U.S. obesity clearly linked to poor walking, cycling facilities

[S]ince the 1970's both Germany and The Netherlands have made concerted efforts to promote both walking and biking among their respective citizenry.

The effort has paid off. In The Netherlands, as well as Denmark and Sweden, all countries with high percentages of walking and biking, obesity is one-third that of the USA. In Germany the rate is half that in the US. So, the link between regular walking and biking and lower obesity rates seems pretty firmly established.

[The researchers] identified six key factors that made it possible for these two nations to encourage walking and biking, starting with significant improvements in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. Both nations aggressively sought ways to get people out of their cars and onto sidewalks and bike paths. They have deliberately created walker/cyclist-friendly streets and neighborhoods, going so far as to close off through streets with artificial dead-ends that only walkers and cyclists are permitted to pass between. . . .

The Dutch and Germans have made the effort to ensure the safety of their pedestrians and cyclists by not only building extensive "people-friendly" streets as opposed to America's "auto-centric" thoroughfares but also by enforcing very strict traffic laws. Not yielding to walkers and bicyclists can result in very hefty fines, the authors report. The result is a dramatic decline in both cyclist and pedestrian deaths in both countries. . . .

While the authors agree that changing decades-old patterns of behavior, not to mention traffic laws, driver education, street designs and a myriad of other policy decisions, will take time, they believe it can and should be done. They point out that while Europeans in physically active countries like The Netherlands and Germany tend to live longer, their per-capita health care expenditures are only half that of the United States.