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Abstract

Purpose.

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.

Discussion:

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.

Keywords

Physical Activity Exercise Walking Transportation Environmental Design Health Survey BRFSS

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