Photo: Extra Medium on Flickr.com
August 20, 2010
By: Britt Liggit
It turns out that public transportation does more than just
lower our impact on the environment — it also has incredible
benefits for our health and safety. A new study released by the
American Public Transportation Association (APTA) shows
that people that live in communities with extensive public
transportation networks exercise more, live longer, and are
generally healthier than people in automobile-dependent
communities.
“Use of public transit simply means that you walk more which
increases fitness levels and leads to healthier citizens. More
importantly, increasing use of public transit may be the most
effective traffic safety counter measure a community can employ,”
noted APTA president William Millar. Apparently communities
with vast public transportation networks don’t just live longer
because of the exercise — they’re also less likely to be the
victim of a fatal auto accident. The traffic fatality rate in the
Bronx, New York is four in 100,000 contrasted by the traffic
fatality rate in auto ridden Miami, Kansas which is 40 in 100,000.
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