Car Culture Up Close

With more private vehicles than either the Bronx or Manhattan, Staten Island is becoming a borough of fat-asses:

Recent city Health Department statistics suggest that Staten Islanders walk less during their daily rounds than do residents of the other boroughs. On relatively bucolic Staten Island, people are more apt to own cars and adopt a suburban lifestyle than their fellow New Yorkers, who trek up and down subway stairs and walk along busy sidewalks.

Staten Islanders registered 238,454 private cars in 2005 — more cars than were registered in the Bronx or Manhattan, even though those boroughs have populations roughly three times that of the Island, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. That amounts to roughly one car for every two Islanders, including children.

This car-bound life presents a challenge: Folks need to find ways to get their legs moving during the day.

The alternative is a bigger belly — the generally rising obesity rate is higher on Staten Island than in other parts of the city.

“There is a fair amount of research that in suburban-type settings, there are higher rates of obesity,” said Candace Young, the Health Department’s director of physical activity and nutrition.

In 2004, more than 26 percent of Islanders reported they were obese when responding to a Health Department phone survey, as compared to almost 22 percent citywide.