Noise, smelly fumes, frustrating traffic jams, road works and stress - just your average car journey. But there is more at stake than uncomfortable travelling: transport is responsible for around about a quarter of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions; small particles emitted by vehicles using petrol or diesel are linked to asthma; and nitrogen oxides cause respiratory diseases and can produce smog at ground level.

Stand beside a busy road on a hot day and you'll smell the odour of this pollutant cocktail. There have been advances in clean technologies like catalytic converters but the benefits of these have been balanced out by the growth in traffic volumes.

In many towns and cities, air pollution is often in excess of international standards. The solutions aren’t simple. For example, building more roads would in theory reduced traffic congestion. However, it is not that simple. Research consistently shows that building more roads doesn't ease traffic - in fact it usually generates more. There is also growing opposition to new road schemes as people become more and more aware of the health and pollution implications. There is also the local environmental impact to consider. Many UK roads have been built through areas valuable for wildlife, recreation or their natural beauty - Twyford Down and Newbury, for example.

Traffic makes a huge amount of noise. Although we've all grown used to living with it imagine what a city would be like with quiet vehicles and streets. It's no coincidence that many more sustainable vehicles are less noisy too.

Facts and figures:

• Air pollution causes between 12,000 and 24,000 early deaths every year
• Road traffic is expected to increase by 50% by 2026
• In 2001 the total distance travelled by UK vehicles was 474 billion km. That's the equivalent of 40 return trips to Pluto
• The average person in the UK drives their car 5,433 miles per year, takes the bus for 207 miles per year and uses the train for 325 miles per year
• Bicycle use has been falling steadily since the 1970s, despite the fact that more of us than ever own bicycles
• One return flight from London to New York will generate the same amount of CO2 as driving a family car for 4 months
• Bus services in the UK receive less Government subsidy than in any other country in the EU
• In the UK, an average car produces approximately 3.3 tonnes of CO2 per year
• Buses cause less pollution than cars. A bus carrying approximately 20 people will create far less pollution than 20 cars carrying one person each. Buses and coaches, like other vehicles, are now being subjected to stringent random emissions testing in the UK
• London's congestion charge has led to 30% fewer traffic delays inside the charging zone than before charging was introduced; bus passenger journeys have also increased