Estimating the health impact of diesel fuel use from road based transport.

The disability adjusted life year (DALY) measurement is an indicator of the burden of disease (BoD) in the community. In this paper the DALY health measurement is used to indicate the difference in contribution to the BoD attributable to exposure to diesel engine emissions by people inside vehicles compared to those walking on footpaths along roadways used by the vehicles. The paper is in two sections. The first section quantifies the level of air pollution inside the vehicle cabin and compares it to that on the nearby footpath. The second section begins to set the scene for DALY health measurement to begin to estimate the differences in the BoD attributable to the different exposure rates to diesel engine emissions. The paper reports the conclusion that the possible contribution to the BoD for the population of the Melbourne Statistical Division (MSD) jurisdictions from exposure to diesel fuel emissions, by in-vehicle diesel engine environments is multiples greater than that to the population outside the vehicles. There is a need to build public health impact evaluation using tools such as the DALY health measurement for avoidable deaths into transport corridor planning policy. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see IRRD abstract no. E216383.