FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Healthy Coast Week, an initiative of the Smart Coast Healthy Coastal Connections Project, is scheduled for May 2-8, and several activities are planned to make it easier to put down the TV remote and the computer keyboard, and lead a healthier lifestyle.

Charlene Lee, program director of Smart Coast, said, “We’ve had a number of people on our Complete Streets Committee interested in making all streets safe for all user groups.” They include anyone who, for whatever reason, have a desire to leave their automobile in park.

Among the events planned is Sunday’s Smart Ride to LuLu’s, a 50K (31.06-mile), one-way bicycle ride beginning in Fairhope, winding through the countryside and ending with a post-race party at LuLu’s at Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores. The aim is to promote the need for roads to be designed to accommodate cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. Ride begins at 9 a.m., with registration at 8.

Smart Coast is a Mobile Bay area nonprofit that works to build a healthy coastal region by empowering and inspiring local citizens through education, research and dialogue. The ride will raise awareness for Complete the Streets, one of several Smart Coast initiatives drawing attention to the need for roadways and thoroughfares designed for safe travel by all user groups: pedestrian, bike, car and public transit.

“The number of tragic accidents over the last few years involving cyclists hit by cars — on both sides of Mobile Bay — has galvanized this movement,” said Smart Coast Executive Director Wendy Allen. “Already several communities including Fairhope, Daphne and Chickasaw have committed to adopting the Complete Street plan for new road development. In fact, we’re leading the state in bringing awareness to the need for smarter and safer traffic design.”

Burma Shave-style signs along the route will carry “sayings” meant to encourage participants while stressing the need for road design with non-motorists in mind, Allen added. She credited twin sisters, Karin Wilson of Page & Palette Bookstore and Kelley Lyons of the Lyons Share Gallery, with being the “real force behind the ride.” Several businesses took part as sponsors.

• Seminar, panel discussion

The Danger Streets By Design Seminar will take place at the Mobile Convention Center on May 6, from 5-8:30 p.m. The free public meeting will feature participants who will talk about the report Dangerous by Design and the future of transportation and its effect on local communities.

Organizers say you will hear about the national trends to increase sidewalks and bike lanes so the needs of everyone are considered in communities. Find out ways everyone can help bring this change to standard roadway designs.

Light refreshments will be provided. The event is sponsored by AARP Alabama.

David A. Goldberg is one of three panel participants. He is communications director for Transportation for America (T4America), a coalition of nearly 500 groups in all 50 states working to update the nation’s transportation program for the 21st century. Goldberg works to help a coalition of national, state and local groups communicate their values and goals on behalf of better planning and development.

He also is credited with coining the term “complete streets” to refer to roads that are designed to accommodate everyone who uses them, whether on foot, bicycle, on buses, in wheelchairs or in cars. A Complete Streets Act currently is pending before Congress.

Sharon Z. Roerty is the executive Director at the NCBW and is the director of the Active Living Resource Center, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to reverse childhood obesity. Her expertise is in environmental, transportation and land use planning, as well as advocating for change.

Roerty serves on the America Bikes board of directors; Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center International Advisory Group, was appointed to the Federal Safe Routes to School Task Force by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation and is a member of the SRTS National Review Group.

Adam Goldberg is the senior legislative representative for government relations and advocacy on the AARP Livable Communities Team. He works on transportation oriented legislative and regulatory issues at the state and federal levels.

Prior to joining AARP, he worked for Consumers Union, the independent, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

“For many years, we’ve designed for one user group — the car,” Lee said. “We need to design for multiple user groups. Alabama is the most dangerous state for cycling and has the highest level of obesity. We’re interested in making walkability an option.”

Lee noted southwest Alabama will soon reach the Environmental Protection Agency’s non-attainment level soon, in terms of air quality, adding, “We see this as a way we can change the way we’ve done things. The health and economic benefits improve, home values go up and quality of life improves with walkability.”

Remembering the number of cyclists killed on coastal roadways over the last few years, Allen said, “You can’t stop accidents, but we haven’t figured out how to give bicyclists safe access. Things will change once we have a strong enough movement with enough critical mass.

“Commuting to work on a bike should be an option. We’re trying to serve as that glue. There are many people who don’t think cyclists are supposed to be on the road. They were designed for cyclists before automobiles were even invented.”

• School walk

One activity to remind young people of the importance of safety, Allen and Lee said, is the final Smart Walk of the school year in Fairhope. The walks are held on the first Friday of each month and the theme for this walk will be “Dog Days of Summer.” Each child can bring their dog (if crowd friendly) to walk with them. Parents and children Fairhope Elementary and Intermediate students will meet at 7:10 on May 7 at Big Lots, and Fairhope K-1 Center students will meet at the Civic Center.

• Transportation planning

A Transportation Planning Session will also be held that day. Planners and local leaders will have an opportunity to discuss transportation planning in depth with the Goldbergs and Roerty to gain insight into future requirements and options of creating more livable communities. It will be held from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Killian Room at the International Trade Center in Mobile. the meeting and lunch are provided by the Northern Gulf Institute.

• Mary Collins events

A May 7 (6-8 p.m.) booksigning at Page and Palette Bookstore in Fairhope will feature Mary Collins, who will sign copies of her new book “American Idle.” It questions the sedentary lifestyle prevalent in much of the country.

In “American Idle,” Collins visits a hunter-gatherer site in the Midwest to understand the movement patterns of humans 10,000 years ago, explores the growing divide between the average American and the professional athlete, visits workers on factory floors and talks with an expert on body intelligence and morality. She argues that with some smart and relatively simple systemic changes in American culture, all of us could integrate movement into our daily lives and reap the social, cultural, physical and even moral benefits.

Allen said, “Mary Collins experienced a crash as a cyclist that caused her to reflect on a life without daily activity, and why people choose to live that lifestyle. Part of her reflection led to an understanding of the impact the built environment had on these choices. Smart Coast recognized the connection between this author’s experience and so many others in our coastal region. The lack of safe access to roadways by pedestrians and cyclists has limited people’s choices to walk or bike in their communities. Her book will help raise the concern and increase awareness of the need to make our streets complete.”

The next day (May 8, 9:30 a.m.), those with bikes can go Cycling with the Author. Enjoy a relaxed ride with Collins planned by and originating from the Fairhope Bicycle Shop on Greeno Road.

Then from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 28788 N. Main St. in Daphne, Collins will take part in Close Encounter, a reading and dialogue with cyclists and pedestrians involved in a crash. Like many others, Collins dealt with forced inactivity while recovering from an accident.

• Laws and policy

The session is being held in memory of Ann and Larry McDuff, two Eastern Shore cyclists killed in separate incidents involving automobiles. Both were advocates of sharing the road, and were members of St. Paul’s.

“Larry said these people that are in these situations deal with a lot because they’ve got to live with it the rest of their lives,” Allen said. McDuff forgave the man who drove the car that hit and killed his wife in 2003, and McDuff’s family likewise forgave the 17-year-old who killed him in 2005 before fleeing the scene.

The teen accused by police of causing Larry McDuff’s death, Patrick Ballard, was later charged with murder in the drunk-driving deaths of two cyclists near Stapleton. William Frederick Imle, 48, and Archie Leroy Clemons Jr., 46, were struck and killed in September 2007.

Asked if stronger laws are needed to deal with such incidents, Allen said, “I think if law enforcement would enforce what’s on the books, it would be more effective than creating another law.” Education is also a deterrent to crashes between cyclists and motorists, she added.

“We’ll soon be having lots of issues with baby boomers aging, driving golf carts and recumbent bikes,” Lee said. “People are distracted with cell phones and texting. We’ve created a nightmare. Many people become very comfortable talking on their cell phone while driving. I think those are things we’ll deal with in the future. When you’re looking at an area that is active 12 months out of the year because of tourism, it would behoove us to change policy.

“We must retrofit roads to add a cycling lane. It comes back to how much publicity and how big a grassroots campaign changes policy. When you have a persistent spotlight on these types of things, change happens.”

• Final event

The Village Point Park Hike wraps up the week on May 8, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Walk through the history, wetlands and the beach at Village Point Park in Daphne (2771 Main St.). This is expected to be an easy walk, especially for families. The hike will be coordinated by L.A. Hikers, the Gulf Coast chapter of the Alabama Hiking Trail Society.

According to the Complete Streets program, 32 percent of adults nationwide are obese, and the number of overweight and obese American children tripled between 1980 and 2004. Health experts agree the biggest cause is lack of activity because 55 percent of the U.S. adult population falls short of recommended activity guidelines. Around 25 percent report being completely inactive.

For more information, send an e-mail to info@smartcoast.org, visit www.smartcoast.org, or call (251) 928-2309.