Active Travel saves the HSE over €60 million in Dublin alone, claims new report
The health benefits of walking, cycling, and sustainable modes of transport saved the HSE €64.5 million in Dublin alone in 2023.
That’s according to a new report from the Climate and Health Alliance, which Dr Caoimhe Clarke delivered to Dublin City Council ’s Mobility and Public Realm SPC. Dr Clarke outlined the achievements of Active Travel, which contribute to 680,000 less cars on Irish roads every day and have significant climate benefits.
The report, titled ‘The Magic Pill,’ highlights how the way the government design streets and fund infrastructure shape our daily journey and have a major influence on the health and wellbeing of the Irish population. “The definition of Active Travel is walking, wheeling, cycling, or using public transport,” Dr Clarke explained.
“It’s one of the most accessible, affordable, and effective ways to improve public health. Our paper argues it's actually a public health intervention.”
Dr Clarke highlighted the social connection impact of Active Travel for older people, as it means the population are more likely to interact with one another. “It’s really important for brain health and a Lancet paper from a number of weeks ago showed the link between social isolation and the risk of dementia.
“Social activity is like cognitive training, it’s good exercise for the brain that creates social cohesion. Active Travel essentially fosters social interactions between people and improves the perception of safety in our communities, which is really important for Dublin,” she said.
The personal benefits of Active Travel include improved sleep, mental health benefits, cognitive enhancement, disease prevention, body weight reduction, balance and coordination, functional strength, and overall fitness. However, the societal benefits are even more far reaching.
If Active Travel initiatives can contribute to the goal of ensuring the Irish population reaches the World Health Organisation's guidelines of 2.5 hours physical activity per week, then the results would have a radical effect. These include an increased life expectancy of 7.5 months, prevent over 10,000 premature deaths, and reduce health expenditure of €8 billion per year.
This would also avoid 11.5m cases of non-communicable diseases over the next three decades, including 3.5m cases of depression, 3.8m cases of cardiovascular disease, and 400,000 cases of cancer. However, with only 23% of primary school children and 12% of secondary school teens meeting the National Physical Activity guidelines, few Irish young people are actually on course to reap these benefits.
These are also disappointing statistics when it comes to older Irish people, as just 6% in the 65 up 74 year old cohort cycle to get to places. These numbers are even more worrying in the over 75 category, where 31% of females and 23.8% of males state they never walk to get anywhere.
Travelling by car is still the most prominent mode of transport, amounting to 69% of total journeys taken. Choosing to walk to work has also been in steady decline for the past 40 years, with 15.2% of people walking to work in 1986, 9.3% in 2016, and down to 8.8% in 2022.
The climate impact of unsustainable modes of transport is also a major part of the Climate and Health Alliance’s Active Travel goals. With Dublin ranked number two in the world in terms of congestion levels and time spent in traffic in 2023, a recent update of the Global Air Quality Guidelines reveal that 99% of the world’s population are breathing air that damages their health.
These shocking statistics represent a need for a total modal shift according to the Climate and Health Alliance, who stress that every transport decision is also a health decision. Considering this, they encourage the government to ensure that health is factored into every single policy decision.
This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme