This document discusses trends supporting more multi-modal transportation systems, including motor vehicle saturation, an aging population, rising fuel prices, increased urbanization, and traffic and environmental concerns. It notes that sustainable planning aims to anticipate and manage problems rather than waiting for crises, and that transportation policies have significant impacts on people's lives through factors like time spent traveling, household budgets, development costs, safety, health, and life opportunities.
9. Preventing Problems
Sustainability planning is
to development what
preventive medicine is to
health: it anticipates and
manages problems rather
than waiting for crises to
develop.
10. Transport Policies Affect People’s Lives
On Average:
• People spend about 90 daily minutes on travel activity.
• Households spend about 20% of their budget on transportation, so
approximately 90 minutes of each workday is devoted to financing transport.
• Vehicle parking represents about 10% of building costs and significantly affects
housing affordability.
• Local and state governments spend hundreds of dollars annually per capita on
transportation facilities and services.
• Motor vehicle accidents are the largest single cause of fatalities for people in the
prime of life (between 5 and 50 years of age).
• Motor vehicles are major contributors to air, noise and water pollution, and so
affect public health, community livability and ecological integrity.
• People who spend more time driving are more likely to be overweight, and
people with long commutes tend to experience less satisfaction in life.
• The quality of mobility and accessibility significantly affect people’s opportunities
in life.