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What is Active Transportation?
Active transportation is any form of human-powered transportation. It
is any trip made for the purposes of getting yourself, or others, to
a particular destination - to work, to school, to the store or to visit
friends. As long as it is "active", you can choose the mode - walking,
cycling, wheeling, in-line skating, skateboarding, ice skating (eg. on
a canal). Walking and cycling are the most popular forms of active transportation.
It can also involve combining modes such as walking/cycling with public
transit.
Active Transportation is important for a number of reasons!
Several important issues today can be addressed if more Canadians choose
to use their feet or bike more often, rather than using their car - our
health and safety, the health of our environment, and the quality of
life in our neighbourhoods.
With six in ten Canadians not physically active enough to achieve the
full health benefits - sedentary living is a significant health issue
today! Canadians live a car-centred lifestyle taking away a great opportunity
to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives.
Research has shown that achieving the equivalent to walking for an hour
throughout the day is health promoting. Even in 10 minute bouts, the
time it takes to walk to the bus, you could be incorporating physical
activity into your day. Moderate physical activities, such as walking
and cycling, reduce the risk of premature death, heart disease, obesity,
high blood pressure and many other diseases and disorders.
Transportation is one of the largest contributors of harmful emissions
that are responsible for poor air quality and human health effects. Human
activity, such as transportation, is having a dramatic impact on the
environment. One key concern is climate change - the result of increasing
levels of greenhouse gases which trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere.
Transportation produces 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned about air pollution from
cars and are more willing than ever to make a variety of changes to their
car use in order to reduce the environmental impact of driving. These
changes are, reducing driving and walking/biking more.
Transportation is a major part of our life, consuming many hours of
our day. We make many different kinds of trips: to work, to school, to
do errands/shopping, to visit friends and to transport our children to
their recreational activities. Each Canadian makes an average of 2,000
car trips of less than 3 km each year, trips that could be replaced with
an active choice of transportation for all or part of the trip.
The number of cars has increased steadily; people are driving more often
and farther distances. Each car travels, on average, 16,000 km/year or
about 300 km/week. Limiting the number of kilometres driven by choosing
another mode of transportation is by far the best way to reduce air pollution.
The most energy efficient and least costly mode of transportation is
muscle power!
For distances up to 5 km, cycling is recognized as the fastest of all
modes from door to door.
Taking Action
Here are some ideas that may help you consider adopting more active
modes of transportation:
- Think twice about using your car for every trip. Could you walk
or use your bike to visit friends?
- Dust off your bicycle and cycle to work when the weather permits.
- Trade in your dress shoes for running shoes, strap on a backpack
and walk all, or part of the way to work/school.
- Instead of driving your kids to the park, why not make it a family
outing on your bikes.
- If you are considering moving, think about the transportation options
available to you in the new locations you are considering. How far
will the distance be to those places you regularly need to get to.
Could you walk to do most of your small errands? How far away is the
nearest school for your child? Is this new neighbourhood "pedestrian
friendly"?
But keep in mind, it's not just up to an individual to adopt active
transportation, our communities, workplaces and schools must also support
active transportation.
Communities that endorse active transportation :
- have dedicated bicycle lanes and routes;
- advocate for sharing the road with cyclists;
- undertake specific measures to ensure the safe integration of pedestrians,
cyclists and other active users among motorized vehicle traffic;
- regularly maintain and upgrade pedestrian and cycling facilities;
- provide storage for bicycles throughout the city;
- have an integrated network of pedestrian and cycling paths that
are designed for efficient transportation as well as recreation;
- favour urban design that reduces the distances that people have
to travel to get to work, retail areas, schools and recreational/leisure
pursuits;
- encourage the retail and service sectors to support customers who
use active modes of transportation;
- plan streetscapes to be visually pleasing and inviting to pedestrians;
- have a network of greenspaces throughout the urban and suburban
areas;
- make access to public transit easily integrated with pedestrian
and cycling facilities to encourage intermodal travel;
- encourage driver education about how to share the road with multi-users;
- encourage feedback from citizens, pedestrian and cycling advocacy
groups.
Workplaces that endorse active transportation:
- support and encourage their employees to adopt active transportation;
- provide secure bicycle storage, lockers and shower facilities for
employees;
- allow more flexible dress codes;
- organize workplace challenges, employee recognition programs or
support community events to increase awareness;
- work with municipal planners to map out safe and efficient routes
to work and to address infrastructure or safety problems;
- emphasize reduced motorized transportation while at work and encourage
more active modes;
- provide or subsidize safe cycling or in-line skating clinics for
their employees.
Schools that endorse active transportation:
- support and encourage their students to adopt an active way to get
to school;
- work with the municipality to identify safe routes for children while
addressing safety and infrastructure barriers;
- encourage parents to form "escorted walks" to and from school for
young neighbourhood children;
- have teachers work with children to identify the safest routes to
get to school while teaching children about traffic and pedestrian
safety;
- offer cycling and in-line skating skill and safety courses;
- work with parents, motorists and the community at large, to make
the trip to school a safe trip for children and youth.
The Public Health Agency
of Canada supports a number of organizations and initiatives related
to active transportation.
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