Excerpt

Urban transportation has far-reaching impacts on human health and environment. Respiratory diseases, caused by air pollution, and traffic accidents, are the two biggest public health burdens caused by transportation. India has a high number of traffic accidents – and pedestrians and cyclists are most affected. Almost 2.2 lakh road accidents took place in urban India during 2013, with fatality rate being 25 per cent. A study assessing contribution of transport sector to particulate matter (PM) in six cities concluded that around 30 to 50 per cent of PM is on account of vehicular pollution.