Toronto traffic is the worst (literally, ) — it can clog up roads and flare up frustration for drivers. But for pedestrians, it can be lethal, and in more ways than you think. The most obvious danger: being hit by a car when walking through the city.
As of July 7, 41 pedestrians have been seriously injured and 10 have died in traffic-related collisions in Toronto this year, according to the city’s Vision Zero dashboard. But there are other slow, invisible ways congestion can take years off your life as a pedestrian. You’re probably mostly familiar with harmful tailpipe emissions — noxious fumes from a car’s engine that, not only smell bad, but can kill you too.
As Toronto’s traffic continues to , getting away from air pollution is no easy feat. found that air pollution in the city caused 1,300 premature deaths and 3,550 hospitalizations annually. A broader Health Canada estimate from 2019 estimated that 14,600 premature deaths across Canada were associated with air pollution.
You need to be at least 300 metres away from a major roadway in order for the risks from tailpipe emission to become minimal — but in a city like Toronto, getting 300 metres away from a major street means you’re basically leaving the city core. The health toll of being caught in traffic goes deeper than stress and road rage. Here’s how sitting in gridlock affects your body.
The good news is that tailpipe emissions have been gradually decreasing, as technology for reducing engine emissions have been reduced. Pollution from nitrogen oxides, which cause the sky to turn a reddish hue on poor air quality days, has gone down. Same with emission from ultrafine particles, bits of pollution that are “smaller than a red blood cell that can relocate throughout the body,” Evans added.
But, since 2013, he said, emissions from brakes, tires and road dust have been on the rise. Canadians have started to turn more toward heavier SUVs and pickup trucks, which require more energy to stop and creates more wear and tear on the tires, Evans explained. Heavy trucks are the main source of traffic pollution, especially those that don’t meet modern emission standards or have their emission systems disconnected.
Traffic-related air pollution can have wide-ranging harmful effects. Exposure to air pollution in general, and traffic pollution specifically, can cause chronic effects that build up over a lifetime. Repeated exposure to pollution can make you more susceptible to events like heart attacks or respiratory problems, Evans added, and can even cause changes to our genes.
Studies have found connections between air pollution and neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s, as well as neurocognitive impacts for students in schools. Pollution has even been found inside the placenta of pregnant people and inside the brain, Evans said. Then, there are the acute effects — with repeated exposure, the chronic effect, builds up and “triggers” a health event like a heart attack or asthma attack or stroke.
An unmuffled motor, an angry driver leaning on the horn or a backfiring engine of an dying car — the symphony of Toronto traffic can be deafening. And deadly. A City of Toronto report on noise pollution from 2017 found that the vast majority of Torontonians, nearly 87 per cent, are exposed to daytime noise levels above World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
The same report found lower income neighbourhoods were 11 times more likely to have 50 per cent of their residents exposed to nighttime noise levels above WHO recommended limits. Noise can have knock-on health effects — it starts with “physiological, autonomous nervous system responses,” Tor Oiamo, an associate professor with TMU’s department of geography and environmental studies, said. Those are basically stress responses, Oiamo, who co-authored the 2017 report for the city, explained.
Even when you’re asleep, those responses can be triggered. In the short-term, loud noise from traffic might just make you grumpy or stressed. But, over time, after being exposed to loud noises again and again, those stressors can add up, Oiamo said.
Those effects can range from hearing loss to death. Most dangerously, noise can have downstream cardiovascular effects — it has been linked to heart attacks, heart disease, high blood pressure or strokes. “How do we want to create cities that are livable, where it’s enjoyable to go outside for a walk for the overwhelming majority of people?” Oiamo asked.
“We can’t eliminate it, that’s an unrealistic goal. But, as far as I’m concerned, creating an environment that supports quality of life should be the first priority.”.
