This paper reviews the wide and diverse range of current environmental concerns, describes past actions to reduce environmental damage, and discusses the potential to do more in the future. Technology has the potential to restrict both exhaust emissions and noise so that these problems do not grow appreciably worse in future despite further rapid growth in road traffic, though continued regulatory and policy action will be necessary to achieve this. However, reducing environmental problems associated with the physical presence of traffic is more difficult, and is likely to depend on institutional and policy issues, rather than technology. It will be important to continue research on both engineering and behavioural topics research on both engineering and behavioural topics if satisfactory long-term solutions are to be found. (A)
Abstract