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Traffic in the Greater Toronto Area is becoming an increasing nightmare on a daily basis. Infrastructure has been unable to keep pace with the recent rise in traffic congestion and is causing more delay for individuals travelling through the Greater Toronto Area, or GTA. The GTA can be defined as the area surrounding the city of Toronto including Markham, Vaughn, Peel Region, Mississauga, Durham Region, and Halton region. Twice daily highway 401 becomes a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam, causing drivers to have increased stress levels, which leads to dangerous driving. In fact, almost 500,000 vehicles pass the highway 401 and highway 400 intersections on a daily basis, “making it one of the busiest sections of highway in North America” (Ministry of Transportation). In Ontario, there is almost 17,000 kilometers of highway; almost half of the 38,000 kilometres across Canada and yet Torontonians are still faced with increasing congestion. Toronto and the surrounding area is the home to 9 major highways, of which almost all of them become delayed during rush hour. In fact, the average driver delay in the Toronto area is excess of 47 hours per year (Malone), almost two full days of wasted time. With that extra time, businesses could be more productive, families could have more time together, and people would not have the stress of sitting in traffic daily. The research that follows will show that there is a major issue and that politicians and city planners need to develop plans to reduce traffic congestion. The fact of the matter remains that there is no one and nothing that benefits from high congestion traffic. However, it is apparent that there are no simple, easy or quick solutions to solve the dilemma. Traffic is a growing public concern and will continue to be unless necessary adjustments are made. Cities are simply expanding and adjusting highways to accommodate the use of more fuel-powered vehicles, but in doing so they neglect to acknowledge many health problems. The solution should not be to merely fix the problem right now, but to plan for the future and make alternative suggestions that will have beneficial long-term effects. Planning for the future may not fix the problem immediately but necessary modifications can lead to crucial solutions. ** Research Methods:  ** In order to gain an in-depth understanding of traffic congestion in the Greater Toronto Area, research must contain information from official government websites such as Health Canada, and news articles that give a deeper understanding of how the public feels about the issue. General government websites like Health Canada provide background information about the subject as well as Canada's position on the issue. Statistics from sources like Health Canada provide impartial information to form an opinion. News organizations such as BBC and The Globe and Mail present a series of real world examples, case studies and give the public a voice on the issue. While governments take a specific standpoint on most issues, the public opinion is what this paper is addressing. The article "Beating the Traffic Jam Blues from the Globe and Mail was published Wednesday, February 23, 2011. This article, written by Michael Vaughan, not only gives insight to the growing social issue of traffic congestion and its impact on the environment, but also provides information about suggested possible future improvements like the "biocar" or hybrid cars. News articles provide up-to-date information about current trends or social issues, like traffic, which are prominent in the media and public eye. BBC News makes use of interviews in their articles as seen in the "Heavy traffic bad for your heart" in which a study interviewed 691 people who survived heart attacks. The use of interviews in relation to traffic congestion shows a potential correlation between common, real life hazards such as heart attacks and the possibility that the stress of traffic is a cause that most people would not immediately recognize otherwise. Public blogs by authors such as David Suzuki, a Canadian environmentalist, present personal opinions on the matter of traffic in regards to the environment and addresses topics like the "war on the car" a term used to describe the environmental impact that cars have. Online magazines such as Forbes Magazine open the issue of traffic into another demographic as it implements this social issue into the business world. In doing so this social issue becomes targeted towards companies, businesses, entrepreneurs or even other citizens allowing for the public to get involved and design their own possible innovations for reducing traffic. Blogging communities allow for people from around the world to connect and share ideas about common issues. The online community gives its users a chance to voice their opinions as popularly seen in facebook groups such as "I hate Traffic". In this research, blogs relating to Toronto traffic will be an important resource. ** Discussion:  ** Traffic is an integral part of the growing social issue in regards to environmental hazards as well as personal health. Not only is traffic an inconvenience in general, BBC News addresses the relationship between traffic jams and heart attacks, and pollutants in the air produced by vehicles. Public health remains the biggest concern when it comes to traffic congestion in terms of the population and the environment itself. Early studies conducted have gone to show that almost one in twelve people who have suffered from a heart attack are traffic related in some form. A German study has evidence that the chances of having a heart attack are three times more likely to occur if the person is caught in traffic (BBC News). The stress of traffic adds to the stress that causes heart attacks, however pollution still remains one of the top concerns for the wellbeing of the environment. Common pollutants produced by vehicles such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) all pose serious risks to the health of people who inhale it (BBC News). High exposure to these pollutants increases the risk of problematic cardiac and respiratory conditions (BBC news). With higher traffic congestion comes an increase in the amount time spent breathing in these toxic chemicals, causing many to develop heart and respiratory problems. Forbes Magazine states that because of traffic, on average, each driver spends nearly two days worth of time in traffic per year (Malone, Forbes). Although it seems nearly impossible to rule out other contributing factors of heart attacks, such as unrelated stress, stress from sitting in traffic in addition to toxic emissions from the vehicles are important health risks that must be addressed. Car emissions can have detrimental effects on lungs, create difficulty for blood to carry oxygen when inhaled too much, as well as act as "cancer-causing agents" (BBC news). These toxic emissions are released from vehicles whenever the engine is running, the longer these vehicles spend idling in traffic, the more emissions they release into the environment. According to UBC Professor, Patrick Condon, 30 per cent of the world's pollution is produced solely in Canada and the United States, where only 6 per cent of the world's population live (Condon). High traffic cities, such as Toronto, act as a large contributing factor to these statistics. Health Canada looks into the effects of traffic on pollution as it specifically relates to environmental issues. Phillip Preville, the author of the article "Toronto's Traffic Time Bomb" states that the GTA projects a population increase of approximately 2.6 million people within the next 20 years (Preville). As a result he predicted this increase could add up to one million more vehicles in Toronto. Patrick Condon points out the fact that cities are no longer designed in such a way that the population can walk to where they need to go, meaning the use of a car for transportation is almost a requirement (Condon). The problem with traffic is not simply highways are too crowded because of a large population, but instead urban cities such as Toronto are designed in such a way that it is almost impossible to go anywhere without driving to get there. The Ministry of Transportation reports, “more than 90 per cent of all Ontarians reside within 10 km of the provincial highways. During the peak periods, about one third of the auto trips in Ontario use provincial highways” (Ministry of Transportation). Because the population relies so heavily on their cars for transportation personal health and the health of the planet suffer. ** Conclusion:  ** The effects that traffic has on public health, whether it is the population or the environment, are larger than most people believe it is. As a result of this damage it is becoming obvious that there is no quick solution to this problem. The obvious solutions still remain as to avoid using the vehicles that emit toxic gases that affect the environment and the health of the population and to use bicycles, to walk, carpool, and even use public transit. However, these solutions will not solve all the problems. As stated in Condon’s article, the use of a vehicle is becoming essential for people to move around the Greater Toronto Area. In fact, one of the authors of this article commutes from Markham on a daily basis, and even with a fuel-efficient vehicle, he wastes money idling in heavy traffic due to a poor design on Highway 427. To reduce Toronto’s carbon footprint, the city and surrounding areas need to fix problematic areas, such as the 427 North near the airport, so that the city is not designed to produce traffic, but rather avoid it. The use of hybrid cars and biocars are an innovation working toward a better environment however, they do not address the basic issue of traffic. Traffic is not specific to the Toronto area or even Canada specifically. Worldwide, countries and cities are working towards developing greener modes of transportation. Cities such as Paris, go as far as offering a motorcycle taxi services in order to avoid high traffic situations (Vaughan). David Suzuki speaks of Enrique Penalosa; a previous mayor in Columbia who increased the tax on gas, as well as implemented more bicycle routes for the public (Suzuki). Small encouragements such as taxes and bicycle routes act in such a way that it influences drivers to decrease their auto use and seek alternative forms of transportation. As mentioned, traffic does not have a quick solution. This becomes apparent when Condon states that anyone who is old enough to drive needs a car in order to travel anywhere (Condon). Condon states "cities are no longer built to be walkable" instead, cities are spread in such a way that the main form of access is the use of highways (Condon). If automobile transportation is to remain the main source of transportation in the Greater Toronto Area, a solution must be developed to reduce traffic congestion and reduce travel times. ** Work Cited  ** “Heavy Traffic Bad For Your Heart.” //Health//. BBC News, 21 Oct. 2004. < http: //news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3761012.stm// //>Web. 26 Feb. 2011.// //“Road Traffic and Air Pollution” Health Canada, May 2004.// // < //// http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca // ///hl-vs/iyh-vsv/environ/traf-eng.php> Web. 26 Feb. 2011.// //“Traffic.”// The Oxford English Dictionary//. Oxford University Press: 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.// //“Road Transportation.” Transport Canada, 9 Feb. 2011.// // < //// http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng // ///road-menu.htm> Web. 26 Feb. 2011.// //“Ontario Region.” Transport Canada, 9 Feb. 2011,  Web. 26 Feb. 2011.//// Condon, M. Patrick. “Seven Rules For Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post-Carbon World.” United States of America: Island Press, 2010. Print. // Malone, Robert. “Worst Cities for Traffic” // Forbes.com//, 7 Feb. 2006.  Web. 26, Feb. 2011.//// //Ministry of Transportation. Government of Ontario, 4 Nov. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.// //Moola, Faisal and Suzuki, David. “Making Cities More Liveable May Save The World.” David Suzuki Foundation, 20 Oct. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.//// //Preville, Phillip. “Toronto’s Traffic Time Bomb”// TorontoLife.com//, April 2008.  Web. 26 Feb. 2011. //Vaughn, Michael. “Beating the Traffic Jam Blues”// The Globe and Mail//, 23, Feb. 2011.  Web. 26 Feb. 2011.//// // © Shannon Draper, Leslie Marmer, Tanya Wadgymar 2011 //
 * Introduction: **