Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(1), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16010149
Assessing the Impact of Vehicle Speed Limits and Fleet Composition on Air Quality Near a School
1
Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland
2
Global Centre for Clean Air Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (FEPS), University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
3
Department of Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin D04 V1W8, Ireland
4
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Dublin D04 R2C5, Ireland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 7 August 2018 / Revised: 14 December 2018 / Accepted: 2 January 2019 / Published: 8 January 2019
Abstract
Traffic is a major source of urban air pollution that affects health, especially among children. As lower speed limits are commonly applied near schools in many cities, and different governments have different policies on vehicle fleet composition, this research estimated how different speed limits and fleet emissions affect air quality near a primary school. Based on data of traffic, weather, and background air quality records in Dublin from 2013, traffic, emission, and dispersion models were developed to assess the impact of different speed limits and fleet composition changes against current conditions. Outside the school, hypothetical speed limit changes from 30 km/h to 50 km/h could reduce the concentration of NO2 and PM10 by 3% and 2%; shifts in the fleet from diesel to petrol vehicles could reduce these pollutants by 4% and 3% but would increase the traffic-induced concentrations of CO and Benzene by 63% and 35%. These changes had significantly larger impacts on air quality on streets with higher pollutant concentrations. Findings suggest that both road safety and air quality should be considered when determining speed limits. Furthermore, fleet composition has different impacts on different pollutants and there are no clear benefits associated with incentivising either diesel or petrol engine vehicles. View Full-TextKeywords:
traffic emissions; speed limit; vehicle fleet; air pollution; school children
▼
Figures
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

Share & Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
Tang, J.; McNabola, A.; Misstear, B.; Pilla, F.; Alam, M.S. Assessing the Impact of Vehicle Speed Limits and Fleet Composition on Air Quality Near a School. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 149.
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
Related Articles
Article Metrics
Comments
[Return to top]
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health
EISSN 1660-4601
Published by MDPI AG, Basel, Switzerland
RSS
E-Mail Table of Contents Alert