
The Crisis in American Walking (2012) - Mz
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/walking/2012/04/why_don_t_americans_walk_more_the_crisis_of_pedestrianism_.html
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teekert
I was once at a conference in Galveston, Texas. I and some other scientists,
mostly from Europe got hungry at 23:00 or so. We walked to the nearby Danny's
or Wendy's but it was closed. When we walked away we saw that the drive
through was open so we walked in. Strangely, nobody answered at the pole where
you talk to the person. Then a car came up, we stepped aside, and someone
started talking! So we walked to the car and said, hey that's nice, we thought
nobody was there?... And the guy went nuts over that we were trying to steal
his order or something... Wow... we stepped back a bit and when he drove on we
followed him to the window where we, just as the car left, saw a woman
screaming at us that "there is a camera on you!!!" While she smashed the
window shut we tried to tell her: "But we have money we just want to eat?"

It was one of the strangest experiences in my life. Later on I realized it was
quite a bit threatening as well.

Later we heard from another colleague that he was questioned by police in a
not-so-friendly way about what he was doing (he was walking along the road to
check out the beach.) During the trip I took after the conference I saw a
drive-through ATM and a drive-through pharmacy. And I spoke to a guy who had
been to a drive through funeral!

I guess it explains a bit why Google Now doesn't work for me (here in the
Netherlands), it keeps pushing me into either public transport or my car while
almost all traveling I do is combination of biking, walking and public
transport.

I once had a student from Bulgaria, for her it was normal to walk to school
for more than an hour. That would be considered strange here as well although
biking for an hour to school is certainly not unheard of (for kids).

~~~
philwelch
In suburban America, it's often seen as weird if not suspicious to be out
walking. Trayvon Martin was killed by an overenthusiastic and overarmed
neighborhood watch member in a Florida suburb, and a lot of people think it
was due to racism. In reality it might have (also) been because he was on
foot.

~~~
teekert
That sounds very credible, the guy in the car appeared really threatened by
us, he even told us "I have my wife here in the car" as if trying to get
sympathy. It feels insane to me but he really though we were going to do
something to him.

When I walked into a sports/fishing shop some days later, (on my way to New
Orleans) I saw the first real gun in my life (apart from in the belt of
policemen I have to say), a wall full of them! for sale! It made me realize
how things could have escalated and how this guy would have felt like he was
protecting his wife. (From pedestrians!)

------
cletus
I believe that a terrible way to end up is to be essentially infirm in old age
or even middle age. The way to avoid this is start healthy habits early.

I can't drive because of an eye condition. Honestly, this has been a bane of
my existence for most of my (adult) life. In Australia a non-car lifestyle is
possible but very limiting. You have to pick and choose where you live and
figure out how to get to and from places.

In Europe the situation is much better overall. In London you don't need a car
but it's still awkward if you need to go home after midnight. The Tube stops.
Cabs are crazy expensive. The night bus is a freak show. Going out of London
is a problem and expensive.

Switzerland on the other hand was (mostly) amazing from a walker's
perspective. Living in a rural town sans car might be problematic but you can
get pretty much anywhere in the country by clean, reliable trains. I lived in
Zurich and got to all sorts of places are Lake Zurich and Lake Luzern for
hiking and the like.

I now live in New York City. I have visited a number of parts of the US. In
most of the US you are utterly dependent on the automobile in a way that
residents of other industrialized nations probably can't quite comprehend.

I've stayed with friends in the Midwest who parked their car 8 feet from the
front door of the their condo, drove to work where their car was pretty close
to the office and often got food through drive throughs. They'd probably walk
less than 500 yards a day.

Most places in the US aren't just pro-automobile, they're anti-pedestrian and
anti-cyclist. Things like:

\- Limited to no public transport

\- Public transport that becomes unusable at certain hours

\- Light changes at intersections that may stop a pedestrian for as much as 5
minutes

\- Allowing cars to turn right at red lights. This is perhaps the most anti-
pedestrian/cyclist law of all. The number of times I've been almost wiped out
in this situation is insane.

\- Low density housing.

Even some more pedestrian-friendly places like San Francisco still kinda suck
(but SF is a lot better than anywhere else in the Bay Area).

NYC is a bit of a pedestrian mecca. As someone who can't drive, I've never
quite had the independence and freedom I have right now by living in NYC.
Reasons include:

\- Pedestrian-friendly light changes (you never have to wait more than about
30-45 seconds for a light change)

\- Subway that runs 24x7 and frequently

\- Cheap cabs

\- No turning right at red lights. Some visitors to NYC don't realize this is
illegal in the five boroughs.

So now I live walking distance to work. The downside is that being able to do
so is expensive as a single person and the domain of the wealthy for those
with more than 1-2 kids.

The thing that really boggles my mind is how blase we as a society are to the
30,000+ people who die every year in the US in motor vehicle accidents [1].

This is the same number of fatalities as 10 9/11 attacks _every year_. The
cult of the automobile simply defies reason.

There are a couple of points worth making about walking as exercise:

1\. Some is far, far better than none. You need some exercise simply for
proper functioning of your body; and

2\. Walking, and exercise in general, is not the primary solution to obesity.
According to a calculator, a 200 lb man burns 120 calories by walking 1 mile
in 20 minutes. Not a brisk pace at all. A 12oz can of soda has ~140 calories
in it.

Now the relationship between calorific intake and weight gain or loss is
complex and somewhat controversial in some circles but, generally speaking, if
you consume more calories than you burn you will tend to gain weight and if
you consume less than you burn you will tend to lose weight. The body makes
some effort to maintain homeostasis so minor changes may result in no change
at all.

Exercise certainly helps but diet tends to be the far bigger problem.

[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year)

~~~
megablast
> In Australia a non-car lifestyle is possible but very limiting

I take a huge affront to this, as an Aussie who has never owned a car. Sure,
you have to live in a city, like 90% of the rest of Australians.

And both London and Melbourne/Sydney/Adelaide have night buses.

~~~
jpatokal
Take all the affront you like, it's true. You can indeed get around the cities
kinda-sorta okay on public transport, but if you can't even _rent_ a car on
occasion, vast swathes of the country are effectively off limits.

Compare this with, say, Japan or Germany, where you can reach any point in the
entire country quite comfortably on public transport. Now, given its vast size
and the low population density outside the cities, I'm not saying it's
feasible for Australia to ever have Japanese or German-style PT... but for
better or worse, that's the situation today.

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yoodenvranx
Need a motivation to go out and walk around? Play Ingress!

It's a gps based mix of capture-the-flag and geocaching with a few million
players worldwide.

~~~
dublinben
Is it still impossible to get an invite? I requested one as soon as it was
announced, and haven't received it yet.

~~~
bergie
It opened to the public last December, so no invite needed

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markitexture
In light of non-existent public transportation infrastructure in most of the
USA, it's sad after a car/bike that walking is not only the single
alternative, but also looked at with suspicion... Prague, Czech Republic has
amazing public transportation, with support 24 hours a day on trolleys and
buses. And taxis are inexpensive too. Wow, I'm lucky! ;-)

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sien
Australia is doing well on the walking scales but is a fat country.

Australia is #6 on the obesity rank:

[http://www.nationmaster.com/country-
info/stats/Health/Obesit...](http://www.nationmaster.com/country-
info/stats/Health/Obesity)

Pehaps it's all the Pie floaters. Or the quality craft beer. Or the fantastic
cheese like King Island Brie.

BRB.

~~~
mkl
Only if you ignore less populous countries (and that data is quite out of date
too). In a more complete and more recent list [1], Australia is 44th!

A UN report from last year [2] only has data from 2008 as well, so it seems
difficult to make an up-to-date comparison.

In [3] there's a 2007 list including overweight as well as obese. Australia is
21st.

[1] [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/...](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/rankorder/2228rank.html)

[2]
[http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf](http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3300e/i3300e.pdf)

[3] [http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-
fo...](http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-
cx_ls_0208worldfat.html)

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JustinBlaird
Author claims "average 3 foot-per-second walking speed" \- It's almost
impossible to walk that slow unless you're injured.

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matthewmcg
Our dependence on the automobile takes one solution (human powered mobility)
and turns it into two problems (lack of exercise and pollution).

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markitexture
Walking in Phoenix, AZ is uncommon simply because of massive sunburn
exposure...

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brandonmenc
Walking burns something like a measly 100 calories per mile. We could double
our walking and still not dent obesity.

We have a crisis that involves lack of real exercise (which walking, is not)
and excessive caloric intake.

~~~
simonebrunozzi
Wrong - walking, or any sort of physical activity, reactivates your
metabolism. If you go from 0 to 1 hour of walking per day, your metabolism
would burn way more than 100 calories.

~~~
a8da6b0c91d
Walking and sprinting and weight training boost metabolism. Doing a lot of
jogging actually lowers resting metabolic rate because the body adaptively
conserves energy when confronted with such stress. After a few weeks of a
daily jogging habit you're in total burning barely more than you were when
sedentary.

This is why you see so many people pounding away on gym treadmills month after
month and still looking squishy.

