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Using Health Impact Assessment to Prevent Injuries in Oregon
Oregon’s Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Working Group
Posted in: February, 2010
In 2009, Governor Ted Kulongoski of Oregon proposed setting specific targets for automobile use in order to meet greenhouse gas emission goals already established in that state. Upstream Public Health, with funding from the Northwest Health Foundation, convened a workgroup to assess how strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) would affect the health of Oregonians.
The group included representatives from the Oregon Public Health Division, two county health departments, a major HMO, Portland State University, and others. The HIA Workgroup used the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) process to assess 11 specific VMT-reduction policies on three areas of health, including car collisions. The workgroup recommended five policies: 1) maximizing the density of urban neighborhoods, 2) requiring new developments be mixed-use and high-density with good connectivity, 3) improving the pedestrian infrastructure, 4) expanding and promoting public transportation, and 5) requiring businesses in metropolitan areas to charge for employee parking.
All these policies were found to have the potential to prevent injuries resulting from car collisions (including injuries to pedestrians and bicyclists). Mel Rader, Co-Director for Upstream Public Health, reported that the workgroup’s report has already had an impact on the political debate. The Oregon State Legislature created a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Task Force to draft legislation that includes VMT reduction targets which will be considered by the Oregon legislature in February of 2010.
This is not Oregon’s first experience with an HIA that assessed a proposed project for its impact on injury. In June 2008, the Portland Health Impact Assessment Workgroup released the results of an HIA that assessed the health consequences (including the impact on motor vehicle-related injuries of a proposed highway project (the Columbia River Crossing) and recommended that the project include wide bicycle and pedestrian paths separated from the roadway, adequate signage and lighting, and increased connectivity of routes to offset a potential increase in the number of injures created by the increased number of vehicles that the new highway project would create.
For more information on the Oregon Health Impact Assessment Network, contact Mel Rader at 503-284-6390 or mel@upstreampublichealth.org.
Health Impact Assessment on Policies Reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled in Oregon Metropolitan Areas, can be downloaded at http://www.upstreampublichealth.org/sites/default/files/HIA_Report_VMT.pdf
The Columbia River Crossing Health Impact Assessment can be downloaded from the Coalition for a Livable Future website at http://www.clfuture.org/projects/ShiftTheBalance/Columbia%20River%20Crossing/CRCDocs
More information on Health Impact Assessments can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/hia.htm
Examples of other HIAs and information on the HIA process can be found at the UCLA Health Impact Assessment Clearinghouse Learning and Information Center at http://www.ph.ucla.edu/hs/hiaclic/.
Postscript: On February 24, 2010, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 1059, which directs the Oregon Transportation Commission to create a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emission, including measures that would reduce the use of motor vehicles and encourage the use of public transportation, walking, and bicycling. Governor Ted Kulongoski is expected to sign the bill later this year.