Traditionally, traffic medicine has been oriented towards the prevention of road accidents. However, our transport activities do not only result in injuries and fatalities. Negative health effects result from noise and air pollution, and the psycho-social well-being of urban populations is unfavourably affected. During the last decades these health effects have come high on the agenda but the medical profession has been slow in recognizing the importance of the influences of transport on the health of the population. We should, therefore, being moving towards a holistic view of traffic medicine. Medical practitioners, university based scientists and public health administrators are needed that are concerned with, and take part in, society's efforts to adapt our transport systems in a direction that is minimizing not only the negative effects on our environment but also on the public's health. (Author/publisher).
Abstract