Mortality Risk Associated With Leaving Home: Recognizing the Relevance of the Built Environment

Abstract

Traffic fatalities are largely unrecognized as a danger to be factored into residential location decisions. Land use controls that deter sprawl along narrow exurban roads can reduce the mortality risks associated with leaving home.

The role of the built environment in explaining relationships between perceived and actual pedestrian and bicyclist safety

“…In terms of the participant-specific neighborhoods, the mean number of crashes was 11.5, ranging from 0 to 48 SD (12.9). Without actual multimodal counts of travelers to characterize exposure, an approximation is to rely on population density (Ewing et al, 2003;Lucy, 2003). To improve our exposure measure, we considered also the number of employees as it also generates and attracts travel activity.…”

Untitled

“…Ewing and Hamidi (2014) found that each 10 percent increase in their community compactness index is associated with an 11.5 percent increase in transit commute mode share and a 13.8 percent reduction in traffic fatalities. As a result, transit-oriented communities have about one-fifth the per capita traffic fatality rate as automobile-oriented areas, and urban residents have lower overall violent death rates, considering both homicide and traffic risks, than suburban and rural residents (Lucy 2003).…”

The Impact of Urban Sprawl on Disaster Relief Spending: An Exploratory Study

“…Additionally, as new communities and municipalities arose, some questioned the cost effectiveness of public sector services provision and infrastructure spending in regions where greater economies of scale possibly could be achieved by having fewer governmental entities and/or more densely settled neighborhoods (Ladd 1992, Carruther and Ulfarsson 2003, Lambert, Srinivasan and Min 2009. Finally, and more recently, concerns over whether suburban life can cause greater health risks and greater fatality rates have been raised by those who claim that there is a connection between neighborhood design and weight problems and obesity (Frumkin 2002), higher incidents of vehicle fatalities per capita (Ewing, et al 2003, Lambert andMeyer 2006), and delays in EMS and fire response to crisis situations Meyer 2006 and2008;Trowbridge, et al 2009;Katirai 2011, Lambert, Srinivasan andKatirai 2012) in addition to other possible health problems (Lucy 2003).…”