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Too much noise? These are the most dangerous areas for health
Nearly a million Swiss undergo sound levels dangerous for their health. Our tool allows you to discover the intensity of noise near your home, day and night.
Noise represents a widespread problem in Switzerland, according to a recent Report of the Federal Environment Office (OFEF)published this Tuesday. This document reveals that nearly 900,000 people are exposed to “annoying and harmful” noise in our country. Road traffic affects 740,000 people, 80,000 air traffic and trains 30,000. Our interactive tool allows you to know the sound level near your home, both day and night.
The perception of what constitutes an annoying noise varies from one place to another. Switzerland adopts a more flexible position compared to other nations. In Swiss residential areas, the legal limit for road noise is set at 60 decibels during the day and 50 decibels at night, 60 decibels equivalent approximately to the volume of an ordinary conversation. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) advocates much lower thresholds. According to its estimates, more than 2 million people in Switzerland are exposed to sound levels prejudicial to their health.
55 decibels are enough to make sick
In any case, noise is a real public health problem. It can cause diseases and, in the most serious situations, lead to death, especially during long -term exposures. According to the recent OFEV report, About 500 cardiovascular deaths are allocated in Switzerland each year to the effects of noise. The European Environment Agency goes even further in its estimates, advancing in his latest report The figure of more than 700 premature deaths linked to noise in Switzerland.
The noise has a significant impact on our body: each disruptive sound triggers an alert state. Our body then releases stress hormones, our heart rate is accelerating, our blood pressure rises and our breathing becomes faster. These reactions can cause sleep problems which, in turn, decrease our concentration and our performance. According to the OFFE, this situation particularly affects children, sick people and those who work at night and sleep during the day.
According to environmental medicine specialists, a constant noise of 55 or more decibels increases the risk of disease. This level is lower than the Swiss legal limit of 60 decibels for road noise in residential areas. Noise becomes particularly harmful beyond 65 decibels. Prolonged exposure can affect physical health, causing hypertension, coronary diseases, infarction, strokes or diabetes. Excessive noise can even trigger depression.
Slower learning
The consequences are particularly serious for children. Research on the effect of noise on their cognitive development reveals that primary schoolchildren evolving in very noisy environments learn less quickly than those attending schools in calm areas. Thus, the more exposure to noise increases, the more the development of the child is compromised.
To this are added the external costs of noise, that is to say the costs which are not borne by the polluters themselves, like motorists. In 2021, these costs amounted to around 2.6 billion francs, according to A report by the Federal Office for Territorial Development (ARE). This amount encompasses all the consequences of noise, in particular health costs, real estate depreciation and the drop in quality of life of people. Road noise, responsible for more than 80% of these costs, is the main source. The inhabitants of urban areas are the most affected.
30 quieter train brakes and train brakes
There are also encouraging news: the level of noise pollution has dropped to Switzerland. Compared to the latest report which presented the 2015 data, there is a decrease of more than 40% of road noise and more than 60% of rail noise.
However, according to OFEV, the recent monitoring “is only partially comparable to the data of previous publications on noise pollution”. This difference is explained by improving basic data and calculation models, which now produce more precise results. The drop in traffic in 2021, the year marked by the Coronavirus crisiscould also have had a slight influence on these results.
However, the anti -grinding measures show their effectiveness. In the railway sector, according to the FOV, this includes the ban on noisy wagons using gray cast iron brake soles.
Albert Rösti wants less than 30 zones
On the road, the coatings like the silent asphalt play a crucial role. According to the German Federal Office for the Environment, such a coating can reduce the noise from six to ten decibels compared to a standard coating. Speed limitations, especially zones 30, are also an effective and much less expensive solution. Going from an area to 50 to an area to 30 can reduce the noise from two to three decibels.
It is therefore all the more surprising since the Minister of Transport Albert Rösti (UDC) wishes to impose the 50 km/h as a standard on the main axes “with traffic orientation”. The Federal Advisor thus intends to slow down the generalization of zones 30 km/h via prescription.
The Union of Swiss cities denounces the plans of Albert Rösti, describing them as “attack on our autonomy”. This reaction is not surprising: according to the OFEF report, more than 80% of people exposed to noise in Switzerland live in urban areas.
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