Transportation plays an important role in health, well being and quality of life. Transportation professionals have two of the 10 most pressing health issues: 1) Motor Vehicle Injuries and 2) Obesity or Physical Activity. First one is being addressed through Vision Zero initiative and second one is being addressed through Transportation and Health initiative. The solution should be “data driven and evidence based”.

Approximately 15% of adult population in the world are obese. Transportation impacts individual health decisions. For example, a person may choose not to walk or bike to the store or to work because of a lack of sidewalks. Therefore, it is important to create environments in these locations that make it easier to engage in physical activity and eat a healthy diet.

Our biggest challenge, I believe, is that we don’t currently have a good tool to evaluate health measures in the transportation decision making process. Have you ever calculated an “obesity reduction” for
your traffic impact study? We need a tool for health performance. Any thoughts?