by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm

A recent study by the University of Tennessee’s Obesity Research Center documents the relationship between obesity rates and active transportation (i.e. biking, walking, and public transit.)

The study’s lead author, David Bassett, co-director of the Obesity Research Center and professor in the Department of Exercise, Sport and Leisure Studies, said more people are thinking about transportation issues to save gas and money. On top of that, Americans are obsessed with losing weight, and the latest statistics show about one in three U.S. adults are obese.

“Many people blame this on things like technology, TV, Internet and sedentary jobs, but what we found was that there are other industrialized nations who have similar, high standards of living, who do not suffer from obesity to nearly the same extent that the U.S. does,” he said. “I truly believe that the transportation modes in various countries are important in explaining international differences in obesity rates.”

This study’s results are just another justification for building more biking and walking infrastructure in Metro Detroit.

And it also supports the Safe Routes to School concept, especially given the amount of childhood obesity in Michigan.  In 2007, 12% of children in Michigan were obese (>20% overweight.)

Unfortunately many of those responsible for transportation decisions have little experience or background in health.  Improving community health is not on their radar.  But one thing road engineers are good are is understanding numbers — and this study provides them.

• In 2000, Europeans walked an average of 239 miles per person per year.  Americans walked 88 miles. And while Europeans biked 118 miles per year on average, Americans rode only 25 miles.
• In Atlanta, every hour per day spent driving was associated with a 6 percent increase in the likelihood of being obese.

One caveat is the results do not prove causality.  However, the authors note the results “suggest that active transportation could be one of the factors that explain international differences in obesity rates.”

In 1969, 42 percent of students walked or bicycled to school.

In 2001, 16 percent of students between the ages of 5 and 15 walked or bicycled to or from school.  Less than half of students living within a mile of school walk or bike to school even once a week.

Is there any wonder there’s a child obesity epidemic?

The Safe Routes to School (SR2S) state and federal programs are aimed at reversing those trends.  The program pursues 5 – E’s to help get more kids walking and biking to school:  engineering, enforcement, encouragement, education and evaluation.

The good news is there’s SR2S grant money to help schools pursue this.  M-DOT is projecting over $6 million in grants for 2009.  Over 350 Michigan schools are already participating.

Tonight some of us gave a presentation to the School Board of Royal Oak about middle school science lesson plans and encouraged them to participate in this program.  It certainly seemed to many in attendance that this was a good idea.

Coincidentally, the school board meeting was held in my old (and now closed) elementary school.  I hadn’t been in the building for 25 years .  I noted that I almost always walked to school back then.

What can you do to help get your school district interested in SR2S?

Fortunately the Michigan SR2S and the National Center for SR2S are great web sites and a great place to get better acquainted with the program.  And since this program addresses student health and safety — and provides funding — it should be a relatively easy sell.

There’s also the upcoming annual statewide SR2S meeting on Monday, January 26, 2009 and it’s free.  It may be a simple “ask” to get a school representative at that meeting.

Bicycle Retailer magazine is reporting a recent “historic” meeting with presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Barack Obama, in a private 20-minute meeting with members of the Bikes Belong board of directors, told them if he were elected president he would increase funding for cycling and pedestrian projects. And the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also said he would support Safe Routes to Schools programs.

He also told them he seldom makes promises on what he would do if elected president, but that this was a promise he would keep. Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong, laid out the industry’s position on boosting funding for cycling-related projects and for Safe Routes to Schools at the meeting.

Stan Day, SRAM’s president, said that Obama “gets it.” He pointed out that Obama understands that bicycles can be part of a solution to issues as diverse as health care, obesity, energy and environmental policy.

On a less serious note, Obama recently went biking with his kids in Chicago. He commented that he looked like Urkel (see photo) in the media’s photographs. On the bright side, he’s apparently better at biking than bowling, but has a ways to go to catch up with President Bush.

The bike industry is hoping to set up a similar meeting with Republican candidate John McCain.

In February Congressman Earl Blumenauer introduced a House Resolution that “recognizes that increased and safe bicycle use for transportation and recreation is in the national interest” and outlines general federal policy changes to support increased biking.

The outlined policies really tie together all of bicycling advocacy causes from Complete Streets to Safe Route to Schools to mountain biking access to bike commuting and much more.

You can view the complete House Resolution 305 on-line. Last week the Resolution was passed by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. It was on the House floor this week but no vote was taken due to a lack of quorum. Its current status is also on-line.

Help get this passed

One easy option for cyclists to help get this passed is to simply call their representative. Here’s the list of phone numbers for the Detroit-area congressional delegation.  You can also find your representative on-line::

• Representative Joe Knollenberg, 202-225-5802
• Representative Thaddeus McCotter, 202-225-8171 ** BILL CO-SPONSOR **
• Representative Sander Levin, 202-225-4961
• Representative Carolyn Kilpatrick, 202-225-2261
• Representative John Conyers, 202-225-5126
• Representative John Dingell, 202-225-4071

You can ask them to support House Resolution 305 from Representative Blumenauer. It’s simple and takes less than a minute. Just let them know that you’re a cyclist from the Representative’s district and you want them to support this bill.

And, if Represenative McCotter is your congressman, make sure you thank them for co-sponsoring the resolution.

This video show families and kids biking and walking to school. It’s simply amazing to see such a high level of participation — and all of these kids developing a positive healthy lifestyle. It’s a huge contrast from schools in Metro Detroit which are often clogged with parents chauffeuring their children to school, causing area traffic congestion, and fostering a dependence on commuting by car rather than by biking or walking.

This video was taken by David Hembrow who adds “It’s important to realize that this is not an exceptional day, nor an exceptional school. Dutch children [are] everywhere, every day travel like this.”

Additional resources: National Center for Safe Routes to School, Michigan Safe Routes to School