Study documents massive health and economic benefits of switch to bicycling

A recent study by University of Wisconsin researchers calculates the health, environmental, and economic benefits if trips of five miles and less were made by bicycle instead of automobile.

Their conclusion:

Our findings suggest that significant health and economic benefits are possible if bicycling replaces short car trips. Less auto dependence in urban areas would also improve health in downwind rural settings.

The researchers modeled an area consisting of 11 metropolitan areas in the upper midwest with a population of 31.3 million people.  They assumed that during six months of the year, automobile trips of less than five miles were eliminated (round trip distance of 5 miles or less). They assumed 50% of those short trips were made by bicycle instead.  

Given those assumptions, they found these results:

• Annual health benefit of reduced pollution: $3.5 billion
• Annual reduction in deaths: 1,100 
• Annual savings from avoided mortality and reduced health care costs: $3.8 billion
• Annual savings in carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) emissions: 4 trillion pounds
• Total annual savings: Over $7 billion

Those assumptions sound a bit pie-in-the-sky and impossible to acheive in reality--except that a number of cities worldwide are already approaching them.  For example, Copenhagen sees about 1/3 of its daily trips by bicycle and another 1/3 by transit (the remaining 1/3 are automobile).

Not every city can by Copenhagen, but pretty much every U.S. city currently has the potential to increase its bicycling mode share ten to twenty times above the current rate.

And that would make a huge difference.