Proportion of trips made by walking: estimating a state-level baseline for Healthy People 2010 Objective 22-14.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the proportion of short trips made by walking among Michigan adults and barriers to walking for transportation.


METHODS
Four questions on walking for transportation were asked of 3808 respondents to the Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) between January and December 2001.


RESULTS
Three quarters (74.3%) of Michigan adults were estimated to have made at least one short trip (.25-1 mile) in the previous week; however, only 36.2% of them walked even one of these trips. The mean proportion of short trips walked was 21.4%; less than 10% of all respondents walked five or more trips per week.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results provide a Michigan-specific baseline for Healthy People 2010 Objective 22-14 (i.e., increase the proportion of trips made by walking) and suggest the potential for these questions to be used to monitor active transportation via the BRFSS.
Rafferty
Ann P
AP
Bureau of Epidemiology, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing, Michigan 48909, USA. rafferty@michigan.gov
McGee
Harry B
HB
Petersmarck
Karen A
KA
Miller
Corinne E
CE
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D004779:Environment Design; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006293:Health Promotion; D040361:Healthy People Programs; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D014186:Transportation / Q000379:methods*; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*