Public Health
Streetsblog Basics
It’s Hard to Overstate the Health Benefits of Biking to Work
A massive new study of commuters in the United Kingdom reveals that people who bike to work tend to live longer and are at lower risk of heart disease and cancer.
April 24, 2017
America Builds Too Many Schools By Highways
One in 11 U.S. public schools are within 500 feet of a highway, exposing 4.4 million children to elevated levels of pollution, putting kids at elevated risk of developing asthma. But cheap land remains alluring to school districts, and America's system of school siting is not getting better.
February 21, 2017
CDC: America Falling Behind Other Nations on Traffic Safety
How is the U.S. doing on traffic safety?
July 7, 2016
Health Department: Car Crashes Remain Leading Injury Killer of NYC Kids
Fewer New York City children are dying in traffic, but car crashes continue to be the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among kids ages 1 to 12, according to an annual child mortality report issued by the Department of Health [PDF].
May 26, 2016
Surgeon General’s Warning: Unwalkable Places Are Hazardous to Your Health
Physical activity is essential to people's health, but dangerous streets and spread-out, sprawling communities prevent Americans from getting enough of it, says the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy.
September 9, 2015
How Seattle Children’s Hospital Took the Lead on Healthy Transportation
It's more than a little ironic that in many places, hospitals are some of the worst offenders when it comes to perpetrating unhealthy transportation patterns. Often surrounded by enormous parking decks, hospitals have earned a reputation as isolated institutions hermetically sealed off from surrounding neighborhoods.
May 8, 2015
DOH: Motorist Crashes, Again the Top Killer of NYC Kids, Are Preventable
Each year the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reports on the top causes of injury-related death for children in New York City, and traffic crashes consistently top the list. That remains true in the newest report [PDF].
May 8, 2015
NHTSA Touts Decrease in Traffic Deaths, But 32,719 Ain’t No Vision Zero
Twenty-four-year-old Taja Wilson was killed near the Louisiana bayou in August when a driver swerved on the shoulder where she was walking. Noshat Nahian, age 8, was killed in a Queens crosswalk on his way to school in December by a tractor-trailer driver with a suspended license. Manuel Steeber, 37, was in a wheelchair when he was killed in Minneapolis while trying to cross an intersection with no crosswalk or traffic signal on a 40-mph road. One witness speculated that Steeber must have had a "death wish."
December 22, 2014
Traffic Remains the Top Injury-Related Killer of NYC Kids Under 15
Last week, the city announced that it is kicking off the school year with the gradual roll-out of all 140 school zone speed cameras allowed under state law. There's good reason for the expansion: Despite drops in fatality rates over the past decade, a report from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene shows that traffic remains the leading injury-related killer of New York City children.
September 8, 2014
India’s Health Minister Wants Protected Bike Lanes Nationwide
There's encouraging news out of India, where cities expect to add hundreds of millions of residents in the next few decades but are already choking on traffic congestion and auto exhaust.
August 28, 2014