6 mega trends and the future of bicycling in NE Florida

Andy Clarke, of the Toole Design Group team, recently made a presentation at the North Florida Bicycle Club (NFBC) called 'Six Mega Trends and the future of Bicycling in Northeast Florida.' Here’s a summary of the main points, courtesy of the City of Jacksonville.

<h1>4. Our greatest health crisis is physical inactivity – and it threatens to overwhelm our health care system.</h1>

Health experts describe a coming financial tsunami caused by diabetes and cardiovascular disease for which physical activity was recently described as “the closest thing to a magic bullet” in an editorial in the journal Cardiology. We know that biking and walking are two of the best forms of physical activity and can be readily built into our everyday schedules…and yet we singularly fail to do anything to effectively promote them, save for the odd trail like the Baldwin Trail or pleasant river or board-walk. We continue to build streets that actively discourage walking and biking – hopefully the upcoming Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan can start to change that; stay tuned for ways you can help.