Intersections -- Transportation
and your health 

Part 2 -- Car and pedestrian safety 

It's one of the unmistakable sounds of summer: 

"Get in the car kids lets go!"

We are matchless in getting in the car, and going. 

Each year, Americans log almost 3 trillion miles on our nation's roads and highways -- that's more than the distance from the Sun to Pluto. We're racking up many of these miles in short trips. Even when it is close enough to walk or bike, most people choose to drive. Of the total trips made in the United States of one mile or less, more than 75% are made by car.

Without improved and expanded real, efficient transportation choices, Rhode Islanders are forced to rely almost exclusively on automobiles to get where they're going.

Last week we told you about how our "cars-first" transportation policy leads to much of the air pollution that causes serious health problems, particularly for children, people with lung disease, and older adults. This week we look at the death and injury caused by traffic accidents.

A leading cause of death

The more we drive, the more likely we are to get hurt or die in a crash. There is a strong relationship between per capita vehicle miles traveled and traffic casualty rates. Communities with high annual miles traveled also tend to have higher traffic death rates.

On average, 43,000 people die in traffic accidents in the United States each year and 2.5 million people are injured. One-half million people are hospitalized each year, some ending with with permanent disabilities.

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of fatal injuries to children. From 1999-2002, 4,900 children aged 1-9 years-old were killed in motor vehicles and 24,000 10-19 year-olds were killed.

Traffic accidents cause about $164 billion annually in property damage and injuries.

Policy-makers, activists and public officials have taking steps to stem the tide of death and injury caused by traffic accidents. The introduction of drinking and driving laws and young driver safety programs and interventions, the passage of seat belt and airbag laws, improvements and mandates in child passenger safety, and the development of safer vehicles all do indeed contribute to a safer road and highway experience.

But the deaths and injuries continue, and these measures do little to help pedestrians.

The risk to pedestrians

Roads and highways are designed for fast and easy travel with multiple lanes, no sidewalks, and distant and minimal unsafe crosswalks. Federal and state transportation funding policies have rarely incorporated any health and safety factors that reduce traffic speed and volume, route traffic away from neighborhoods, build walkways and sidewalks, or restrict vehicles in certain areas.

The result?

Of the 2,800 kids killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2000, more than 700 were killed while walking or biking.  Between 1996-2008 more than 76,000 Americans were killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community. From 2000 to 2009, 117 pedestrians were killed in Rhode Island. From 2002 to 2009, 251 people were seriously injured in Rhode Island while on a bicycle. 

Because our roads and highways play such a central role in community design the impact this has on perceptions of safety is significant since it influences behavior that also impacts health -- for example, a lack of physical activity. When parents are asked what prevents their children from walking to school, the second most commonly mentioned factor is traffic danger. It's a key reason parents give for restricting their children from playing outside.

Today fewer than 6 percent of kids in the United States walk or bike to school, as compared with 66 percent in 1974.

More choices, more safety

How can transportation choices help? Passengers on buses, light rail, and commuter rail have about one-tenth the traffic death rate as people in cars.

Offering balanced and affordable and alternative modes of transportation -- biking, walking, and public transit -- is now recognized as a major public health goal by both the Centers for Disease Control and the American Public Health Association

But the systematic and deliberate dismantling of a viable public transportation system in most urban centers, and the lack -- with notable exceptions -- of sustained support for public transit has made it difficult to go anywhere without driving. 

Nearly one-third of the US population is "transportation disadvantaged" according to the American Public Health Association. Many cannot easily access basic needs such as healthy food choices, medical care, gainful employment, and educational opportunities.

Investigators at UCLA conducted a health impact assessment of budget cuts to transit. They found that transit budget cuts primarily affect smaller transit agencies and those they serve -- the poor, children, seniors, and the mobility impaired with significant impact on the health of these populations.

CTC will continue to make the case to decision-makers that more transportation choices will make for a healthier, better community.

One of the ways we'll know we've succeeded is when a shout of "Let's go kids!" isn't always followed by the sound of a car starting up.