Exhaust deaths

The Commons Environment Committee has confirmed something we already knew: that annually there are 4,000 premature deaths in London attributable to poor air quality caused largely by traffic. Nationwide, the figure is 30,000. Also quoted on The Today Programme was the figure of 200,000 which seemed to refer to the number of lives shortened by two years because of poor air quality ..? A quick search didn’t turn up the report. Committee chair, Joan Walley MP (Lab), said there was no magic wand. But Joan, there is. Scrap priority rules and traffic lights and let traffic filter. That won’t cut emissions to zero, but it will make a massive difference, as explained in my article No Idle Matter. Incidentally, Today was feeble in its coverage and questioning.