Objective: To examine the impact of traffic on levels of walking and bicycling. Method: Review of the literature of medical, public health, city planning, public administration and traffic engineering. Results: The real and perceived danger and discomfort imposed by traffic discourage walking and bicycling. Accurately or not, pedestrians and bicyclists judge injury risk and respond accordingly. Although it can be difficult to measure these effects, observed behaviour provides good evidence for these effects, with the strongest association being an inverse correlation between volumes and speeds of traffic and levels of walking and cycling. Conclusion: Interventions to reduce traffic speed and volume are likely to promote walking and bicycling and thus result in public health gains.

Background: Over the past years there has been increasing interest in physical activity promotion and the development of appropriate policy. So far, there has been no comprehensive overview of the activities taking place in Europe in this area of public health policy.Methods: Using different search methods, 49 national policy documents on physical activity promotion were identified. An analysis grid covering key features was developed for the analysis of the 27 documents published in English.Results: Analysis showed that many general recommendations for policy developments are being followed, for example: general goals were formulated, an implementation plan was included, a timeframe and a responsible body for the implementation was often specified. However, limited evidence for intersectoral collaboration was found. Quantified goals for physical activity were the exception. Population groups most in need such as people with low levels of physical activity were rarely specifically targeted. Most policies emphasized the importance of an evaluation. However, only about half of them indicated a related intention or requirement.Conclusion: In recent years there has been a noticeable development of national policy documents on physical activity promotion. Following principles for policy development more closely could increase the effectiveness of their preparation and implementation further.

Introduction Only one-third of the European population meets the minimum recommended levels of physical activity (PA). Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Walking and cycling for transport (active mobility, AM) are well suited to provide regular PA. The European research project Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA) pursues the following aims: (1) to investigate correlates and interrelations of AM, PA, air pollution and crash risk; (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of selected interventions to promote AM; (3) to improve health impact assessment (HIA) of AM; (4) to foster the exchange between the disciplines of public health and transport planning, and between research and practice. Methods and analysis PASTA pursues a mixed-method and multilevel approach that is consistently applied in seven case study cities. Determinants of AM and the evaluation of measures to increase AM are investigated through a large scale longitudinal survey, with overall 14 000 respondents participating in Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Örebro, Rome, Vienna and Zurich. Contextual factors are systematically gathered in each city. PASTA generates empirical findings to improve HIA for AM, for example, with estimates of crash risks, factors on AM-PA substitution and carbon emissions savings from mode shifts. Findings from PASTA will inform WHO's online Health Economic Assessment Tool on the health benefits from cycling and/or walking. The study's wide scope, the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and health and transport methods, the innovative survey design, the general and city-specific analyses, and the transdisciplinary composition of the consortium and the wider network of partners promise highly relevant insights for research and practice. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval has been obtained by the local ethics committees in the countries where the work is being conducted, and sent to the European Commission before the start of the survey. The PASTA website (http://www.pastaproject.eu) is at the core of all communication and dissemination activities.