the Science o f the

Total Environment
An l . ~ r n t t ~ n t l l ~ m ~ for ~ * t i ~
~ h
tnlo the ~ m n m e n t tnd i ~ m i i l i ~ n s h l p. i ~ Man

ELSEVIER

The Science of the Total Environment

146/147 (1994) I 1 I - I 16

Environmental impact of vehicular traffic in Nigeria:

health aspects
a

~:a

O.J. O g u n s o l a , A . F . O l u w o l e , O.I. Asublo)o ,

M . A . D u r o s i n m i a, A.O. Fatusi", W. R u c k
"Environmental Research Group, Department of Physics, Ohafemi Awolowo University, lle-lji,, N~eria
hlnstitut fiir Siedlungwasserbau, Wassergiite und Ahjallwirtseha[L University ~["Stuttgart,
Stuttgart, Germany

Abstract
Blood lead levels were analysed and pulmonary function tests were performed on Nigerian traffic wardens, comprising sixty from Lagos (ages 24-52 years; 27 6), thirteen from the sparsely populated university town of lle-lfe (ages
22-40 yers; 27 8) and a control group of twenty-four subjects (age 19-55 years: 31 8). Perkin-Elmer Zeeman
3030/HGA 600 AAS was used for blood analysis. The mean lead level in Lagos wardens was 18.1 6.4 ~tg/dl, which
was significantly higher than the level of 10.2 2.7 #g/dl in Ife wardens and 12.9 7.0 ~tg/dl obtained in the controls
(P < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference between the levels of blood lead in Ife traffic wardens and
normal controls. Significant differences (P < 0.0005) in spirometric measurements --- peak flow rate (PEFR), forced
expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 0 and forced vital capacity (FVC) - - were observed between traffic wardens and
control subjects. The noise levels measured along traffic roads exceeded the threshold for hearing damage.
Key words: Traffic wardens; Blood lead levels; Pulmonary function; Noise levels; Nigeria

1. Introduction
In the last twenty years, petroleum products
consumed in the transport sector have increased
by an order of magnitude, from 0.856 million tons
of oil equivalent ( M T O E ) in 1970 to 7.515 M T O E
in 1987, with a corresponding increase in the number of m o t o r vehicles, 40% o f which are located in
the Lagos metropolis ( > 0 . 5 million vehicles).
Consequently, the amounts of traffic exhaust emissions have increased considerably. The petrol is
also leaded (0.7 g/l). Traffic wardens are exposed
* Corresponding author.

to these exhaust fumes as well as to the high concentration of suspended particulate matter raised
from the unpaved and poorly managed paved
motorways. Because of the absence o f traffic light
signals, these traffic wardens are placed at road
junctions.
Lead is one of the 'non-essential' trace elements
that is toxic to almost all living things, including
humans. The World Health Organisation has recommended an exposure limit of 40t~g/dl for men
and postmenopausal women and o f 30 /~g/dl for
women in the reproductive age group (in order to
safeguard any developing foetus, since the metal
crosses the placental barrier freely). However, a

0048-9697/94/$07.00 1994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

SSDI 0048-9697(93)03510-Z

112

blood lead level of 80/~g/dl is usually associated

with serious complications (Klassen, 1985). Humans derive their supply of environmental lead
chiefly (and in order of importance) from contaminated food, water and air (Southwood, 1983;
Department of Health and Social Security, 1980).
A major source of atmospheric lead is fumes from
the exhaust of vehicles run on leaded petrol; this
accounts for about 10-20% of blood lead in city
dwellers, and it is much higher in those who are
constantly exposed to such fumes as a result of
their occupation (Department of Health and Social Security, 1980; Kamal et al., 1991). Much of the
body lead is deposited as a metabolically inactive
element in bone, and constitutes 90-95% in adults
and only 70% in children. The rest is deposited in
soft tissues and organs. This is the potentially toxic
form, and it is more abundant in children, hence
the higher risk of lead poisoning in children (Department of Health and Social Security, 1980).
Blood lead level is a reflection of recent exposure
to lead contamination. It is not as constant as the
bone lead, and changes depending on the level of
exposure (Department of Health and Social Security, 1980). Reports from different parts of the
world have shown that people who are constantly
exposed to motor vehicle exhaust fumes (e.g. traffic police) have significantly higher blood lead
concentrations than non-exposed controls. Such
findings motivated us to study the lead levels in
Nigerian traffic wardens.
A large proportion of the urban highways in
Nigeria are either unpaved or not well maintained
when paved. A lot of dust is therefore raised along
the urban highways. This, in addition to vehicular
emission, has been reported to cause acute and
chronic respiratory illness in both adults and
children if inhaled at elevated concentrations,
(Ong et al., 1991). Typically, total suspended particulate (TSP) concentrations of 400-2000 #g/m 3
were measured during the period of this study
along these highways. It is therefore necessary to
examine the effects of these pollutants (TSP and
exhaust emissions) on the exposed subjects.
Besides lead pollution and pulmonary disorder,
noise pollution also has a serious health implication, as it is often the cause of physiological and
neurological effects. Short-term effects are startle

O.J. Ogunsola et al. / Sci. Total Environ. 146/147 (1994) 111-116

responses (such as eye-blinking, facial muscle contractions etc). On the other hand, long-term effects
could be more severe, with typical effects being
stress, irritability, insomia and fatigue (OECD,
1986). The most immediate and acute health effect
of high levels of noise is impairment of hearing
(Vesilind, 1975). In Nigeria, motorways are
characterised by excessive noise generated from
motor vehicle horns and poorly maintained
engines. In this connection it becomes very important to also assess the impact of noise pollution
along our motorways.

2. Experimental
2.1. Blood sampling
The subjects included sixty randomly selected
Lagos traffic wardens with ages ranging from 24 to
52 years (27 6) and with 6 to 17 years of service
(11 4), thirteen wardens from Ile-Ife aged 2240 years (27 8) and with 2 to 14 years of service
(5 4) and twenty-four controls aged 19-55
years (31 8). None of the controls had any occupational exposure to vehicle exhaust fumes. All
the subjects but one were males.
The haematocrit of each subject was determined
by the mirohaematocrit technique. Each patient
was specifically questioned on the symptoms of
chronic lead poisoning.
5 ml of whole blood was collected from each
subject into polyethylene heparinised containers
with polyethylene syringes and butterfly needles.
The first 1 ml of blood was allowed to run into an
EDTA bottle to wash off any lead contamination
of the steel needle. The blood samples for lead
analysis were freeze-dried. Lead was subsequently
analysed with a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perkin-Elmer Zeeman
3030/HGA 600) with Zeeman background correction. Results were subjected to statistical analysis
using Student's t-test (two-tailed).

2.2. Pulmonary function test

Spirometry was performed both on traffic
wardens and the control group. It consisted of five
forced expirations using a dry wedge spirometer

O.J. Ogunsola et al./Sci. Total Environ. 146/147 (1994) 111-116

113

Table 1
Whole blood lead levels (t~g/dl) in the control group, Lagos and Ire traffic wardens
Lead levels (tzg/dl)

Control
n=24
Lagos wardens (LW)
n=60
lfe wardens ( 1 W )
n=13

Tests of significance

Range

Mean ~ S.D.

1.7-32.5

12.9 7.0

LW > C

IW > C

LW > IW

9.2-45.5

18.1 ~ 6.4

P < 0.001

P > 0.(/5

P < 0.001

6.8-14.9

10.2 2.7

s.

n..~

~.

LW: Lagos traffic wardens. IW: Ire traffic wardens. C: control group, s: Significant. n.s.: Not significant.

(Vitalograph Ltd, Buckingham). The three curves

of the test ( A m e r i c a n T h o r a c i c Society S t a n d a r d s ,
1979) were required for individual analysis o f b o t h
groups. Peak flow rate ( P E F R ) was also measured,
using the W r i g h t Peak F l o w meter. M e a s u r e m e n t s
were converted to b o d y t e m p e r a t u r e and pressure
conditions. S a t u r a t e d volume for 1 s a n d p e a k flow
taken as the highest value were used.
The height o f each subject a n d c o n t r o l was
measured without footwear, a n d weight with light
clothes was also taken.
2.3. Noise level measurement
The noise levels along m o t o r w a y s and nearby
residential houses were m e a s u r e d at r a n d o m intervals within an 8-h d a y using the D-1422C Digital
Impulse S o u n d Level M e t e r ( D A W E Instruments,
UK).

3. Results

control group and the Ife traffic wardens were

similar, whereas the level in Lagos traffic w a r d e n s
was significantly higher (P < 0.001).
The difference between the ages o f the controls
and the subjects were not significant. The period
o f w o r k exposure o f the L a g o s wardens (11 4
years) was significantly longer (P < 0.001) than
that o f the Ife w a r d e n s (5 4 years). The haematocrit levels were n o r m a l (38 55%) in the three
groups. N o n e o f the subjects has any sign or symptom o f lead poisoning. The distribution o f age and
d u r a t i o n o f e m p l o y m e n t with b l o o d lead is given
in Table 2.
3.2. Ventilatory indices in traffic wardens
As shown in Table 4, traffic wardens had a
lower P E F R , F E V 1, F V C a n d F E V j / F V C when
c o m p a r e d with controls. This exposed g r o u p had
statistically significant (P < 0.0005) lower lung
functions than the c o n t r o l group.
3.3. Noise exposure

3.1. Blood analysis

Table 1 shows that the b l o o d lead levels o f the

Table 5 gives the range o f noise levels along

motorways.

Table 2
Blood lead level (mean S.D. tzg/dl) of traffic wardens of different ages and duration of employment
Age (y)

Blood lead

Duration of
employment (y)

Blood lead

20-29 (n = 15)
30-39 (n = 40)
40-55 (n = 5)

14.97 + 2.75
18.02 + 5.41
24.04 11.32

1-9 (n = 311
10-14 (n = 141
15-20 (n = 15)

17.95 7.07
19.67 6.07
17.02 4.18

F= 1.32, P <0.10 F = 3.28, P >0.001

114

O.,L Ogunsola et al. / Sci. Total Environ. 146/147 (1994) 111-116

Table 3
Mean ( S.D.) whole blood lead level (/~g/dl)in different populations
City

Lead level

Authors

I. Lund, Sweden
2. Hokkaido, Japan
3. Ahmedabad, India
4. Tehran, lran
5. Cairo, Egypt
6. Lagos, Nigeria
7. Ife, Nigeria

12.3 4.5
9.6 6.2
34.5 + 13.7
29.5 + 7.8
29.2 4- 7.5
18.1 -4- 6.4
10.2 4- 2.7

Haeger-Aronsen et al., 1971

Saito et al., 1973
Aggarwal et al.. 1979
Farsam et al., 1982
Kamal et al., 1991
Present report
Present report

4. Discussion
4.1. B l o o d

The result o b t a i n e d for b l o o d lead levels in

Lagos traffic wardens is significantly higher ( P <
0.001) than the levels in b o t h the n o n - e x p o s e d controls and the less exposed traffic w a r d e n s o p e r a t ing in the less traffic-congested town o f Ile-Ife. The
level in the latter g r o u p was similar to that in the
controls (Table 1). A l t h o u g h L a g o s w a r d e n s have
had significantly longer exposure to vehicle exhaust
fumes (11 4- 4 years) c o m p a r e d with lfe w a r d e n s
(5 4- 4 years), this is n o t sufficient to explain the
disparity in their b l o o d lead levels, since it is
k n o w n that b l o o d lead c o n c e n t r a t i o n is usually indicative o f recent exposure to lead c o n t a m i n a t i o n
( D e p a r t m e n t o f Health a n d Social Security, 1990).
F r o m the frequency d i s t r i b u t i o n o f b l o o d lead
c o n c e n t r a t i o n c o m p a r i n g the three g r o u p s it can

be seen that the range o f b l o o d lead level for traffic

wardens in Lagos is between 15 a n d 20 #g/dl, while
for controls it ranged between I0 a n d 15 #g/dl and
for traffic wardens in Ile-Ife between 5 and 10
/zg/dl. However, the b l o o d lead level as depicted in
Table 2 shows an increase with age ( P < 0.10),
whereas there was no significant v a r i a t i o n with
d u r a t i o n o f e m p l o y m e n t ( P > 0.001).
Table 3 shows that the mean b l o o d level o f 18.1
ttg/dl o b t a i n e d in Lagos traffic wardens is still
much less than the values r e c o r d e d for similar occupational groups in congested cities o f other
developing countries, such as C a i r o (Egypt) and
A h m e d a b a d (India), where average levels o f 29.2
and 34.5 ttg/dl, respectively, were obtained. H o w ever, the Lagos level exceeds those for Swedish
(12.3 ttg/dl) and Japanese (9.6 ttg/dl) traffic
wardens. The lower levels o b t a i n e d in the latter
two countries might be due to the official pegging

Table 4
Spirometric tests analysis using t-test
Parameter

Exposed group

Control group

Number of subjects
Age (y)
Height (m)
Weight (kg}
PEFR
FVC
FEV l
FEVI/FVC (%)

70
34.54 7.86
1.74 4- 0.06
70.80 + 13.97
463.00 + 89.92
3.46 4- 0.61
2.72 4- 0.53
84.00 4- 8.00

120
32.5 + 10.5
1.73 4- 0.07
64.20 4- 8.20
563.00 + 65.00
4.04 0.57
3.59 + 0.73
78.92 + 9.75

s.: Significant.
n.s.: Not significant.

Test of significance
(P < 0.0005)
-n.s.
n.s.

s.
s.
s.
s.
s.

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O.J. Ogunsola et al. / Sci. Total Environ. 146/147 (1994) 111-116

Table 5
Ranges of noise level along motorways

5. Conclusion

Locations/mode

Fast (~ 1 dB)

Slow (+ 1 dB)

Residential
Industrial
Highways
Bus stops

69.4-106.5
79.0-88.0
85.7-107.1
72.0-106.5

86.0-98.1
n.d.
87.7-101.1
85.0-110.7

Time weightings: F (fast) = 125 ms; S (slow)= 1 s.

n.d: Not determined.

of the lead content of petrol to just 0.15 g/l in

Sweden and 0.31 g/l in Japan. In most western
European countries and the United States, the lead
content of petrol has been drastically reduced to
tolerance level, with the sole aim of reducing environmental pollution by lead. In most African
countries (except South Africa) there is no such
policy. In Nigeria, for example, the lead content of
petrol is 0.7 g/l, one of the highest in the world. It
is gratifying to note that a non-lead petrol refinery
has now been installed in Port Harcourt.
The blood lead level in Nigerian traffic wardens
is still relatively low compared with the levels in
other developing countries. This work has shown
that these personnel have greater risk of lead poisoning than the general non-exposed population.
4.2. Pulmonary f u n c t i o n

The pulmonary function tests clearly show that

vehicular emissions and fugitive dusts raised by
traffic in unpaved or poorly maintained highways
do adversely affect the health of exposed traffic
wardens.
4.3. Noise pollution

Table 5 indicates the level of excessive noise

generated along urban highways. In practically all
the motorways of Lagos, the threshold for hearing
damage (85 dB) is exceeded for most hours of the
day. These levels of noise attained close to urban
highways can endanger the hearing of residents,
schoolchildren and street hawkers.

The findings of this study show that the adverse

health impacts of automotive pollution can be significant. Several control measures that the
Nigerian government has adopted or is contemplating are:
(i) Introduction of unleaded petrol. The latest
refinery, which is the biggest of the three
major refineries in the country, produces
unleaded petrol.
(ii) Limitation on traffic volume by introducing
'odd-even' traffic regulation in Lagos. This is
a practice whereby only cars with evennumbered number-plates are allowed to be
driven on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays,
while odd numbers are permitted on the
streets on other days of the week.
(iii) Fuel swapping. There is a strong campaign
by the Nigerian Gas Company, a subsidiary
of the National Petroleum Corporation, to
introduce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as
well as compressed natural gas (CNG) as
substitutes for petrol in motor vehicles. Both
LPG and C N G are environmentally more
benign than petrol or diesel oil.
(iv) The production by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency of guidelines and standards on emissions. It is hoped that the
Enforcement Department will ensure that
old vehicles will be made to comply with
these standards.
(v) The need to install traffic light signals at
busy road junctions to replace the traffic
wardens.
(vi) Current efforts at making environmental impact assessments for new construction, to
eliminate busy motorways running through
the cities and the necessity of locating residential buildings at prescribed distances
from these motorways.

6. Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Nigerian Police for consenting to take part in this project, and to Mr.
O.A. Alabi and A.A. Jeje for technical assistance.
The EEC linkage programme under the Lom6 I II
Agreement funded the project.

116

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exposed traffic policemen and permanent shopkeepers
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2 H. Farsam, G.H. Salari and A. Nadim. Absorption of
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3 B. Haeger-Aronsen, M. Abdulla and I.B. Fristedt, Effect
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