Each day Sacramento drivers travel an estimated 28 million miles - the equivalent of 59 round trips to the moon. The Department of Transportation reports that if drivers observed speed limits across the nation, approximately 71 tons of pollutants would not be emitted and about 4 million gallons of gasoline would be saved Statewide, bicycle usage eliminates about 7 tons per day of smog-forming gasses and almost a ton of inhalable particles in one day. This is the highest in the nation.
Research shows that regular cycling can cut the chances of heart disease in half.
Californians lose 200,000 hours a day to traffic congestion and another 200,000 hours a day due to traffic accidents. The average U.S. household consumes 1,104 gallons of gasoline per year and spends almost 19 percent of income on transportation-second only to housing costs, which total 31 percent. On a 20-mile trip, a lone driver is responsible for more than five times as much air pollution as a bus rider is. Vehicles emit about 1.2 million pounds of pollutants daily into the Sacramento region's air. Every 10,000 miles a car releases into the air its own weight in carbon.