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Impact of Traffic Congestion

In: Social Issues

Submitted By quentin10
Words 993
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Causes of Traffic Congestion:
Time wastage lead to inefficiency of public transport and negative impacts on economy
In a congested traffic condition, the first thought of people is that time is wasted when they are caught in a traffic jam. According to Rozmi Ismail, et. al (2012), traffic congestion causes unpredictable time which causes the bus service system in Malaysia to be inefficient. Other than that, Morgan (2014) also claimed that, drivers will also face the same problem as they could not predict an actual time to certain destination causing their working performance to decline. As a result, economic growth is affected as time is wasted in a traffic jam which causes every individual to be late for their work and appointments, leading to loss in productivity for businesses (Hartman 2014). In Malaysia, heavily congested highways in Klang Valley causes lost in manpower hours that will lead to a loss more than RM12million per year (Gomez 2014).
Fuel consumption and pollution
In a congested traffic condition, fuel consumption is much more higher than a smooth rate traffic as the fuel consumption rate is strongly associated to the driving pattern such as stop and go, acceleration on-deceleration and so on (Robinson 1984). The consumption rate of a motor vehicle increase in traffic congestion will increase the fuel consumption costs of commuters thus daily expenditure of commuters will be burdened (Morgan 2014). Other than that, emission of greenhouse gases which leads to air pollution is also one of the effects of traffic congestion (Barth and Boriboonsomsin 2009). A research done by Barth and Borinboonsomsin (2008) also stated that the slow speed of vehicle is strongly related to the high emission of air particulates namely hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. The research asserted that there will be a negative net impact on the emissions of carbon dioxide whenever the vehicle is moving below an average speed of 45kmph in a congested road. Therefore, all these will lead to a set of consequences whereby enormous amount of vehicle spending more time in the traffic result in a higher emission of air particulates which threaten the clean air atmosphere.
Health of public
Traffic congestion also threatens humans’ health. One of the consequences is increasing the risj of heart disease. Washington University carried out a study in St. Louis showed a result that commuters who are caught in a traffic jam will tend to have a larger waistlines and higher blood pressure which threaten their cardiovascular health (Pollution Probe 2014). This is because they have lesser participation in physical activities causing a decrease in cardiovascular fitness as their time is wasted when they are caught in a congested road. Furthermore, Dr Hagen Kälsch, from West-German Heart Centre proposed that his study about cardiovascular disease is also related to noise pollution which is caused by traffic congestion that leads them to have emotional disturbance (Kulur 2013). The spill over effects also threatened the younger generations. According to Hotz (2011), Children who live in areas of high levels of emission (traffic congested area) will perform poorer than children who live in areas with cleaner air environment. This is because air pollution will causes children to be more prone to depression, anxiety resulting attention problem in their studies. Moreover, high levels of nitrogen oxide are harmful to humans whereas the primary cause acid rain is contributed by the emission of sulphur dioxide. Carbon dioxide leads to climate change as it is able to insulate heat from the sun. A survey is done by Omran (2011) in Pinang Island, Malaysia demonstrated cough and sore throat is the major illness caused by traffic air pollution which is 82.2%, asthma 55.6%, difficulty in breathing 53.3%, followed by headaches 48.9%, red eyes 24.4% and heart attack 4.4%.

Reference list
Morgan, L., 2014. The effect of traffic congestion. [online] Available at: <http://traveltips.usatoday.com/effects-traffic-congestion-61043.html> [Accessed 25 May 2014]
Robinson, R., 1984. Problems in the urban environment: traffic congestion and its effects. [pdf] University of Wollongong. Available at: <http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=wollgeo> [Accessed 25 May 2014]
Rozmi Ismail, et al., 2012. Passengers Preference and Satisfaction of Public Transport in Malaysia. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences. [online] Available at: <http://ajbasweb.com/old/ajbas/2012/August/410-416.pdf> [Accessed 25 May 2014]
Barth, M. and Boriboonsomsin, K., 2008. Real-World CO2 Impacts of Traffic Congestion. [pdf] University of California at Riverside. Available at: <http://www.uctc.net/papers/846.pdf> [Accessed 20 May 2014]
Barth, M. and Boriboonsomsin, K., 2009. Traffic congestion and greenhouse gases. [online] Available at: <http://www.uctc.net/access/35/access35_Traffic_Congestion_and_Grenhouse_Gases.pdf> [Accessed 24 May 2014]
Hartman, D., 2014. The effects of traffic congestion. [online] Available at: <http://www.ehow.com/list_6308569_effects-traffic-congestion.html> [Accessed 23 May 2014]
Gomez, B., 2014. High cost of traffic congestion. [online] Available at: <http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Letters/2014/02/18/High-cost-of-traffic-jams/> [Accesed on 23 May 2014]
Pollution Probe, 2014. Traffic congestion. [online] Available at: <http://cleanaircommute.ca/traffic-congestion/> [Accessed 23 May 2014]
Hotz, R.L., 2011. The hidden toll of traffic jam. [online] Available at: <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203733504577024000381790904> [Accessed 23 May 2014]
Sanders, P., 2012. How traffic jams affect air quality. [online] Available at: <http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/01/05/how-traffic-jams-affect-air-quality/> [Accessed 20 May 2014]
Kulur, M., 2013. How does traffic affect our health. [online] Available at: <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-does-traffic-affect-our-health.html> [Accessed 27 May 2014]
Abdelnasr Omran, 2010. Road traffic nuisance in residential and commercial areas in Malaysia: a case study in Pinang Island. International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 2(11), pp.6845-6856.

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