Warning From Ontario Hospital of Spike in E-Bike & E-Scooter Injuries
Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children has produced a news release on their website warning of the recent increase in children’s injuries from riding E-scooters and E-bikes. They report that their emergency department has seen 16 injuries in June and July of 2024 compared with only five incidents in the same period in 2023. While these numbers do not appear to be staggering they demonstrate the concern that hospital medical personnel possess since they are the only ones to see what is happening. Data from sources such as police reports grossly underestimate the number of such incidents since, very often, a police report is not filed unless the incident involves a collision with a motor vehicle.
Similar warnings were presented in the spring of 2024 by Toronto researchers in a study entitled “Comparison of the number of pedestrian and cyclist injuries captured in police data compared with health service utilisation data in Toronto, Canada 2016– 2021”. This study reported that, while 2,362 cyclist incidents were reported in Toronto’s police data, there were 30,101 cyclist visits to hospital emergency departments and 2,299 resulted in hospitalizations. The research also noted that 26,083 of those cyclist incidents, or 87%, did not result from cyclist involvement with a motor vehicle.
Solutions aimed at reducing injuries to vulnerable persons fail to recognize that a thorough documentation and understanding of how collisions occur are a fundamental ingredient in developing a proper plan. Many express the opinion that the problem is obvious while not explaining the basis for those opinions. In London, Ontario there is essentially no documentation of cyclists or riders of e-devices except through independent and unsupported research such as what is done at Gorski Consulting.
Yaw Marks Precede Almost Every Vehicle Loss of Control Rollover
The public is provided with little education regarding how motor vehicle collisions occur and what could injure or kill them. Every day there are numerous postings by police and news media about the latest significant injury or death yet scant information is provided about the details. The result is that needless collisions keep re-occurring, in very similar scenarios, without any meaningful intervention. The public need not know the details of interpreting physical evidence for collision reconstruction however very basic interpretation skills can progress to a progressively better understanding.
So, for this present article we focus on the general evidence found in a simple, single vehicle rollover. This discussion was spurred by the recent Twitter (X) posting by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) of a single photo (reproduced above) of a vehicle rollover along Highway 401 in Ontario.
The above photo shows a very common result of a vehicle rotating out-of-control into a roadside embankment and then rolling over. A gouge in the earth can be seen where the vehicle struck that embankment and preceding that gouge are a set of converging tire marks visible in the grass and on the asphalt shoulder.
Below we see the same photo with some added descriptions of the evidence.
In almost very scenario of a vehicle loss-of-control and subsequent rollover the vehicle enters into a rotation about its vertical centre-of-gravity, or yaw. Yaw rotation is what happens if you were to pierce the roof a vehicle with a rod downward toward the ground and then rotate the vehicle about that rod. Some common descriptions of this rotation are “fish-tailing” or “drifting”. Newer technology exists in almost all modern light-duty vehicles to prevent this rotation because of its undesirable injury consequences. Thus Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and its derivatives uses automatic adjustments to the braking and acceleration of individual wheels to keep a vehicle travelling straight in the direction it is travelling. So one would think that the frequency of the results shown in the above photo should be diminished over time.
So the tire marks in the above photos are yaw marks. But how do we know? The area of the blue circle in the above photo shows a typical characteristic of yaw marks in that they contain striations that often run diagonally with respect to the length of the tire mark. These striations are caused when the tire is rotating while also sliding sideways. Investigators can often look at the change in angle of these striations to determine if a vehicle has been braked or accelerated while producing these marks. If one were to move backwards from this photo and one were to see a longer length of these yaw marks one would see that they would be arced as the vehicle changes direction and is slowed as it travels to the roadside.
Another very common characteristic of pre-crash yaw marks is that they demonstrate the angle of the vehicle as it moves through the site. This angle is identified by the divergence and convergence of the tire marks. When a vehicle is travelling straight ahead without rotation the rear tires follow the path of the front tires. But as yaw begins the rear tires begin to follow a different path from the front tires. This divergence shows the initiation of the yaw rotation. As the rotation progresses the vehicle reaches a point where it is sliding sideways and on approach to this sideways position the tire marks converge: the left-front converges onto the right-front and the left-rear converges with the right rear. So when we see that this convergence reaches a point where only two tire marks are visible we know that the vehicle has reached a point where it is sliding sideways. So in the above photo we see that the vehicle is in an advanced stage of rotation because the tire marks have converged so much they the four tire marks have almost come down to just two. We leave this discussion now for fear of losing the readers’ attention with too many details.
In summary, almost all instances of vehicle loss-of-control rollover result in some form yaw rotation that is very often evidenced by visible yaw tire marks. These tire marks have very distinctive characteristics. Much like all physical evidence in a motor vehicle collision a detailed focus on the characteristics of the evidence can help to explain what transpired even when persons reporting the “facts” do not provide an accurate description of what occurred.
Painted Cycling Lane Safety: Theory Versus Reality
Opinions about cyclist safety in urban environments are not always helpful when based on theoretical studies that do not consider the specifics of the urban area where cycling improvements are considered. Cyclist observations conducted by Gorski Consulting enable a study of the specifics of cycling safety problems in cities such as London, Ontario that are more relevant because they are specific.
The photo at the top of this article is one in a series showing an example of a cycling safety problem in London that is not particularly uncommon, yet rarely are such incidents discussed in formal research studies. In this incident a cyclist is riding westbound within a painted cycling lane on a day when the city’s garbage collection is taking place on this particular street. Thus all the garbage receptacles are seen lying on the roadside, close to the curb. This is a typical, two-lane collector road so that traffic is moderately dense. As the above photo shows, several passenger vehicles are travelling along the roadway and passing the cyclist travelling in the cycling lane.
As shown in the photo below, the cyclist’s position is closer than normal to the white, dividing line between the cycling lane and the lane designated for motor vehicle traffic. This is because the cyclist is pulling a grocery cart with his right hand and needs the additional width for the passage of the cart.
As shown below the cyclist begins to move to the left, outside of the cycling lane, just as a silver car is passing his location. The motor vehicle driver has anticipated this motion and has steered the car beyond the centre-line of the road and partly into the opposing lane. Fortunately there is no motor vehicle traffic in the opposing lane so this lateral motion can be accomplished without much concern. From the motor vehicle driver’s point of view it might seem that the cyclist has been unusually lacking in attention in not keeping properly within the cycling lane. What lies ahead of the cyclist may not be visible because the cycling lane in front of the cyclist is blocked by the cycle and cart.
As the scenario unfolds in the next photo below we see why the cyclist has moved out if the cycling lane because a garbage receptacle is lying within the cycling lane and he must travel around it.
The final photo below shows the cyclist steering back into the cycling lane after he has successfully cleared the obstacle.
Observations like this lead to several issues. If the cyclist had been equipped with a mirror he might have a better opportunity to observe motor vehicle traffic behind him. He might also consider pulling out of the cycling lane in a more gradual fashion thereby giving motor vehicle drivers more time to consider their options. We can also see that the cyclist is not wearing a helmet thus increasing the risk of a major head injury from contact by the motor vehicle or from falling onto the pavement if a glancing contact were to occur.
Cyclists pulling shopping carts is not an uncommon happening in London Ontario yet no recognition of this activity is demonstrated in official circles. Dangers cannot be detected and solutions cannot be found when such happenings are invisible to all concerned.
The issue of obstacles ending up within a cycling lane is also not uncommon. More focus could be drawn to making sure garbage pick-up crews properly return receptacles back onto the roadside and out of a cycling lane. However there are many instances where heavier winds simply blow an empty cycling receptacle into a cycling lane or onto a lane travelled by motor vehicles. These problems need to be acknowledged and solutions need to be discussed.
The scenario shown here is an example of the importance of making observations of cycling scenarios on urban roadways so that an understanding can be gained of what unique safety problems may exist within a community. Safety solutions that are recommended from theoretical studies developed from distant areas (countries) may not fit a specific community’s needs if the unique characteristics of that community’s road systems are not properly identified and understood.
Recent Collisions: No New Surprises, No Real Changes
The same list of safety problems continue to make the news head-lines in Ontario, regardless of the many fatalities and personal injuries that could be avoided or minimized if needed corrections were recognized and implemented.
Heavy trucks and buses continue to be a problem. They do not interact properly with most existing barriers that are designed for interaction with smaller and lighter vehicles. In some instances the barriers increase the severity of collisions and their consequences.
In many ways the design of heavy vehicles is also a problem. Cab-over and cab-forward designs mean that there is no protection given to drivers of heavy trucks and buses. Meanwhile the heights of many truck combinations, particularly trailers do not match well with smaller lighter vehicles resulting in many fatalities and serious injuries to occupants of those smaller vehicles as they “submarine” underneath truck and trailer structures. Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) technology may reduce the incidence of such encounters but they are still a long way from being implemented in most vehicle populations.
Vulnerable persons either as pedestrians, cyclists or riders of motorcycles continue to be exposed to unnecessary injury and death as little education is transferred to this vulnerable public from collisions that are investigated by police. Vulnerable persons continue to hold unrealistic beliefs about what is safe or unsafe because they have no objective information to use as the basis for their beliefs.
Vehicle fires continue to increase following collisions that are of a minor severity. And in many instances vehicles just simply catch fire from no collision what-so-ever. With the greater incidence of vehicle electronics and need for higher powered electrical systems fires seem to be an obvious expectation yet few are raising this alarm. As more vehicles become powered by large batteries there is little official concern being publicized about any safety drawbacks.
In many instances vehicles are striking buildings and other objects, often with little serious investigation as to their cause. While driver error is often blamed nothing seems to be done to examine how and why a driver might mistake an accelerator pedal for a brake pedal or if the complicated and proprietary software and vehicle “computers” could be contributing to these incidents.
Seemingly minor rollovers into shallow or narrow ditches can also be deadly as they have demonstrated for many years. When a vehicle occupant becomes incapacitated and their vehicle comes to rest upside down in shallow water the scenario could easily lead to a death from drowning. Focus needs to be applied to areas where such roadside water might exist and to erect some form of barrier to protect from vehicles entering those roadsides.
In summary, there are many dangers that exist on roadways that have existed for decades without much change. Propaganda campaigns from politicians and various safety groups are too often “bags of hot air”, designed to impress with minimal safety success. Regrettably, catch phrases such as “Vision Zero” turn out to be “Zero Vision” as many official players in the game are not there to make a genuine and significant contribution to road safety.
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.
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