BICYCLING COULD SAVE BILLIONS
If people chose to take half of their car trips on two wheels instead of four, health care costs could drop by billions.
By Emily Sohn
THE GIST
* Biking instead of driving could save billions of dollars in health costs and thousands of lives.
* Cities with more biking infrastructure see lower rates of disease.
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Compared to driving, bicycling is clearly better for the environment and your health. But how much better is it?
A new study offers some hard numbers: If people in the upper Midwest chose to take half of their car trips by bicycle, health care costs would drop by $7 billion. And with better air quality for its now more-fit citizens, the region would end up with an estimated 1,100 fewer deaths each year.
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