50,000 heart deaths a year caused by traffic noise
Thursday, February 28, 2008

Close to half of all Europeans are regularly exposed to traffic noise levels that are potentially dangerous to health, a new study has found.

Noise from rail and road transport is linked to 50,000 fatal heart attacks every year and 200,000 cases of cardio-vascular disease in the EU according to the new research published today by T&E.

The report's findings come as the European Commission is expected to begin legal proceedings against a number of EU member states for failing to fulfil their obligations under the terms of the 2002 EU Directive on Environmental Noise (2).

Meanwhile, new EU legislation has been delayed. A planned revision of rules governing tyre noise has been repeatedly postponed by the European Commission despite an EU deadline of 2004 for a full review. A proposal for a new tyre noise directive is now expected in Summer 2008.

Nina Renshaw, noise policy officer at T&E said: "This research shows that the lack of decent regulation combined with increased traffic and a trend towards bigger, more powerful and noisier vehicles is literally proving to be a lethal combination for Europeans."

cont. at https://www.transportenvironment.org...-traffic-noise