Travel & Transport Convincer

General:

• In 2008, 28,567 people were killed or seriously injured in road accidents in the UK, with road accidents the most common cause of death amongst young people.
• Over 3000 people are killed and 270000 are injured on Britain’s roads each year. This costs the NHS over £500 million per year.
• The fastest growing source of greenhouse emissions in the UK is transport.
• On average, for each litre of fuel burnt in a car engine, more than 2.5kg of Co2 are produced.

In the NHS:

• The NHS accounts for 5% of all road traffic in England
• NHS staff, patients and visitors travel 25 billion passengers km per year. Visitors account for 70% of this, patients 20% and staff 5%.
• Transport and travel accounts for 18% of the NHS carbon footprint
• Staff, patients and visitors to the NHS travel over 25 billion km a year and over 80% of these are by car
• Each month 23 million people visit their GP or practice nurse
• Around a third of space at a new NHS hospital is allocated to car parking.

Impacts on health:

• People in the UK lose on average eight months from their life expectancy due to air pollution.
• There are an estimated 10,500 respiratory hospital admissions in urban areas each year due to emissions from fuel burning in transport and industry, costing the NHS over $17 million.
• 59% of the poorest 20% of households in the UK have no access to a car and therefore rely on other forms of transport to NHS facilities.
• 1.4 million people missed, turned down or chose not to seek medical help due to transport difficulties in the space of one year
• Physical inactivity costs the NHS £10.9 billion a year.
• Over half of men and two thirds of women are obese or overweight