A couple of days ago a local resident sent an e-mail to Gorski Consulting with respect to his concerns regarding a barrier that was installed along the sides of a path used by pedestrians, cyclists and other similar users. The path was located adjacent to the Greenway Pollution Plant in London, Ontario. The path was very short and connected the end of Wildwood Ave to the popular Thames Valley Trail called the “Terry Fox Parkway” in this area of the City.
The resident attached several photos of the path and he described the difficult communications he was having with the staff of the City of London. His main concern was that a set of posts had been installed along the edges of the path and the position of the posts was not in alignment with the guidelines of the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) as well as the Ontario Traffic Manual Book 18 dealing with cycling facilities. His concern was that the posts were too close to the edge of the path and therefore could be struck by cyclists. He explained that the contacts he had with a City staff member were not helpful and that “…sounds like he doesn’t want to have anything to do with me”. The resident also reported the matter to the local elected politician in his ward “but she seems to be remaining neutral on the subject”.
What I observed in the resident’s photos was unbelievable and it caused me to attend the site which I did on the morning of September 29, 2026. The above photo was taken on a westward approach to the path. The clean new posts are seen on both sides and in the distance the path makes a turn to the left (south). Between the posts on each side of the path was a single cable. Because of the incredible circumstances I purposely positioned my bicycle against one of the posts and against the cable as shown in the photo below.
I asked my wife, who is not a safety or barrier expert, to look at my photos and to tell me if she saw anything there that was wrong. She quickly replied “The cable is on the wrong side of the posts”. Not much hesitation. The cable is on the wrong side of the post. And this was not an expert opinion. But let us look at this further along.
As can be seen in the next photo the path makes a sharp turn to the left (south). And we see that the posts and cable are as they were except for a few bracing supports near where the path makes the sharp turn.
If go past the curve and turn around, the next photo shows the curve of the path coming from the other direction.
Anyone with any collision reconstruction experience would recognize that the probability of a collision increases at locations where there is a curve. It just a simple understanding that, if we are following a straight road or path there is not much adjustment needed in or braking or steering. But on a curve we have to use some judgment and eventually leads to some miscalculations and thus more collisions. But at this location the curve is not just gradual. There is a sharp curve here which could lead to riders of bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters to some miscalculations and therefore a loss-of-control incident.
A good, general and theoretical question to ask is “What is the purpose of a barrier adjacent to any public roadway or path?” Roadside barriers are installed as safety devices. They are installed to increase the safety of the users. It would seem to be an indication of insanity to go through the expense of installing a road or path barrier if it is not to increase the safety of the road/path users. So what harms is the existence of a barrier meant to reduce?
Often barriers attempt to keep users away from striking something that is large and immovable, such as as tree, large pole, rock or building that, if struck, would cause the motor vehicle, bicycle or other vehicle to come to a sudden and more severe stop. One must understand that it is the sudden loss in speed (velocity) that is the harmful event.
The other harmful circumstance is if there is a dangerous roadside, such as a steep and/or deep embankment or cliff, that would cause greater harm if users exited the surface of the road/path.
At this juncture it would be helpful to examine the photos shown above. Where are the trees, poles, rocks, buildings or steep and deep embankments that would threaten a user if one were to exit this path? It is a simple answer, there are essentially no such dangers. Or very minimal dangers.
Next, let us look at what kind of users are likely to be on this path. Pedestrians for sure. And likely bicyclists. And then there would also be riders of e-bikes and e-scooters. With respect to pedestrians, do we seriously believe that a pedestrian would be moving so fast that, if they were running or tripped, they would benefit from a barrier? Clearly not. Bicyclists and, even more so, riders of e-bikes and e-scooters could be of some danger if they exited the path but given the relatively benign sides next to the path serious injury would be minimized. But what if any these last few users actually struck the barrier that we see in these photos? Do we understand what could be the injury consequences?
We can see my bicycle placed against the barrier in several of the above photos. Imagine someone sitting on that bicycle when the barrier is struck and what would be the likely consequences. Much has to do with speed. How fast would the bicyclist, e-biker or e-scooter rider be riding when the barrier is struck. Most bicyclists would be travelling below 20 km/h and, given the sharp curve, their speed would be lower. Riders of e-bikes and e-scooters on the other hand would likely be travelling faster. However, regardless, how would the features of this barrier improve the injury consequences of any of these riders if they were to strike the barrier? If the rider struck the narrow cable would that be a good idea? Likely the portion of body contact would be with the thigh or hip area of the rider. But this could be close to the centre-of-gravity of the body. So could the body be suddenly brought to a halt from impacting the cable? Even at 15 km/h such an impact could be catastrophic because the cable could ride onto the vulnerable abdomen of the rider and there are major, unprotected organs there.
However what if the cable was struck at an acute angle such that a rider would experience the “benign” result of scraping along the cable until the rider struck one of the posts. Look at where the cable is anchored with respect to each post. It is anchored to the backside of each post, as easily observed by my untrained wife. Does that make the slightest bit off sense? Just take a ride in your car anywhere in North America, or anywhere else, and look at the all the millions of miles/kilometres of barriers along the roadsides. Do any of these barriers contain a longitudinal cable, w-beam or whatever, that is anchored to the backside of any anchorage? Precisely not. Because that would be an indication of design insanity. The purpose of such cables, w-beams, etc. is so that striking vehicles slide along and gradually reduce speed without any sudden “snag” that brings a vehicle to a sudden stop. It is these sudden decelerations that injure and kill people. But even my untrained wife knew that.
However how can you explain this to staff at the transportation department at the City of London? These people are the ones installing things like this but there appears to be no way of speaking to them or stopping them, as explained by the resident who initially made me aware of this barrier problem. Incidentally, while riding to the site of this barrier, I came across another “interesting” barrier as shown in the photo below.
The rocks in the above photo were placed at the edge of the main Thames Valley Trail. There is no lighting in this area. And look how closely the shade of the rocks matches the shade of the path beneath them. At night, and without any artificial illumination in the area, could a rider of a bicycle, e-bike or e-scooter easily detect the presence of the rocks? And this installation was only a short distance from the post and cable barrier we have been discussing.
There are no words to express the lack of logic demonstrated in these installations. And I, as well as the unidentified resident, have no way of stopping this. The number of bicyclists, e-bike riders and e-scooter riders that are involved in collisions in London is never revealed. And how those riders sustained there injuries is never revealed. That information likely exists in the records of police, hospital emergency departments and City of London staff. But that information is never shared with the public nor with those persons who are likely to be injured and killed.
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