HEALTH TIPS : HOW SITTING IN TRAFFIC JAM CAN HARM YOUR HEALTH.
Pollution that gathers inside cars in traffic jams and at red traffic lights is far higher than that found in cars that are moving.
The world health organization (WHO) describe outdoor air pollution as a major environmental risk to health, linking it to 3.7 million premature deaths worldwide in 2012.
Air pollution contributes to lung cancer, asthma and other respiratory diseases and it has been associated with heart disease and stroke. All of these can be fatal.
In the united States, exposure to particulate mattes in the air is the eighth leading cause of death each year.
In london, in the united kingdom, deaths related to air pollution are estimated to be 10 times higher than fatalities caused by road traffic accidents.
Research has shown that 25 percent of exposure to harmful particules when driving occurs in the 2 percent of the journey time that drivers spend passing through pollution at intersections is 29 times higher than on the open road.
At intersections, vehicles slow down, stop, rev up to move when lights turn green, and they are closer together. As a result, cars waiting in traffic jams or at red lights contains up to 40 percent more pollution than those that are moving.
In a new study, the scientists took measurements of particulate matter in a moving car under five different ventilation settings. The car travelled 6 kilometers and passed through to different traffic lights.
They took measurements at 3 - way and 4 - way intersections managed by traffic lights.
The authors wanted to see how the different ventilation settings would affect particulate matter inside the car. They also looked at how levels of pollution within the car compared with experienced by pedestrians crossing roads at the same traffic lights.
Results showed that the ventilation system of the car was efficient at removing coarse particles fell, the number of fine particules from the air, but as the concentration of coarse particles fell, the number of fine particules increased.
The highest levels of pollution within the car tended to occur when the windows were closed at the traffic lights and the fan was on.
To reduce the amount of pollution exposure while waiting in traffic jams and at traffic lights, the authors suggest that, weather permitting, motorist should close car windows and switch off the fan. This, they say, can reduce the chance of breathing in hazardous levels of air pollution by 76 percent.
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