Factors in Childhood Obesity

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I sometimes hear fitness buffs explain that losing weight is simple: eat less, exercise more. This might work nicely as a mantra to chant in your head while running up hills, but the reality is that obesity is a pretty complex phenomenon, particularly when it comes to children. As reported in this recent article from the LA times, race, family structure, household income, and several other factors are all linked to childhood obesity rates according to a newly-published study using data from the National Survey of Childhood Health.

I was especially interested in relationship between childhood obesity and outside activities, which is striking. Children who do not participate in activities outside of school are 40 percent more likely to be obese than children who do, and children who live in neighborhoods without a park or recreaction center are about 20 percen more likely to be overweight.

It seems to me that one of the barriers to getting children to do more outside of school (aside from cost, of course) is that it's hard to get them to those outside activities. What if a kids could walk themselves to soccer practice after school, instead of relying on a parent to drive them? Or walk to a park to play? I believe that an important part of addressing childhood obesity should be restructuring the built environment to make active transportation easy for everyone--especially kids.

Thank you Ray LaHood

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Yesterday Transportation Secretary LaHood announced on his blog (all the cool people have them these days) the "end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized." This major policy revision from the FHWA includes several key recommendations:

• Treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes.
• Ensure convenient access for people of all ages and abilities.
• Go beyond minimum design standards.
• Collect data on walking and biking trips.
• Set a mode share target for walking and bicycling.
• Protect sidewalks and shared-use paths the same way roadways are protected (for example, snow removal).
• Improve nonmotorized facilities during maintenance projects.

It's great to see leaders at the top of the transportation world recognizing that people who travel on two feet deserve exactly the same treatment as people who travel on four wheels. Here's hoping that whole bit about treating walking and biking equally extends to funding...

Upcoming Events: Street Summits on Two Coasts

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Angelenos and others in the SoCal region can check out STREET SUMMIT 2010: Biking, Walking and Beyond! this Saturday (March 20) at the LA Trade Tech College from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm. Participants can learn about Sidewalk Politics, Reclaiming Streets for People, and Changing Communities Through Walkability Assessments. More information and registration is available on the Street Summit webpage.

Folks on the opposite side of the country are invited to the Chittenden County Bike/Ped Summit on March 27 at the McCarthy Arts Center from 8:30 am to 12:45 pm. On the agenda are sessions about advocacy and behavior change, safe routes to school, bicycle commuting, and a keynote address from Mary Collins, author of American Idle: A Journey Through Our Sedentary Culture. More information is available here.

Cool Ped Stuff #6: Skinny Streets

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Your street is fat.

Who could resist a story (from Grist) that starts with a headline like that? It led me to the blog of photographer and self-proclaimed urban planning geek David Yoon, who passes the time creating pictures of what LA streets might look like on a road diet. Here's one example from Santa Monica, which shows how narrowing a street can transform it from pedestrian acquaintance to pedestrian friend. You can see more at Narrow Streets Los Angeles.

This Week Foot

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This week began with a spate of nasty pedestrian crashes in my part of the world. First the Ventura County Star reported a Pedestrian, 33, struck and killed by car in Fillmore, then there a Buena student hit by car remains in critical condition. Happily, she seems to be improving--but not so happy was the story of Donations sought for Ventura boy's funeral expenses after a two-year-old was hit in a Ventura crosswalk.

Hoping to avoid a similar fate for her own child, Streetsblog describes how a Bay Ridge Mother Stirs Street Safety Awakening at Brooklyn CB 10 after she--and her empty stroller--were hit while walking to pick up her son from school.

They could use that kind of activism elsewhere in the world, like in Nigeria, where in Lagos there is such an Urgent Need to Rehabilitate Ketu Pedestrian Bridge that pedestrians are forced to scurry across a busy four-lane road because it's "safer" than using the overpass.

Of course, the Nigerians almost seem to have it good compared to the Frail pensioner forced to take 14-mile bus ride when she wants to cross the road, who appeared in various blog posts this week.

With all the negative news out there, a little humor was in order. Enter this story: Romanian Residents Amused By Drunken Pedestrian Sign.