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Road traffic is the largest single contributor to human exposure to air pollutants and noise in urban areas and one of the main causes of injuries and of psychosocial distress; it ranks with smoking and diet as one of the most important health determinants in Europe. Traffic-related air pollution, noise, accidents and social effects combine to generate a wide range of negative health consequences, including increased mortality, cardiorespiratory and stress-related diseases, cancer and physical injury. These affect not only transport users but also the population at large, particularly vulnerable groups such as children and elderly people, cyclists and pedestrians.

Need for integrated risk assessment

Strategies to address one risk have eventually increased another. Integrated risk assessment allows the quantification of the overall effect of urban land use and transport policies on human health. Appropriate policies in these sectors would reduce health risks associated to traffic. The continued growth in road traffic – currently about 2.5% per year – means that road transport is likely to remain a major policy concern for the foreseeable future.

The HEARTS project developed and tested a methodology for integrated impact assessment to evaluate changes in exposure patterns generated by urban transport and land use policies, and to quantify selected health effects associated with:

• air pollution: cardiovascular, respiratory and total mortality, and hospital admissions for asthma and cardiovascular diseases;
• noise: chronic effects of noise exposure on psychosocial conditions, such as annoyance, and sleep disturbance; and
• lethal and non-lethal injuries.

Key elements

• Results and tools that allow the inclusion of health effects into transport policy and planning
• Integration of effects with different causes (noise, accidents, air pollution) and the interests of diverse sectors and stakeholders (transport, health, urban planning, environment, etc.)
• Work with cities, testing the proposed methodology
• Display and communication, where possible, of the results of assessments of different policy scenarios using a geographic information system (GIS)