7. General conclusion and outlook

This article presents the contribution of road traffic to local air pollution, focusing on "automotive" pollutants with established health and/or environmental effects. The air quality characterizing this pollution results from a complex balance between atmospheric emissions and atmospheric chemistry, all under the influence of meteorology. This results in non-linear pollutant production processes that sometimes make it difficult to identify contributors. In 2020, three atmospheric pollutants are still considered problematic by the European Commission: nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O ₃ ). In France, as in all major European urban centers, air quality continues to improve under the impetus of increasingly stringent standards. Nevertheless, exceedances are still observed for certain pollutants, albeit fewer than in the...