Any individual in California who has taken their bike to the open road knows that they may be putting themselves at serious risk of a major car accident. Fitness app Strava turns out to be a very accurate way to determine how many people are actually commuting on their bikes or by foot.
Scientists associated with the Centers for Disease Control say that this could help urban planners try to make city locations safer for cyclists as well as walkers who commute to work. These individuals are at much higher risk of being critically injured in an accident because they do not have any of the safety technology inside a vehicle such as a strong frame, a seatbelt, or airbags.
Commuting can be very difficult to observe in order to help urban planners figure out the best way to allot for bike lanes and crosswalks that are meaningful for drivers as well as those on bicycles and on foot. A fitness app like Strava is actually a social network for athletes, however, GPS is used to determine how people move around. Some people are already using the data pulled from applications like this for city planning purposes.