I learned something interesting today: it seems that pollution caused by ICE cars causes more deaths per year in the UK than road accidents.
These are rough figures, and I got them from various sources such as these:
Estimates of mortality in local authority areas associated with air pollution
Reported road casualties in Great Britain: main results 2012
But the summary is:
25,000 deaths in the UK per annum are attributed to pollution. Roughly 7,000 are directly attributed to small particles from diesel soot. More are attributed to various other pollution causes which aren't so easy to tie directly to road vehicles, but a good proportion of early deaths due to carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and other poisonous substances including hydrocarbons is likely to come from the tailpipes of cars, lorrys and other ICE vehicles.
Compare that to the number of deaths in road accidents, which is less than 2,000 per annum.
It's a sobering thought, especially if you live or work in a major city where the pollution levels are high.
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