I know biking makes me feel better but I will admit that I wondered what risks I was really taking out there in the road on my bike. Then I went to the LAB conference this summer and they mentioned a study that showed that biking actually extended your life. Things got hectic and it slipped my mind but today there was a post in a local blog mentioning the study and I had to share it. A study conducted by the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands indicates that biking is great for your health even when you adjust for dangers such as air pollution. Furthermore, making the switch from driving to biking adds 3 – 14 MONTHS to your life expectancy.
For more information about the study from the blog I mentioned, click here. For the study itself click here .
Now, admittedly, the Netherlands has an amazing biking infrastructure. Also the gains are greater for the elderly and for previously sedentary people. Of specific interest to our community is the fact that car accidents are really high for people between the ages of 18 – 24 so shifting this poipulation to the bike makes the roads safer for everyone. But go ahead and read the study yourself. It is an interesting read. Then commit to biking in few more days a month.
Bike UMD 
I would bike more if I didn’t get hit by a car on campus… TWICE in one semester! Never again.
May I ask what the circumstances were when you were hit? Did you report it? Daytime/after dusk? Location etc.? Street/sidewalk…
Both cases were in the morning on my way to lab (it was not dark in either case). The first one was on the circle leading to Mowatt Ln. I was bumped off the road into that median of rocks. There just so happened to be a cop passing by and she made a report but nothing ever paned out. The second case was almost exactly one year ago in lot 1. A guy knocked me off my bike and ran over my front tire. I didn’t report that one but a kid driving by picked me up and drove me to the health center to get my leg checked out. Until we get dedicated bike lanes on campus, forget it. I now walk to campus from grad hills and I can tell you that even just walking, I have been almost run over several times on that right turn from Adelphi onto Campus drive.
Now, admittedly, the Netherlands has an amazing biking infrastructure. Also the gains are greater for the elderly and for previously sedentary people. Of specific interest to our community is the fact that car accidents are really high for people between the ages of 18 – 24 so shifting this poipulation to the bike makes the roads safer for everyone. But go ahead and read the study yourself. It is an interesting read. Then commit to biking in few more days a month.