1%
1% of all Freedom sales is allocated into the realization of safer non-motorized infrastructure.


What is “safer non-motorized infrastructure”?
Safer non-motorized infrastructure refers to integrated networks of pathways, bicycle lanes and multi-use paths that help to create safe walkable and bikeable communities.  Urban Planners throughout the United States and worldwide are looking at how planning has a direct correlation to sustainable communities. Click here to find out more…


How?                         
Freedom donates funds and works closely with Transportation Alternatives for Marin (TAM), a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission it is to promote pedestrian and bicycle transportation, particularly in the United States.


Who is TAM and what have they accomplished?
TAM is a consensus-building organization that seeks to educate diverse decision-making groups about pedestrians and bicycles as the optimal transportation solution. The organization acts as a liaison with local, federal and state governmental agencies, the public, organizational constituents, the business community and similar groups in foreign countries.

TAM is comprised of WTB and Freedom staff members who, along with regional partner Marin Bicycle Coalition (MCBC), helped initiate the $612 million national Safe Routes to School program, as well as the $100 million Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program.

In addition to initiating national programs, TAM has been active in local efforts of improving non-motorized infrastructure in Marin County, California.  TAM aims to promote Marin County as a model community of pedestrian and bicycle transportation, and to demonstrate that investment in integrated bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, combined with education, can relieve a substantial portion of the overall transportation load.


Why Should Communities in the U.S. Support Improving Non-Motorized Transportation?
U.S. cyclists are three times more likely to be killed than German cyclists and six times more than Dutch cyclists, whether compared per-trip or per-distance traveled. (Reuters, Aug. 28, 2003, by Maggie Fox)

Statistics like this are a scary reality for those of us who choose to ride our bicycles on the road.  For others, it means choosing not to ride at all.  In the United States, gas prices are at record highs, habitats are disappearing, and the health of the average American citizen is deteriorating.  It is becoming more evident that something needs to change.  Freedom advocates that an increase in safe and integrated non-motorized infrastructure will encourage more people to commute, run errands, and exercise on their bicycles.   An increase in bicycle usership in conjunction with a decrease in auto usage has been shown to have positive correlations with lower per capita carbon emissions, improved cardiovascular health, and a lower environmental footprint.


Why do Germany and the Netherlands have higher bicycle usage and lower per capita injuries than the United States?
Among other geographical reasons, Germany and the Netherlands shifted focus from auto-centric infrastructure development toward non-motorized infrastructure development post Arab Oil Embargo of 1973.  They focused on improving the following aspects:

• Extensive networks of separated cycling facilities
• Intersection modifications and priority traffic signals
• Traffic calming
• Traffic education and training
• Bike parking
• Co-ordination with public transport
• Traffic laws