Long-term trends in United States highway emissions, ambient concentrations, and in-vehicle exposure to carbon monoxide in traffic.

This paper reviews 16 published studies conducted between 1965 and 1992 of in-vehicle exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) in traffic on urban roadways in the United States. Analysis of these studies shows a downward trend in CO exposure, which corresponds to similar trends for CO in motor vehicle emission factors and ambient concentrations. The analysis demonstrates that emission controls on motor vehicles sold in the United States have been very effective in reducing commuter CO exposure. It is recommended that future studies of this kind be done routinely in cities nationwide to provide a more robust database for accurate estimates of commuter exposure. Such studies should relate human exposure measurements to estimates of emissions at study sites to document the progress of motor vehicle emission control programs. In addition, future studies should use standard protocols to enable comparisons of results in time and space. Previous studies have shown that typical in-vehicle exposures vary by study approach (direct versus indirect), city, season, roadway type and location, travel mode, and vehicular ventilation. Future studies should carefully account for these factors.