The Facts About Transportation Emissions | HASTE - Hub for Action on School Transportation Emissions

Here's a grab and go collection of facts and figures. There's a good chance you'll discover something you can run with.

Health

Participation in regular physical activity improves health. It strengthens cardiovascular function; reduces the risk of developing type II diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidiemia; and positively influences choices pertaining to nutrition and the decision not to smoke. Physical activity is also associated with better mental health through a better control of the effects of stress and anxiety and a reduction of depression symptoms, and has a positive effect on the many components of physical health. [However] studies suggest that 62% of Canadians are still not active enough to reap the health benefits of a physically active lifestyle. (Active Healthy Kids Canada)
If you have a choice, walk or ride a bicycle instead of driving. For the safety-conscious cyclist, the many benefits of "active transportation" outweigh the risks. (Canada Safety Council)
A UK study demonstrated that children who walk to school burn more calories than those who are driven. The number of calories burned weekly through walking to school is the equivalent of two hour-long classes of physical education. (Mackett R.L., Reducing children’s car use: the health and potential car dependency impacts)

Safety

An average of one pedestrian is killed every day on Canadian roads, and across Canada there are still more than 50 deaths and 600 injuries a week due to road crashes. Over the past 50 years nearly 200,000 Canadians have died in traffic accidents — more than were killed in both world wars combined. (Canada Safety Council)
In British Columbia, 20% of all pedestrian accidents involve children under fifteen years of age; 60% of these accidents occur during the morning, noon and afternoon peak hours. (Way To Go Program)
Traffic collisions are the leading cause of serious injury and death among young children in Canada. (Statistics Canada)

Automobile Use

Dependency on the automobile leads to a “vicious cycle” effect, starting with more demand for roadways, low parking rates, and expectations for low-density housing development away from city cores. These in turn lead to further automobile dependency and increased costs to provide transit service to outlying areas. The resulting lack of growth in transit service availability then reinforces declining transit use. (Environment Canada)
Even though there is a growing tendency for the population to congregate in large urban centres and people have access to better public transportation services, dependence on the automobile increased between 1992 and 2005. According to data from the General Social Survey (GSS) on time use, the proportion of people aged 18 and over who went everywhere by car – as either a driver or a passenger – rose from 68% in 1992, to 70% in 1998 and then 74% in 2005.

Conversely, the proportion of Canadians who made at least one trip under their own power by bicycle or on foot appears to have declined between 1998 and 2005. In 2005, 19% of people 18 and over walked or pedalled from one place to another, down from 26% and 25% in 1992 and 1998 respectively. How can we explain why Canadians, most of whom live in large metropolitan regions, now need their cars more than ever to go about their daily business? (Statistics Canada)

Energy

In 2005, Canada was the second highest user of energy for road transportation among the G7countries at 55.3 gigajoules per person. (Human Resources and Social Development Canada)

Air Pollution

Automobile use produces and releases a number of pollutants into the air, each of which affect your health:
- Nitrogen oxides: can irritate airways, especially your lungs.
- Carbon monoxide: decreases the ability of your blood to carry oxygen.
- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): some of these, such as benzene and 1,3-butadiene, are cancer-causing agents.
- Fine particulate matter: are known to aggravate symptoms in individuals who already suffer from respiratory or cardiovascular diseases.
- Ground-level ozone: irritates airways and can trigger reactions in people who have asthma. (Health Canada)
Every year up to 16,000 Canadians die prematurely from air pollution. (Health Canada)
Scientific studies in Europe have shown that children living in areas with higher traffic density have more respiratory symptoms than other children. (Health Canada)
In-vehicle concentrations of Automobile produce air-pollutants are generally higher than roadside levels. (Environment Canada)

Green House Gas Emissions

Reducing vehicle emissions could be the most important move Canadians make in reducing greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change. Studies show that transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, accounting for more than one quarter of the total. (Environment Canada)

Idling

For every litre of gasoline used, a vehicle produces about 2.3 kilograms of CO2 , the principle GHG linked to climate change. Idling longer than 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more CO2 compared to restarting the engine. In fact, if Canadian motorists avoided idling for just three minutes every day of the year, CO2 emissions could be reduced by 1.4 million tonnes annually. This would be equal to saving 630 million litres of fuel and equivalent to taking 320,000 cars off of the road for the entire year. (National Resources Canada - Office of Energy Efficiency)

Public Transit

One city bus can take 40 vehicles off the road, save 70,000 litres of fuel and keep 168 tonnes of pollutants out of the atmosphere each year. (Environment Canada)