If people swapped driving for walking or cycling for a quarter of trips, the NHS and wider society would save over £1bn every year in health costs from local air pollution, according to new research by the universities of Oxford and Bath.
Air pollution from cars and vans costs Britain almost £6bn every year in health bills with the impact most acute in cities. The health cost of an average car in inner London over its lifetime was calculated by the researchers to be almost £8,000. For diesel cars this figure was nearly double. The damage to health from diesel vehicle emissions is around five times higher than petrol vehicles and 20 times greater than for EVs (electric vehicles).
Almost one thousand schools in Britain are near roads with harmful levels of illegal pollution, which should be of particular concern because the young are at a higher from air pollution. Children aged between 8-10 years in polluted cities have up to 10 per cent less lung capacity than normal - according to doctors, lung function that may never be reversed.
Clean Air Day on 21 June, aims to raise awareness of air pollution and the harm it causes.
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Not only are we Britain’s most ethical insurance company, we campaign for sustainable transport. Sometimes that means protesting until a school gets the zebra crossing they’ve been refused or running 60 roadshows this year to encourage people out of their cars, or fixing bicycles for free. We also launched Green Transport Week and helped establish Car Free Day and Twenty’s Plenty to name just a few. We’ve been campaigning for sustainable transport in this way for over 27 years with the help of people like you. Supporting this work is easy – you simply have to take out insurance with us. Home insurance, cycle insurance, travel insurance and breakdown cover and we take care of the rest. We provide an excellent level of cover while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.
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