Skip to main content

Norwegian study says nearly 5,000 healthy life years lost to traffic noise

According to a survey conducted for the Climate and Pollution Agency (the former SFT), a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, 4, 512 healthy years of life are lost each year in Norway due to traffic noise. The study, which claims to have quantified for the first time the relationship between traffic noise and health problems, also showed that 1.5 million people in the country are exposed to noise levels that exceed the recommended maximum level of 55Db. In such cases, residents can c
April 16, 2012 Read time: 1 min
RSSAccording to a survey conducted for the 4893 Climate and Pollution Agency (the former SFT), a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, 4, 512 healthy years of life are lost each year in Norway due to traffic noise. The study, which claims to have quantified for the first time the relationship between traffic noise and health problems, also showed that 1.5 million people in the country are exposed to noise levels that exceed the recommended maximum level of 55Db. In such cases, residents can complain to the road operator. Although the agency acknowledges that the figures are alarming, it says that, having quantified how traffic noise degrades people’s lives and health, it will allow it to focus on specific measures to reduce traffic noise.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New York's award-winning traffic control system
    February 28, 2013
    A comprehensive ITS strategy in New York built on a system of key building blocks has been crowned with an IRF award for the city’s Midtown in Motion adaptive control system. Jon Masters reviews New York’s ITS modernisation plan as the city looks to the next phase of expansion. In January this year the International Road Federation (IRF) presented TransCore and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) with the IRF Global Road Achievement Award. This was for deployment of New York’s Midtown in
  • ITS for Urban Mobility forum report
    May 16, 2012
    A joint initiative of Ertico – ITS Europe, the European Commission and Eurocities, a Forum on ITS for Urban Mobility was held in Brussels yesterday to discuss and provide feedback on the draft guidelines for the deployment of ITS in urban areas, developed by DG Move’s Expert Group on Urban Mobility. As Nicolas White reports, the guidelines discussed focused on three crucial aspects of urban ITS: multimodal information services, smart ticketing and traffic management & urban logistics.
  • Would Americans support increased taxes to improve highways, streets, and transit?
    June 22, 2012
    The Mineta National Transit Research Consortium has released a peer-reviewed research report, What Do Americans Think about Federal Tax Options to Support Public Transit, Highways, and Local Streets and Roads? Results from Year 3 of a National Survey. that summarises the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,519 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues. Special focus was placed on understanding what would motivate pe
  • Data collection becoming a crowded market
    October 26, 2017
    New ways of gathering data can revolutionise traffic and travel management, so is the writing on the wall for the traditional methods? Jon Masters reports. There are two big industries that stand to be revolutionised by massive increases in data – healthcare and transportation, says Finlay Clarke, the UK managing director of the smartphone sat nav traffic app, Waze. “At present we’re really only at the start of how cities, in particular, will be transformed,” he says.