The report describes a study of the environmental effects of traffic and traffic changes in nine town where changes in traffic flow had occurred due to by-pass construction or traffic management schemes. An assessment of the nuisance caused by particular traffic flows has been made. The study also examined the effects of noise and air pollution on people's sensitivity to traffic. Nuisance was measured by means of personal interview surveys of people at home, pedestrians and people working in shops and offices. Nuisance levels changed considerably when the traffic levels changed. The single traffic variable most strongly correlated with nuisance was the number of lorries over 16 tons gvw, but there was also a high correlation between nuisance and total traffic flow. A multiple regression analysis showed that these two variables could explain 85 per cent of the variance in the nuisance data. (Author/publisher)
Abstract