Oral

According to the US Department of Labor, the average American family spends almost 18% of its budget on transportation, including about 5% that is spent to fuel the family’s 2 cars. In fact, housing is the only expense that absorbs a greater portion of family income. For many families, this investment is not a matter of choice: those two cars that the average family owns may be all that stands between family members and unemployment. In fact, half of US households have no access to any form of public transportation. Beyond the significance of the family car as a prerequisite to employment in much of the US on the one hand and a major expense on the other, car ownership affects every aspect of family life, including school choice and attendance, access to food and exercise, access to health care andl participation in community life. Transportation policy more broadly – the decisions we make as a society rather than as individual families about where money should go in the transportation sector -- affects every aspect of social existence. This session will focus specifically on the impact of transportation policy on the health of children, youth and families. It will look broadly at the options for national policy in this sector. A respondent panel will comment on the implications of those options in relation to motor vehicle injury, which is the leading cause of death in the US for children, to fitness and the immediate and long-term prevention of chronic disease, and to family dynamics and child development.

Session Objectives: Define at least two major policy choices confronting the US in relation to transportation policy; Discuss at least three major consequences for maternal and child health;

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)