Background

The average American bikes or walks for an average of 20 minutes for exercise and 14 minutes for other purposes every day(U.S. Department of Transportation, 2010). Trips for recreation, exercise, and sports accounted for 49% of bike trips in 2009. Between 2001 and 2009, the share of all bike trips made for utilitarian reasons increased from 43% to 51% (Pucher, J., et al., 2011). The number of Americans who ride bicycles is greater than all those who ski, golf, and play tennis combined (National Sporting Goods Association, 2007).

 

Many Americans ride bicycles for different reasons, but they don’t ride as frequently as they wish to due to safety concerns. In the United States, 71% of Americans say they would like to bicycle more than they do now (Royal, D., and D. Miller-Steiger, 2008). New Jersey has been consistently ranked as a state with high pedestrian and bicycle fatality rates(NJDOT, 2007). Furthermore, New Jersey adult obesity rate is 23.9 percent — that’s about 1 in 4 people (F as in Fat, 2010).

 

To ensure safety and to provide individuals access to safer routes, RU Community Mapping hopes to bring these issues to the forefront and improve safety in the local community, enabling healthier lifestyles. Through using public participatory GIS, the conditions of roads and suggested safe routes for bicycling will be charted by community members participating in the mapping process. With collaboration and great participation we hope to spark change https://canadarxcenter.com!