living large driving less
Living Large Driving Less
Tom Vanderbilt Journal # 3
Summary
In the early 1970s, slightly more than half of all American children walked or biked to school. However, only 15 percent do today. Some of that is attributable to fear, be it of "stranger danger". In many cases, new schools are simply too far from homes in 1969; roughly half of all children lived a mile or more from their school. By 2001 three out of four did. Compare vehicle miles traveled over the past few decades with American obesity rates during the same period. You will see that they both began to spike upward at the same time and continue to rise in lockstep. A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that male residents of Salt Lake City who lived in walkable sections of town weighed an average of 10 pounds less than those who lived in less walkable sections. The Total Number of vehicle Mile Traveled dropped in 2007 for the first time since 1980. Another sign of change comes from the government. In what it called a "transformative policy shift," the U.S. Department of Transportation announced in 2009 that it would work to foster "livable communities," which were memorably summed up by Secretary Ray LaHood: "Livability means being able to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your kids at the park--all without having to get in your car." Designing bike and pedestrian friendly infrastructure helps reduce vehicle miles traveled on a large scale and affects residents on an immediate and personal scale. Sierra Club activists recently persuaded Minneapolis officials to stripe two critical corridors for bike lanes to make commuter cycling more appealing. Capital Bike
Tom Vanderbilt Journal # 3
Summary
In the early 1970s, slightly more than half of all American children walked or biked to school. However, only 15 percent do today. Some of that is attributable to fear, be it of "stranger danger". In many cases, new schools are simply too far from homes in 1969; roughly half of all children lived a mile or more from their school. By 2001 three out of four did. Compare vehicle miles traveled over the past few decades with American obesity rates during the same period. You will see that they both began to spike upward at the same time and continue to rise in lockstep. A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that male residents of Salt Lake City who lived in walkable sections of town weighed an average of 10 pounds less than those who lived in less walkable sections. The Total Number of vehicle Mile Traveled dropped in 2007 for the first time since 1980. Another sign of change comes from the government. In what it called a "transformative policy shift," the U.S. Department of Transportation announced in 2009 that it would work to foster "livable communities," which were memorably summed up by Secretary Ray LaHood: "Livability means being able to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your kids at the park--all without having to get in your car." Designing bike and pedestrian friendly infrastructure helps reduce vehicle miles traveled on a large scale and affects residents on an immediate and personal scale. Sierra Club activists recently persuaded Minneapolis officials to stripe two critical corridors for bike lanes to make commuter cycling more appealing. Capital Bike