Walking Facts

Walking Facts

Did You Know?

Since everyone walks, it’s easy to take for granted.  And that’s exactly what the transportation planning profession has done — with rather unfortunate results.  Consider these facts:

Walking Prevalence

• Walking is by far the most popular form of physical activity in the United States.
• Although 41% of all trips made in the United States are one mile or less, fewer than 10% of all trips are made by walking and biking. Click here to check out the 2001 National Household Travel Survey, conducted by the Federal Highway Administration.
• According to the CDC, only 13% of children walk to school today compared with 66% in 1970.
• Parents driving children to school comprise 20-30% of morning traffic congestion in urban areas.
• In the last 40 years, childhood obesity has increased 5-fold for kids age 6-11.
• Today there are 25 million U.S. children  ranked as overweight or obese.
• Children on a walking school bus walk at about 2 miles per hour, which is half the rate of a typical young adult. The average person takes 2,000 steps per mile.
• 10,000 steps per day is a great goal for someone trying to increase their physical activity level.
• Providing ideal conditions for walking is illegal in most suburban communities.

Injuries

• Each year 6,000 pedestrians are killed and 90,000 are injured.  One in five is a child. (Mean Streets 2000)
• You are 36 times more likely to be killed walking than driving a car.
• You are 300 times more likely to be killed walking than flying. 
• Less than 6% of Americans’ trips are on foot, yet 13% of all traffic deaths involve pedestrians.
• For every pedestrian killed by a car, at least 14 more are injured.
• Almost 60% of pedestrian deaths occur in places where no crosswalk is available.
• Being hit and killed by a car is now the second leading cause of fatal injury and the fourth leading cause of hospitalized injury for California children aged 5-12.
• Pedestrian fatalities have declined steadily over the last 20 years, mainly because US residents increasingly live in suburbs unsuitable for walking.

What can you do?

• Get in touch with your local America Walks member organization to see how can you promote walkability in your community.
• Become a walking advocate. Learn how to get started.