Cycling Data From London Ontario For 1st 6 Months of 2024 – Previous Trends Continue
Gorski Consulting has continued to gather observations of cyclists along the streets of London, Ontario in 2024. While some riders and residents express concern about cyclist safety no one is actually conducting any objective observations to provide the basis for those concerns. The table below shows the latest cyclist observation data for the first six months of 2024.
As can be seen in the above table a total of 525 cyclist observations were made by Gorski Consulting in the first six moths of 2024. The observations were rather low in the first 4 months of the year and then the numbers increased dramatically in May and June. The percentage of female riders was 10.49%. The numbers of persons riding, walking or stopped on City sidewalks was 63.34% for males and 83.33% for females. The female percentages are likely not reliable because of the very small numbers of observations (only 54).
The trends shown in the above table are similar to what has been observed in previous years. For example the percentage of female riders in previous years is noted below:
2021 = 12.54%
2022 = 13.11%
2023 = 14.60%
While the percentage of females riders appeared to be rising slightly the 10.49% in 2024 is disappointing so far.
The numbers of cyclists observed on City sidewalks has also been generally above 50% as noted below.
2021: Male 64.89%, Female 64.94%
2022: Male 65.25%, Female 72.59%
2023: Male 66.79%, Female 65.22%
The City of London obtains data from an increased number of its cyclist counters imbedded in the pavement of various cycling tracks and lanes but no one has examined the accuracy of those counts. Cyclists are observed passing by the counters outside of the range of their sensors and it is also unknown how well the sensors can separate cyclists from other traffic units. And there is no information about the characteristics of the cyclists that are counted.
The City of London is also increasing the number of video cameras permanently installed at select intersections and it is unknown what type of analysis is conducted to obtain details of cyclist characteristics. The City has also increased the number of portable video systems, also positioned at select intersections.
In late March, 2024 an unusually large number of portable video installations were observed in south London at various intersections. Examples of these are shown in several photos below.
The “Scout” video hardware is operated by a private vendor who appears to have been hired by the City of London to conduct detailed video documentations at the noted intersections. Often only one such pole is installed per intersection yet on several occasions this spring two poles were installed at diagonal positions at an intersection. Also such hardware is normally installed for a 24-hour period but in several instances such as on Southdale and Millbank the hardware remained installed for more than one day. It is not clear why the City was so focused on obtaining such details from the area in south London. Detailed documentations of cyclist volumes and characteristics could be obtained by such hardware yet there has been no publicity that the City has conducted any such analysis. This lack of transparency is typical of the City’s actions.
On June 19, 2024 a cyclist was struck and killed in London Ontario on Hamilton Road just west of the intersection of Rectory Street. This is an example of how any meaningful information about the causes of such collisions are not revealed to the cyclists who are its victims. Even motor vehicle drivers could gain some insight and perhaps be more vigilant if they were informed of the scenarios in which these collisions occur.
Some basic information can be obtained from the cyclist observations conducted by Gorski Consulting however it is clearly insufficient. The details of how cyclist collisions occur must be made available to the public if any meaningful solutions can be found. But recent research from Toronto has shown that only about 8% of cyclist collisions are ever documented in police reports. So there must also be a concerted effort to change this lack of transparency by focusing on documentations of a much greater percentage of cyclist collisions. This change cannot occur without the recognition and cooperation of politicians, police, news media and cycling groups.
Failures To Focus 0n Vehicle Fires
In a June 29, 2024 Twitter (X) post by Grenville OPP a photo of a burned out vehicle was shown along with the following comment:
“driver reported having medical distress – lost control, hit 18 guardrail posts, crossed into opposite side ditch, car caught fire. Miraculously, no injuries – pull over if you’re feeling ill.”
The advice to “pull over if you’re feeling ill” in helpful but the greater importance of the incident is that a fire occurred after a vehicle struck a guardrail. The occurrence of a fire is much more important because of the danger posed to any occupant who might not be able to escape it. Furthermore, vehicles should not catch fire striking a guardrail unless there are some unusual circumstances. A fire in this instance would be very rare even 30 years ago and vehicle safety should be improving with the advance of time, not deteriorating.
The above photo does not indicate that there has been any massive deformation to the vehicle such that the commencement of a fire would be explained. And massive deformation should not occur from a simple impact of a guardrail where the deceleration of a vehicle is prolonged as a vehicle is dragged along a guardrail and its velocity is reduced over an extended time.
Gorski Consulting has been raising the red flag of danger for a number of years now as the number of vehicle fires seem to be increasing. Yet no one appears to be paying attention to this danger. We have stated a number of times previously that vehicle fires should not be inevitable nor should they be accepted as commonplace. All modern safety installations such as seatbelts, air bags, and various crashworthiness improvements become nullified when a vehicle catches fire because, even when an occupant survives a crash, they could become victim to the aftermath of a fire.
School Bus Collision in BC Re-Ignites Seat-belt Issue
The Premier of British Columbia responded that his province will consider updated seatbelt regulations after being asked about a school bus collision that occurred near Lac La Hache last week where 14 persons were taken to hospital. He was quoted in a CTV News Article (June 24, 2024, by Andrew Weichel) as saying the lack of mandatory seatbelts on school buses was “strange”.
This is not the first time that someone has made such comments. CBC News ran a series of documentaries suggesting that Transport Canada was incompetent on the seat-belt issue. The Weichel article did some research on Transport Canada’s website and reported the following wording from the site:
According to a statement on the Transport Canada website, seatbelts can provide “added protection” for school-age children on buses – but they can also have a “negative impact” on safety if not installed or used properly.
“Making sure all children are properly secured in seatbelts is a lot more challenging in a 70-passenger school bus than in a five-passenger car or seven-passenger minivan,” the website reads.
“This is one of the reasons we allow provinces, territories and school bus operators to decide whether to install seatbelts.”
We focus again on the wording that seatbelts “…can also have a ‘negative impact’ on safety if not installed or used properly”. What does that mean? Surely we have been told for many decades now that wearing a seatbelt is an important factor in improving one’s chances of reducing injury or preventing death. So what can this “negative impact” mean? Transport Canada continues to refuse to elaborate. And the public, including a Premier of British Columbia, continually fails to understand the meaning of that phrase. Much of the seatbelt issue is rapped up in emotion and far too little understanding.
While seatbelts have been shown to be a tremendous benefit in the wide scope of prevention of injury and death one needs to understand that there are challenges with respect to what seatbelts can do in select instances. Most collisions occur in very short time frames. The velocities of human bodies in collisions must be reduced rapidly and in a controlled manner. Seatbelts help by beginning “slowing” at an earlier time and they also help in reducing the velocity of the human body in a controlled manner. Seatbelts were designed to apply their force, or load, over specific portions of the body that can accommodate those loads. For shoulder (torso) belts the webbing lies across the chest and onto the collar bone (clavicle). The lap belt lies across the pelvic region below the bony ilium. When located properly those two webbings can apply their loads relatively safely. But bad things can happen when a seatbelt is not worn properly and this is the important issue with children on school buses.
When Transport Canada wrote those words “negative impact on safety when…not used properly” they mean that there is a real challenge in placing children properly in a seatbelt and keeping them in that proper position. By far the greatest danger lies with not placing the lap belt across the lower pelvic region, below the iliac crests. If the lap belt is positioned above that bony pelvic region it can apply a dangerous load to the abdominal region that cannot accept those loads. A narrow webbing applied along the abdomen can cause major injuries to vital organs in that region. When this happens organs may be torn or ruptured requiring immediate critical care. When a school bus is involved in a major collision at a significant distance from a major hospital there is a high likelihood that children will die from seatbelt injuries when a seatbelt is not worn properly. This is part of the concern of Transport Canada, but written in a way that does not provide the public with this critical, detailed information.
The discussion of “compartmentalization” has been long with respect to school buses. Compartmentalization is a way of keeping children in local compartments where they are seated and using the surroundings of the compartment to protect children rather than using a seatbelt. It is sometimes advantageous for example to allow a child’s body to strike a broad surface such as the seatback ahead of them so that the load is distributed across a wider portion of the body. And if the seatback is relatively forgiving (“soft”) then this is a benefit. This benefit is not as great however when buses roll over or sustain a substantial lateral impact. So there are some drawbacks to compartmentalization.
Seatbelts that are similar in design to what is used by adults may be dangerous to children. But there could be restraint solutions that are similar to child seats and booster cushions that might work better for children. If such a solution exists Transport Canada has not found its application yet. And this may be nothing to do with Transport Canada being incompetent. It is not a simple fix. When we look at issues such as economy it may be expensive to produce these solutions. And while one might say that children’s safety is far more important than economy we are not understanding the issue. If we all drove million dollar race cars we would be much safer because of their advanced designs, components etc. that go into protecting race car drivers. But we can’t afford to place everyone in million dollar race cars. It is a similar reality with school buses.
Seatbelts on school buses are not as simple as many believe them to be. One of the biggest problems is that, for their own reasons, Transport Canada is not being clear enough in their explanations of those difficulties. Looking back some 50 years the introduction of seatbelts came with great resistance by some who vowed they were restricting the public’s freedom. There were many groups who searched from every negative occurrence where seatbelts did not perform properly and this negative publicity was worrisome to Transport Canada. So for such reasons Transport Canada became a proponent of secrecy, hiding instances of bad performance from persons who were working hard against seatbelt laws. If these groups of radicals had come to a less biased stance Transport Canada may have felt more comfortable publicizing the challenging circumstances where seatbelts were not functioning properly and where improvements were needed. As a result it took far too long to make improvements such as the development of child seats and booster cushions that could put children in a better orientation with respect to seatbelts that were designed for adults. And other improvements such as webbing pretensioners were far to long in their implementation into adult seatbelts.
The best that can be achieved from everyone involved is to take time to truly understand the challenges of protecting children on school buses and not just sound off because of misinformed frustration. At the same time pressure must be kept on Transport Canada to make sure they are making every effort to improve the status quo. The scenario of children flying in an uncontrolled manner through bus interiors during rollovers or angled impacts is not desirable. While in most instances concussions and fractures may not be life-threatening they are also not benign. Costs of improvements to designs of school buses are a practical roadblock but obviously children’s safety must be adequately appraised in any cost-benefit analysis.
Hamilton Road Fatal Cyclist Collision – Characteristics of Cyclist Road Users
Why has a third male cyclist been killed in a traffic accident on Hamilton Road in London, Ontario in the past five years? That is a question being raised by some citizens of London after a cyclist was killed on Hamilton Road on the morning of June 19, 2024, just west of the intersection with Rectory Street. Not unexpectedly, many opinions were provided on various social media sites by a variety of persons with varying degrees of understanding. What has been lacking in all this discussion is a recognition that informed opinion must be supported by good quality and quantity of objective data. But that data is essentially non-existent.
Data must come from police who investigate collisions along the roadway. But that is insufficient because few cyclist collisions are ever investigated, particularly if they do not involve an impact between a motor vehicle and a cyclist. Data must also come from observations in traffic studies but that too is missing as the City of London either does not collect the data or they keep it close to their chest without making it publicly available.
In light of such unlit darkness Gorski Consulting has been providing a variety of traffic studies in London and the results of these studies are described in articles posted on the Gorski Consulting website. The cyclist safety problems that exist on Hamilton Road cannot be a full-time occupation provided at no cost to the public. So there are limits to what can be achieved. Yet some data exists with respect to the characteristics of cyclists in the vicinity of the Hamilton Road and Rectory Street intersection. Gorski Consulting has gone back several years and selected a small sample of observations of cyclists and these will be reviewed here. First we will provide a general review of the intersection.
Hamilton Road Site Characteristics
The Googlemaps view of Hamilton Road in London is shown below. The section of interest is about 4.4 km stretching from Maitland Street to the west and Gore Road to the east. Hamilton Road travels in a south-east direction and is a busy arterial roadway.
In the vicinity of Rectory Street the City of London has created left turn lanes that cause a narrowing of the four lanes of Hamilton Road. The two lanes travelling westbound have a width of about 6.0 metres and a similar width is present for both eastbound lanes. Typically a lane width on an arterial roadway is 3.5 metres or more or over 7.0 metres for two lanes. This narrowing of lanes makes it a challenging area for cyclist travel because Hamilton Road also contains a horizontal curve at this location. A westward view of this intersection is shown in the photo below, taken in May of 2024.
Sample of Cyclists Observed Near Hamilton Road & Rectory Street between 2021 & Mid-2024
We begin our examination of observed cyclists by showing an example of a westbound cyclist riding on the north sidewalk of Hamilton Road just west of Rectory street in October of 2021.
The next two photos show a westbound cyclist riding on the north sidewalk of Hamilton Road just passing west of Rectory Street. These photos were taken on May 9, 2022. This is about the same location where the cyclist was fatally injured on June 19, 2024. If the cyclist had been travelling within the westbound lane it would result in a precarious situation. Note that the cyclist is not wearing a helmet.
In the next three photos we see an eastbound cyclist as he travels in the eastbound lane of Hamilton road through the Rectory Street intersection.
The final photo of the eastbound cyclist is a close-up view as shown below. He is not wearing a helmet yet he is riding a high-end road bike. Many experienced riders feel confident enough that they can ride further away from the curb, thus drawing attention to themselves, in the belief that this will make drivers of motor vehicles adjust their travel positions away from them. Unfortunately cyclists do not have control over how motor vehicle drivers will react or not react to their presence. In most instances our advice is that, if you have concern about being struck by motor vehicle traffic do not ride in that roadway as riding within the travel paths of motor vehicles only courts a disaster.
In the next example we see a rider who has dismounted from their bike and is walking next to the north sidewalk of Hamilton Road just west of Rectory Street. This photo was taken on November 17, 2022. While dressed appropriately to protect from the cold weather this rider is not wearing a helmet that might protect from an impact. Note the rider is also not wearing any reflective clothing and there are no lights illuminated on the bike.
In the next photo taken on January 6, 2023 we see a westbound cyclist who is riding on the north sidewalk of Hamilton Road and approaching the intersection with Rectory Street. While the cyclist has protected his head with a hat from the cold he is not wearing a helmet.
In the next photo taken on February 26, 2023 we see a westbound female riding in the westbound lane of Hamilton Road and not wearing a helmet. Female riders are uncommon in this area but they commonly do not wear helmets just like their male counterparts.
In the next series of four photos we see a westbound cyclist who had decided to cross Hamilton Road just west of Rectory Street. These photos were taken on December 29, 2023. As he travels onto the south sidewalk it can be seen that he is not wearing a helmet, his clothing does not make him standout and he has no lighting on his cycle.
The next photo was taken on January 30, 2024 and it shows a westbound cyclist riding on the north sidewalk of Hamilton Road just west of Rectory Street. It is approaching sunset and the rider is fully in dark clothing with no lights on their bike. If this cyclist was riding in the westbound lane there would be a good likelihood that they would not be detected by westbound drivers.
In the final photo below we see a rider on April 7, 2024, riding eastbound in the eastbound lane of Hamilton Road a short distance east of Rectory Street. He is attired in typical cycling clothing and is wearing a helmet. Unfortunately his cycle is not equipped with a mirror to allow him to see approaching traffic from the rear.
Discussion
Whenever a collision occurs there are many factors that need to be taken into account to determine how it might be avoided. Too often a simplistic solution is acceptable even to the most experienced investigators. With respect to cyclist collisions on Hamilton Road relevant data that is of proper quality and of sufficient quantity is needed to identify the human, vehicular and roadway influences existent at the road segment. This continues to be lacking while some express opinions that they already know what needs to be done without that data.
Cyclist Collision On Hamilton Road In London Ontario – Safety Concerns Continue
Much concern was expressed by residents along Hamilton Road in London, Ontario when two fatal cyclist collisions occurred in June of 2019 and September of 2022. In February of 2023 a meeting was organized by the Crouch Neighbourhood Resource Centre in the Hamilton Road area and CTV News in London also posted an article entitled “What would make Hamilton Road safer?” Many opinions were expressed at that time and no changes have been made since then.
What has been obvious for a number of years is that there has been no official tracking of cyclist collisions in London therefore no objective data can be referenced in terms of finding safety solutions.
Gorski Consulting has been making observations of cyclists in London for many years but that cannot replace actual data on the numbers of cyclists being injured or killed and in what circumstances. In previous articles posted to the Gorski Consulting website we have demonstrated that nothing of substance has been learned from cyclist collisions in the past five years. We have also quoted research from the Toronto area which shows that only about 8 per cent of injured cyclists who attend a hospital emergency department are ever documented in police collision data. Even when police investigate a cyclist collision those findings are never shared with the cycling public who are being injured and killed.
With respect to the Hamilton Road community Gorski Consulting has provided some general observations of cyclists as shown in the table below.
Data from the remainder of 2023 and the first half of 2024 have been gathered but have not yet been summarized.
The Summary in the above table provides some important facts. Only about 8.5 per cent of cyclists observed on Hamilton Road were females. Generally it has been opined by researchers that the fewer female cyclists using a facility suggests that it is less safe. Data from Gorski Consulting observations throughout London in the past several years has shown that observations of females are in the range of 10-15 per cent. So the lack of females on the Hamilton Road vicinity suggests its lack of safety.
Another important point in the above table is that about 86 per cent of cyclists observed on Hamilton Road were not wearing helmets. This lacking is counter-balanced by the additional observation that 80 per cent of observed cyclists did not ride on the road. So, while it is quite dangerous for cyclists to share a lane of Hamilton Road with motor vehicle traffic, most cyclists use the safer option on riding on a sidewalk, even though riding on sidewalks is against the law in London.
Unfortunately it is apparent from the current collision that the cyclist was struck while on the road, although that information has not been publicly revealed at this time. Damage to the striking vehicle was visible on the right side of the windshield as shown in the photo below. A lucky result may be that the contact damage is to the windshield glass and not to the stiffer portions of the vehicle such as the right A-pillar or the windshield header. While the extent of the cyclist’s injuries is unknown at this time the visible evidence may improve the cyclist’s changes of survival.
In all areas of collision reconstruction investigators ought to become sufficiently familiar with collecting relevant evidence such that they should be able to document “points of mutual contact” as well as understand what the pattern of damage indicates. For cyclist collisions examination of any imprints and offset of the direct damage at the striking vehicle’s front bumper can provide partial information about how the collision occurred.
The damage caused to the cycle can also provide further clues. Deformations of the wheels of the cycle and to the cycle’s handle bars can provide further information about how the collision occurred.
While attending the site of the present cyclist collision we entered into a short conversation with a nearby London police officer. As a cyclist passed by while riding on the sidewalk we noted that this was the safer option for cyclists riding on Hamilton Road. This officer confirmed that no cyclist will ever be given a traffic citation for riding on a sidewalk in London. Whether that personal comment is accurate or not it reflects the bazaar, official stance of London police and the City of London. Cyclists in London are forced to ride in the dangerous lane of Hamilton Road because they believe they will receive a traffic citation if they ride on a sidewalk. Yet the unannounced official policy is that cyclists will not be fined for riding on a sidewalk.
UPDATE: June 20, 2024; 0650 Hours
Regrettably, the struck cyclist reportedly died. He is identified as 54-year-old Rafal Szabat.
The collision reportedly occurred around 0510 hours on Wednesday morning. Traffic would be expected to be sparse at this early hour. It is known that vehicles travelling westbound on Hamilton Road must follow a right bend in the road at Rectory Street and the collision would have occurred just west of that intersection. An example westbound view on approach to Rectory Street is shown below, taken on May 25, 2024.
Based on past experience police will not reveal the circumstances that led to this tragic collision. This prevents the public from developing informed opinions as to how future cyclist collisions could be avoided.
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