The aim of this study was to explore how traffic congestion alters people's perceptions of their environment. In particular it examined: (1) the relative importance to the local community of different environmental aspects of traffic congestion (implications for road safety, traffic noise, air, pollution, community severance, and visual impact); (2) whether some sections of the community are more adversely affected than others; and (3) whether reducing congestion would, for each environmental impact, improve or worsen the effects perceived by the community. For the purposes of the present study congestion was measured as the proportion of the available road space taken up by queuing traffic. traffic. The study used data from three of the London Assessment Studies, in which public consultation exercises were undertaken during 1985/86 to gauge the communities' perceptions of the environmental effects of traffic, and at the same time measurements were made of traffic conditions in the areas concerned. The data provided over 4000 responses from the public containing nearly 6000 environmental comments, over half of them mentioning specific problems. The study areas covered a wide range of congested conditions.
Samenvatting