Residents in the Lewes Road area of Brighton have been counting cars and other vehicles on this major arterial route into the city, in the first stage of a campaign to improve air quality.
 
Council monitoring during the last five years indicates that UK and European limits for pollutants such as Nitrogen Dioxide and microscopic particles from vehicle fumes are routinely exceeded in this area of the city.
 
Other research indicates that, on average, British people die nine months prematurely due to air pollution and those who live close to hot spots such as Lewes Road can expect to lose 2-3 years of their lives.
 
Fed up with years of unrelenting pollution and no sign of any improvement, residents have formed ‘Lewes Road for Clean Air’. So far the group has found that, on a typical weekday, over 1,200 vehicles per hour drive up and down the Lewes Road. Nearly three-quarters of these are identified as private cars,  60% of which are carrying just one person -  the driver.
 
The group will launch their campaign with a ‘streets for people’ party at the Lewes Road Community Garden on Car Free Day – Sunday September 20, from 2-7pm.

An exhibition at the event will share the findings from the survey so far and other information about the health effects of air pollution.
 
Duncan Blinkhorn, a committee member for the group said:
“This is passive smoking on a grand scale and it goes on day-after-day, year-after-year. It’s an unacceptable situation that so many apparently physically able motorists are fouling up the air for everyone around them, while carrying only themselves around. We need to encourage motorists to be aware of the effects they have and become part of the solution by making better, more informed transport choices so that thousands people’s of lungs and throats are not eternally assaulted. “
 
To help motorists be part of the solution, the group plan to lay on their own free Park & Ride service on Car Free Day. They hope that this will encourage motorists to keep their cars on the edge of town and help minimize congestion and pollution on the Lewes Road .  The Big Lemon Bus Company will be supporting the campaign by running buses every 15 minutes from Brighton University car parks in Moulsecoomb to the Old Steine.
 
For more information email:  info@lewesroadcleanair.org.uk

For more information on the Community Garden view: www.lewesroadcommunitygarden.org.uk