What’s more dangerous in your community? Walking or not walking? If walking isn’t a safe way to travel in your city, not walking may be just as dangerous.
The American Colleges of Sports Medicine’s American Fitness Index (AFI) and Transportaton for America’s Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) may not at first blush appear to have much in common with one another, except for the fact that they were both released this week. The American Fitness Index is a “scientific snapshot of the state of health and fitness at the metropolitan level,” while the Pedestrian Danger Index is a “measure of the relative risk of walking, adjusted for exposure.” So where’s the connection?
The metropolitan areas that the AFI ranks among the healthiest and fittest, are by and large among the safest places for walking, while many of the unhealthiest, least fit metro areas are also some of the most dangerous for pedestrians. In other words, if you manage not to be killed trying to cross the street, you’re still at increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, asthma and obesity.
Minneapolis, which got the top spot on the AFI’s list of 50 metro areas, was ranked the 48th most dangerous metro area out of 52 in the Pedestrian Danger Index. Boston was named the least dangerous metro for pedestrians in the PDI, and was ranked third fittest in the AFI. The Pacific Northwest also had strong correlations between fitness and safety: Portland, San Francisco and Seattle were all, not surprisingly, ranked in the top quintile for fitness and in the bottom quintile for danger.
On the flipside, Tampa was ranked the second most dangerous metro for pedestrians, and was 40th in terms of fitness. While the PDI’s four most dangerous metros are in Florida, many of the strongest correlations between fitness and pedestrian safety were more spread out geographically: The Inland Empire region of Riverside and San Bernardino, California (5th most dangerous, 44th fittest), Las Vegas (6th most dangerous, 43rd fittest), Memphis (7th most dangerous, 48th fittest) and Houston (9th most dangerous, 42nd fittest).
We’re quick to point the finger at the American diet and the US health care system for obesity and other chronic diseases, but these reports suggest the physical layout of our metro areas and how we move about within them are also to blame. Because of infrastructure that favors automobile travel over active transportation, the odds are stacked doubly high against people living in the least fit, least walkable places. Even those who want to start walking for health or transportation purposes struggle to do so because there’s nowhere safe to walk.
The full American Fitness Index report and the Pedestrian Danger Index — part of T4America’s Dangerous by Design 2011 — are available here and here.