Healthy transport = Healthy lives

Publisher: 
BMA
Publication date: 
July 2012

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Abstract: 

People have always wanted to reach destinations quickly, safely and efficiently. But as the UK transport environment has become increasingly complex, transport’s impact on health has become unnecessarily harmful - to the point where it is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality.

Our aim is to show the positive effect that integrating health into transport policy will have and we propose areas for action that prioritise health for all relevant transport sectors.

Our new report is intended for transport, energy, sustainability and climate change policy makers with strategic or operational responsibility for public health and health promotion in the UK, and will be of interest to health professionals and the public.

Comments: 

The BMA sings the praises of cycling and walking, and less car use, to improve the health of the nation.

They seem to have done a fair amount of work, if only reviewing literature, and the document has much to be agreed with. In particular they appear to agree with the CEoGB's view that mass cycling will not return unless motor vehicles are segregated away from people on bicycles.

Then they go and spoil the whole thing by pushing for compulsory helmets for cyclists: a move that is very well proven around the world to prevent mass cycling (parts of the USA, Australia), and something that is completely unnecessary in places where mass cycling exists (The Netherlands).