Cars are the primary mode of transportation for a large majority of urban populations, with 253 million cars being driven on U.S. roads in 2014. However, this creates problems, like traffic congestion, crashes, and emission of greenhouse gases.
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traffic congestion |
Crashes |
Traffic congestion is an issue in large urban areas.
The average American commuter spends 42 hours a year stuck in traffic, while for commuters in densely populated areas, such as, Washington D.C., the country's most congested city, spend 82 hours a year. Congestion is also expensive. The U.S. lost $160 billion in 2014 through wasted time and 3 billion gallons of wasted fuel. Those numbers are only expected to grow in the following years. It is projected that by 2020 the total nationwide delay time will grow to 8.3 billion hours, and it will cost $192 billion. |
The number of cares on roads continues to increase, and with it increases the number of car crashes, and deaths, that occur. Nearly 1.3 million people die each year in car crashes; an average of 3,287 deaths a day, and road incidents are listed as the 9th leading cause of death. In 2013, 4,735 pedestrians were killed and over 65,000 were injured, averaging a death every two hours and an injury every eight minutes. That same year, there were 743 cyclist deaths and 48,000 injuries.
Air pollutionCars and trucks collectively account for one-fifth of all U.S. emissions. Each vehicle emits about 24 pounds of greenhouse gasses for every gallon of gasoline spent. Motor vehicles also produce half of pollutants such as particulate matter, which can cause lung damage, and a range of diseases. In urban areas, anywhere from 50-90% of air pollution is caused by harmful automotive emissions. It is estimated that in 2015, 1.3 billion working days were lost, and and $21 billion was spent in healthcare costs, related to air pollution.
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