Poisonous, noisy and dangerous ... but will

REPORT BY ENVIRONMENT EDITOR ROB EDWARDS THE Sunday Herald reveals today that fumes from car exhausts are poisoning the air in cities and towns across the country, noise from vehicle engines is blighting the lives of nearly one million people and speed limits are increasing pollution and accidents.

According to Professor James Curran, the chief executive of the Government’s Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), pollution from transport is also one of the major causes of climate change.

“In my view, this is the greatest threat faced by humankind so we’ve got to do something about it,” he said. “I know that weaning people off their cars isn’t easy.

F“But we must get serious about dealing with climate change, and meeting our national target of a 42% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020.”

“Our love affair with the car has blighted communities and contributed to ill health,” said the new director of WWF Scotland, Lang Banks. “We need to see a stepping up in both policies and coordination by Government if we are to really enable more people to get out from behind the wheel.” UMES from vehicl e exhausts breached air pollution safety limits at 26 urban sites across Scotland last year and put the health of millions of people at risk, according to Government monitoring results.

In 2012, there were toxic concentrations and tiny particles of nitrogen dioxide emitted by cars, lorries and buses in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Paisley, Bearsden, Rutherglen, Perth, Falkirk and several other towns. The worst pollution was at Hope Street in the centre of Glasgow.

According to experts, the high levels can cause breathing problems and heart attacks. Up to 3000 people are estimated to die every year from air pollution in Scotland, compared to 190 deaths from road accidents.

“Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health,” said Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland. “Fumes from cars, lorries and buses kill at least 10 times the number who die in road crashes every year.”

Some of the targets to cut air pollution, set in the late 1990s, should have been met by 2005. “Yet we still have air pollution at dangerous levels on streets across Scotland,” he told the Sunday Herald. “The Scottish Government and local authorities have failed to take this issue seriously, and between them need to do more than make promises. We need action on traffic levels and the types of vehicles allowed on our most polluted streets.”

Professor James Curran, chief executive of Sepa, urged travellers to walk, cycle or use public transport, all of which have lower emissions.

‘‘If you really have to drive, try car-sharing, choose the cleanest car you can, and drive it as economically as you can,” he said.

Dr Sean Semple, a University