Active travel

Making the man-made environment favourable for safe bike-riding!

Whether for recreation or transportation, safe bike-riding is the result of interactions between individuals’ and environments’ characteristics, including natural elements, as well as man-made and developed elements. This TOPO’s main objective is to present the results of scientific writings concerning the association between the man-made environment, bike-riding and cyclist safety.

Some elements of the man-made environment promote safe bike-riding and thereby contribute to maximizing the physical activity of bike-riding for transportation and recreation, while minimizing the risk of cyclist injuries. These elements and interventions are:

  • Reducing the speed and volume of motorized traffic using various traffic-calming measures;
  • Physically separating motorized traffic from bike-riding traffic (e.g., bicycle paths built into the road right-of-way);
  • Reconfiguring the road to give cyclists more space (e.g., bicycle paths built into the road rig…

Roundabouts for Public Health

This briefing note is focused on modern roundabouts – also referred to as roundabouts in this document. This briefing note is intended to provide public health actors with a frame of reference by:

  1. Summarizing some of the significant characteristics of this intervention (history, design, reasons for and conditions of implementation);
  2. Briefly summarizing the evaluative literature concerning the effects of roundabouts on a few public health determinants;
  3. Identifying some potential courses of action for their promotion, along with some related considerations.

The briefing note takes the form of questions and answers.