Transportation and Health By the Numbers | Public Health

Transportation and Health By the Numbers Public Health

A recent workshop presents some interesting details about the connection of Transportation and our Health:

- Three trillion vehicle miles are traveled in the U.S. each year, according to the Federal Highway Research Administration.
- Between 1990 and 2009 the vehicle miles traveled for passenger cars and trucks has increased by 39 percent, said David Ragland, PhD, MPH, Director of the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at the University of California at Berkeley.
- Every additional hour spent in a car is associated with a 6% increase in the risk of obesity, and every kilometer walked is associated with a 5% decrease in obesity risk, said Raymond.
- Thirty-six percent of adults don’t report any leisure time physical activity; 88% don’t meet federal guidelines for the recommended amount of activity.
- The estimated medical costs of inactivity top $75 billion per year.
- Walking and biking are the top leisure physical activities of choice in the U.S., and are also the top utilitarian physical activities.
- Public transit users walk a median of 19 minutes daily getting to and from transit stops. Nearly 30 percent of transit users exceed the 30 minutes of recommended physical activity per day.