As anyone who's ridden through downtown traffic can attest, urban cycling can be scary and dangerous.
But a new study says that the benefits of the activity far outweigh the risks. And for the first time, those benefits have been quantified.
The authors piled together data on air pollution, traffic accidents and physical activity, and ran it against mortality and life tables for 500,000 people. They focused on the Netherlands, where bicycling is a common way of life, and shorter cycle trips such as to the grocery store and back.
The authors found that for the individuals who shift from car to bicycle, the benefits gained by increased physical activity were substantially larger (3 - 14 months of life gained) than the drawbacks of inhaled air pollution (0.8 - 40 days lost) and the increase in traffic accidents (5 – 9 days lost).
"Societal benefits are even larger due to a modest reduction in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and traffic accidents," the paper said.
The results are published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The study comes on the heels of another finding that shows public transportation leads to more weight loss -- nearly seven pounds per person.
Both studies may help city officials make decisions to begin to change our urban landscapes away from car-centric and toward being more bike- and rail-friendly.
Image courtesy of Flickr.
Tags: Adventure Sports, Current Events, Health, Recreation and Entertainment
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