Scarlett McNally: Enabling active travel can improve the UK’s health

There is an urgent need to improve the nation’s health, which worsened over the pandemic. There is an abundance of evidence and reports, including by me, claiming that exercise is a miracle cure that improves physical and mental health and reduces demands on NHS services and the need for social care.1234The best forms of exercise are those that fit into everyday life. Active travel is a “best buy” for improving health. Commuting by cycling reduces incidence of, and mortality from, heart disease and cancer by over 30% in a dose dependent manner5 and reduces sick days and depression.6 People don’t swap from their car to active travel because cars are normalised and our infrastructure is built around them. This means that 71% of women (and 61% of men) say it is too dangerous to cycle on roads.7 Where there are segregated safe cycle routes, people use them, as has been…
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