Is Air Pollution Causing Car Accidents?

We all know that traffic has a negative effect on the air. but is it the same the other way around? New evidence seems to suggest that air pollution might actually be causing more car accidents. The research has found a bit of a boomerang effect when it comes to car emissions.

Polluting the air

The main pollution problem comes from internal combustion engines. Cars powered by petrol and diesel emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. These contribute to global warming, harm nearby wildlife and can also harm people regularly exposed to them in a number of ways. But what about cars themselves?

London School of Economics’ environmental economist Lutz Sager, focussed on nitrogen dioxide. With average car accident data for different areas as well as the average levels of nitrogen dioxide, he was able to track any abnormal increases in both and calculate whether the two correlated.

He found that even the tiniest increase in the concentration of the gas can increase the number of accidents by 2 percent a day. Cities are the biggest victims of the effect – though they’re also the biggest contributors in the first place. The effect caused up to four extra accidents per day in one area of London, Sager found.

How does it happen?

It’s not known for sure what exactly is making the polluted air affect drivers. One speculation is that the poor air quality is making the drivers’ eyes and noses itchy and as a consequence they’re getting distracted. That’s pretty tenuous though. Sager suggests a more likely link is the effect on drivers’ focus.

“There is research that shows that students do worse on tests when there are higher amounts of air pollution in the rooms where they have their test sites,” he explains. “It may be that people feel more tired or are less focused, or have a slower reaction time”

The bigger picture

London notched up some of the highest results in the study, but outside the UK there are areas far worse than the British capital. It isn’t just traffic either. Research by the McIlvaine Company suggests that Chinese power plants emit as much NOx (nitrogen oxides) as all the passenger cars in the world. This could be contributing to their level of car accidents, but is definitely damaging the surrounding environment and the people living there. They have made some steps to reducing their emissions, but there is still a long way to go.