MEDIA RELEASE	Media embargo – 9 February 2011
A healthy cycle (190 words)
The health benefits of cycling heavily outweigh the costs of injury from road crashes.
This is a finding of a study published in the February issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
Graeme Lindsay and colleagues from the University of Auckland looked at the effects of shifting as few as 5% of short distance vehicle trips to bicycles.
“A key challenge for climate change in the future is to change the nature of the goods and services we use and the activities we undertake,” said Dr Lindsay.
“Transport is one area where change is possible, with positive outcomes for health and the environment.
“We estimate that the health effects would include more than 100 deaths avoided because of increased physical activity, about five fewer deaths due to air pollution from vehicle emissions and potentially an additional five cyclist fatalities from road crashes.
“In addition, a 5% shift would reduce vehicle travel by more than 200 million kilometres a year, save about 22 million litres of fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The benefits of a transport mode shift from cars to bicycles far outweigh the harms.”
ENDS
For more information about this research, contact the research author: 
Dr Graeme Lindsay, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand; Phone: +64 021 054 3319; e-mail: g.lindsay@auckland.ac.nz

MEDIA ONLY: To receive a PDF of the paper or for more information about ANZJPH, contact: Peta Neilson ANZJPH Ph: (03) 9329 3535 E-mail: anzjph@substitution.com.au

The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health is published by the Public Health Association of Australia. Information on the Association and the Journal can be found at http://www.phaa.net.au