It is well-established that traffic-related air pollution has a detrimental impact on health. Much of the focus has been on diesel exhaust emissions due to a rapid increase in vehicle numbers and studies finding that this pollutant is carcinogenic. Unsurprisingly, the highest diesel exposures that the general population experiences are during urban daily commutes; however, few studies have considered professional drivers who are chronically exposed to the pollutant due to their work in transport microenvironments. In this narrative review, we address the literature on professional drivers’ exposure to diesel exhaust and advocate that a modern exposure science approach utilised in commuter personal exposure studies is needed. This type of evaluation will provide a more detailed understanding of the time-activity of professional drivers’ exposures which is required to identify specific interventions to reduce their risk to diesel exhaust emissions.

众所周知，与交通相关的空气污染对健康有不利影响。由于车辆数量的迅速增加和研究发现这种污染物具有致癌性，因此大部分焦点都集中在柴油机尾气排放上。不出所料，一般人群在城市日常通勤期间接触到的柴油量最高；然而，很少有研究考虑到由于在交通微环境中工作而长期暴露于污染物的专业司机。在这篇叙述性评论中，我们讨论了专业司机接触柴油机尾气的文献，并主张需要在通勤个人接触研究中使用现代接触科学方法。