For those of you living on the east coast, I’m sure like me, you have a deep appreciation for the EZ Pass. With an EZ Pass, instead of sitting in traffic breathing exhaust and slowly inching up to the toll booth with your dollar bills in hand, you can drive right through the terminal. Because of that little box fixed to the windshield, it’s smooth sailing from Florida to Maine.
It turns out there is yet another reason to appreciate your EZ Pass. It is the reason for better birth weights and less premature births in the communities surrounding the toll plazas. “A new study finds that among roughly 30,000 births within 2 kilometers of a toll plaza in a recent study, 255 premature births and 275 low birth weigh births were averted because of the installation of an E-ZPass.” (source)
“EZ-Pass reduces the number of idling cars, and with it, noxious emissions.The E-ZPass system, for example, has been shown to reduce nitrogen oxide by 11% and hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide by 40% owing to reduced lines, stop-and-go traffic, and congestion. Another study found carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide truck emissions were cut by 23% and 6%, respectively.” (source)
The decreased air pollution in the areas surrounding these toll plazas has led to healthier pregnancies and babies. In fact, premature births fell by 6.7-16% and low birth weights fell by 8.5-11.3% in the communities where EZ Pass was introduced.
So to all my fellow East Coasters, if you can get yourself an EZ Pass. It will not only save you time and money, but it’ll save the planet, mothers and babies!
