ve got no problem putting themnext to a major road.”
Walter and Dr Kelvin Say wrote the report in consultation with Kotsirilos;Associate Professor Lou Irving,a respiratory physician at the MacCallum Cancer Centre;and Dr Ben Ewald and Dr Graeme McLeay from Doctors for the Environment Australia.
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