New briefing on the health impacts of transport launched on Clean Air Day as part of Better Transport Week
The health impacts of transport are being highlighted on national Clean Air Day as part of Better Transport Week – a week-long celebration of sustainable transport launched by Campaign for Better Transport.
Launching Better Transport for Better Health at Kings College London today, representatives from Campaign for Better Transport will be joined by Professor Jenny Mindell, Honorary Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health at UCL as well as speakers from Global Action Plan/Clean Air Day, Footways and Kings College, London.
The venue has been chosen to launch Campaign for Better Transport’s briefing on the effects of transport on our health and wellbeing to highlight the significant infrastructure development at Strand Aldwych, which now enables safe and healthy access between Kings College London buildings, Somerset House and St Mary-Le-Strand, tackling air pollution and encouraging walking and wheeling.
Michael Solomon Williams, from Campaign for Better Transport, said: “We launched Better Transport Week to celebrate sustainable transport in all its forms and highlight just how important it is to our health and wellbeing. Fewer lorries, fewer cars, fewer vans on our roads and greater use of public transport and active travel is the way forward to cleaner air and better health. Everyone can improve their own health and the health of others by using sustainable transport more, and we hope Better Transport Week will inspire more people to get on board.”
Dr Jenny Mindell, Emerita Professor of Public Health University College and Co-chair (Science), the Transport and Health Science Group, said: “The Transport and Health Science Group is delighted to support Better Transport Week. We need a better transport system that helps people go where they need or want to go without costing the earth.
“When places are designed assuming car use, the better off get the advantages. However, the poor, the old, the young, and other disadvantaged groups get all the harmful effects of other people’s car use and at the same time have problems travelling themselves. We need to end car dominance and focus on people and on active travel and public transport – better for health, better for the environment, better for reducing inequalities and transport poverty, and better for society.”
Larissa Lockwood, Director of Clean Air at Global Action Plan, the coordinators of Clean Air Day and a Better Transport Week official partner, said: “We’re delighted that Better Transport Week is highlighting the crucial link between sustainable transport and the health of people and our planet this Clean Air Day. We’re asking the public to try leaving the car behind on Clean Air Day and one day every week, to reduce their exposure and contribution to air pollution. Making it easier for more people to walk, wheel and take public transport is key to improving our air quality.”
Christina Calderato, Director of Transport Strategy and Policy at Transport for London, a Better Transport Week official partner, said: “The effects of air pollution are long lasting and with around 4,000 Londoners dying prematurely each year due to air pollution, children growing up with stunted lungs, and hundreds of thousands of people in our city developing life-changing illnesses, such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma, we’re taking action to make the capital’s air as clean as possible.
“We’re dedicated to achieving a significant shift from private vehicles to the most environmentally friendly ways of getting around, which is a vital part of cleaning up the air we breathe. We have a target of for 80 per cent of all journeys in London to be made on foot, by cycle or using public transport by 2041, which will further help us as we strive for a greener, cleaner and more sustainable London.”
Poor air quality affects huge swathes of Britain and is associated with up to 43,000 deaths each year, as well as many other non-fatal conditions. Along with reducing the volume of vehicles on our roads, the roll-out and take-up of sustainable transport options is one of the best ways of reducing the harmful effects of air pollution.
- Switching just over one per cent (1.7%) of car journeys to walking and cycling would prevent tens of thousands of early deaths from air pollution annually and deliver £2.58 billion in health benefits.
- If everyone switched two car journeys to bus a month by 2050, this would result in 15.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide savings and £14.9 billion worth of cumulative health benefits.
- Improved public transport across six UK cities could generate £115 million in healthcare cost savings.
- Improving air quality in the UK to World Health Organisation standards would bring in £1.6 billion worth of benefits annually.
Better Transport Week runs from 12 to 18 June and aims to promote the wide range of benefits of public transport, shared mobility, walking and cycling to the public and encourage more people to travel sustainably. Better Transport Week is being supported by a large number of organisations including the Department for Transport, local authorities, transport industry, NGOs, businesses and passenger groups.
Read Campaign for Better Transport’s briefing: Better Transport for Better Health.
ENDS
Media are invited to attend the photo call at 12:45pm on Thursday 15 June at Strand Aldwych, London.
Campaign for Better Transport’s health briefing – Better Transport for Better Health – is available to download here.
For further information please contact the press office on 07984 773 468 (calls only no texts) or communications@bettertransport.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- Better Transport Week runs from Monday 12 to Sunday 18 June and aims to promote public transport, shared mobility and active travel to mark the transport charity’s 50th year of campaigning. Thursday 15 June is Health Day, highlighting the health impacts of transport on National Clean Air Day. For more information visit the Better Transport Week webpage.
- Read the full list of Better Transport Week partners here.
- New research: cycling and walking “could save NHS billions”, Cycling UK.
- The decarbonisation dividend: The economic, environmental and social benefits of more bus and coach journeys, WPI Economics & CPT UK.
- Balancing the energy equation: three steps to cutting UK demand, Green Alliance.
- The Economic, Environmental, and Social Opportunities that Rail Brings to the UK, Oxford Economics.
- Breathing life into the UK economy, Quantifying the economic benefits of cleaner air, CBI (2020).
- Campaign for Better Transport was founded as Transport 2000 on 6 February 1973. 2023 marks its 50th year of campaigning for all communities to have access to high quality, sustainable transport that meets their needs, improves quality of life and protects the environment. Campaign for Better Transport Charitable Trust is a registered charity (1101929) which operates in England and Wales.
