2022 Cyclist Observations Provide Important Data on Cyclist Safety
The death of a cyclist on January 2, 2023, on Wellington Road just south of the London Ontario city limit provides an indication of the importance of understanding how cyclist injuries and deaths occur. Unfortunately essentially nothing is transferred from those investigating such collisions to the general cycling public who are the victims of the collisions.
It is left to independent agencies such as Gorski Consulting to step up and inform the public about cycling safety issues. For example, in 2022 Gorski Consulting made a total of 1083 observations of cyclists travelling on, or adjacent to roadways in London, Ontario. A variety of information was obtained from these observations which can be used to understand more about the safety issues involved.
The 2022 Cyclist Observation Data
With respect to cyclist gender Gorski Consulting was unable to establish whether a rider was male or female in 53 of those observations. Thus this resulted in a study of the remaining 1030 observations. Of those 1030 cyclists where gender could be determined there was a vastly higher number of male cyclists than female. For example, of the 1030 observations, 895 were males and only 135 were females. This results in a percentage of females of only 13.11 %. An unbiased observer would question why there is such a disproportionate number of males versus females.
A curious finding is that in the summer of 2021 we also conducted gender studies on the Thames Valley Parkway (TVP) in London. A total of 457 cyclists were observed at three sites on the Parkway: St Julian Park, Banana Kingdom and Greenway Park. It was found that there were 330 males and 122 females observed over a period of six hours. This meant that 27 percent of the observations were females. This percentage is more than double the percentage of female cyclists riding on or adjacent to the City’s roadways. Why is that?
An obvious difference between these studies is that the observations made on or adjacent to the City roads were made where cyclists were in the presence of automobiles, heavy trucks and buses. Conversely the Thames Valley Parkway is a pathway that is separated from these automotive transport units. Is that relevant? Is it possible that females may not wish to ride in areas of greater danger? Does this data say something about the relative danger posed to cyclists travelling on or adjacent to City roads versus the TVP?
We also looked at where cyclists travelled with respect to the road right-of-way. We looked at whether cyclists rode within a traffic lane or whether they rode on a sidewalk. It was found that 584 of the 895 males were observed on a sidewalk and 98 of the 135 females were observed on a sidewalk. With respect to percentage, 65.3 % of males were observed on a sidewalk versus 72.6% females. One might be tempted to conclude that females appear to be on a sidewalk more than males however the number of observations is simply too small to draw that conclusion.
A conclusion that is better supported by the data is that, overall, there appear to be more cyclists located on a sidewalk than within the roadway. This may be puzzling when we consider that there are laws, both in London and in the Province of Ontario that make it illegal for cyclists to ride on a sidewalk. So why would two-thirds of males and three-quarters of observed females involve themselves in these illegal activities? Does this say something about cyclists or does it say more about the law? Why are cyclists refusing to ride on an urban road in London, Ontario? And why is this question not receiving more attention?
Another issue that has been explored in the 2022 observational data is the issue of helmet use. In our view cycling helmets are like seatbelts for motor vehicle occupants. They cannot prevent very injury and they cannot prevent every head injury, but they are much more effective in preventing head injury than no helmet at all. Yet our data provides some startling results.
For cyclists observed on or adjacent to an urban roadway, we were able to detect 566 male riders out of 895 who were not wearing cycling helmets, or a percentage of 63.2 % were non-users. With respect to females 76 out of 135 were observed with no helmets, or a percentage of 56.3% non-users. So what we can say is that, overall, there appear to be more cyclists not wearing helmets than those who wear helmets on or adjacent to city roads. If these observations were with respect to motor vehicle occupants not wearing seatbelts we would view them as alarming. So why is it different when cyclists are involved.
Furthermore we can compare the helmet results from 2022 to the results we observed along the TVP in 2021. From the three sites on the TVP we found that 99 of the 330 males were observed not wearing a helmet, or a percentage of 30.0% non users. For females 24 of the 124 were observed not wearing a helmet, or a percentage of 19.7 % non users. But surely these are stark differences from the observations on city streets. Why are there so many more cyclists riding on the TVP with helmets yet, on city roadways, where the dangers of being struck by motor vehicles is so much higher, there is a much lower incidence of helmet use?
Discussion
The cycling public is not provided with basic information about how collisions occur and what is important in preventing their injuries. This is part of the reason why unsafe actions, such as a refusal to wear cycling helmets, develop.
Our 2022 data also demonstrate the contradictions that exist between what cyclists are told is safe and what they sense in the real world. Being told that riding on a sidewalk is less safe than riding on the road with motor vehicle traffic does not appear to agree with the minds of most cyclists. Despite that they could face fines cyclists continue to ride on sidewalks and this likely demonstrates their belief that they are safer riding on that sidewalk.
The two photos below demonstrate the paradox in official instructions provided to cyclists about their safety. In the first photo is a demonstration of what the Province of Ontario deems to be an unsafe act of a cyclist riding on a sidewalk. The cyclist is instructed that it is safer to ride on the road, seemingly as demonstrated in the second photo.
If the volume of cyclists is to rise exponentially in the next few years it is doubtful that safer roadways can be built fast enough to keep up. Thus there may be more cyclists riding on roads that are unsafe for cyclists. It is important during this time to conduct observations of cyclists to establish an objective understanding of the safety problems that may be developing in the near future.
No Useful Information Revealed in Loss-of-Control Collisions
Officials continue to provide no useful information with respect to recent collisions in southern Ontario. For example several significant loss-of-collisions have occurred recently but even the most minimal information about vehicle travel directions have not been revealed. An important issue is that Electronic Stability Control (ESC) have been mandated in new Canadian vehicles for over 10 years yet recent collisions suggest questionable vehicle motions, as if ESC has not been successful in preventing vehicle rotation.
In the morning of December 22, 2022 a single vehicle collision was reported on Amiens Road just west of London. The single vehicle collision involved the death of two persons while three others were sent to hospital two with life-threatening injuries. While the roadway remained closed, basic information such as the travel direction of the vehicle was not revealed. Long distance photos taken with powerful zoom lens were shown in various news media articles and these showed that the collision occurred near two railway crossings. Yet no mention was made whether these crossings had any relationship to the loss-of-control collision. In fact CTV News quoted one of the investigating OPP officers who made no mention of the railway crossing:
“What our investigators will be looking into, they’ll be looking at speed, they’ll be looking at road conditions, they’ll be looking at weather conditions, that sort of thing to try to figure out what has happened here,” said OPP Const. Jeff Hare. (CTV News London)
Even 10 days later no further information has been revealed about the basic facts surrounding this collision. This led Gorski Consulting to attend the collision site on December 29th or about a week after the occurrence. This inspection confirmed that the involved vehicle, a Ford Escape SUV, was southbound on Amiens Road. The site is shown in the Googlemaps views below.
Important physical evidence would have been lost by the time this site inspection was conducted. What evidence remained indicated that the Ford Escape crossed the 2nd railway crossing and then rotated, out-of-control into the northbound (opposing lane), rotating counter-clockwise, then returning to the southbound lane and impacting the small trees on the west roadside. The tree impact occurred about 100 metres from the 2nd railway crossing.
Evidence of vehicle rotation is determined by noting the presence of yaw marks on a pavement. But such evidence cannot be seen well when a road surface is wet. Unfortunately the road surface was wet at the time of our examination and this was beyond our control. Alternatively, such tire marks can be seen readily on painted surfaces such as the white edge lines of a lane or the yellow centre-line of a roadway. In the present case two sets of such yaw marks were identified along the centre-line of the road approximately halfway between the 2nd railway crossing and the impact with the trees. An example of such tire marks is shown in the photo below.
Because we can confirm the presence of this pre-impact rotation we know that the vehicle likely struck the trees with its driver’s side. This side of the vehicle was never shown in any news media photos. And police provided absolutely no information about the collision what-so-ever. The existence of this rotation should commence the suspicions of any unbiased investigator that the 2nd railway crossing should be considered as a factor in the vehicle’s loss-of-control.
OPP investigators should have been able to access the vehicle’s event data recorder and a collision record should have been available. Typically such an EDR report will contain detailed information about, at least, 5 seconds of pre-crash events. For example if the Escape was travelling at an average speed of 100 km/h prior to the impact then it would travel about 28 metres every second. Thus the available EDR data should capture at least 140 metres of travel and this would cover the zone where the Ford Escape crossed over the 2nd railway crossing.
The effects of various road surface conditions on the motions of motor vehicles are not well-known in the police community. Rarely are there any studies initiated in collisions whereby police can make a proper analysis based on objective data. The fact that the Ford Escape was at a major angle when it struck the trees leads to the question why the vehicle’s Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system was unable to keep the vehicle aligned in a forward-pointing direction. Although ESC may not be able to prevent a vehicle from going out of control, its function is to use independent changes to the power at its wheels to make a vehicle point in the direction it is travelling. This may not seem of much help but, in fact, there is more safety in striking something with a vehicle’s front end than with a vehicle’s side. Of course if a vehicle is travelling very quickly and it is partially lifted by some roadway bump for example, there could be very little tire force available to allow the ESC to be effective. So there should be some investigation here as to whether some form of failure occurred.
Another very recent collision occurred in London, Ontario in the morning of January 1, 2023 where a vehicle’s ESC could be in question. It has been reported that another single vehicle collision occurred on Springbank Drive near Duke Street just west of the City’s downtown district. Springbank Drive contains a curve at this location which has seen a number of serious loss-of-control collisions. News media photos of the collision site show that the vehicle struck a large utility pole and there was evidence of direct contact at the rear of the right side of the vehicle. The driver was reported to sustain life-threatening injuries. Looking at the location of the area of direct contact this severity of injury does not appear to match, at least from this very minimal set of facts. However, once again, we see evidence that the involved vehicle must have been in an advanced stage of rotation when the impact occurred and that the ESC may not have been effective in preventing that rotation. If the vehicle has been pointing with its front end when it struck the pole there would typically be a greater chance of preventing serious injury.
These comments point to the continual lack of information that reaches the general public about collision events that endanger them. It remains mystifying that our society places so much importance on secrecy surrounding such events. This secrecy is one of the reasons why the general public remains very ignorant about the causes of injury. Over the decades collisions with similar causes have remained hidden, thus preventing any positive influence on improving their tragic outcomes.
Cyclist Gender Observed on or Adjacent to Roads in London Ontario In 2022
Many municipalities have increased their documentation of cyclist volumes on their roads and London, Ontario is no exception. The general consensus is that cyclist volumes are increasing. But beyond this basic fact there is little additional data being made publicly available.
How many cyclist collisions are occurring. How many injuries occur to cyclists. Where are cyclists located when they are involved in a collision. What characteristics do cyclists possess. How do cyclists ride on or adjacent to urban roadways. All these facts are important. Yet these facts are unavailable.
Gorski Consulting has been making observations of cyclists in the vicinity of London, Ontario for over 10 years. As a result of our involvement in collision reconstructions we have had the opportunity to conduct detailed, multi-video camera analyses at the sites of those collisions in order to develop data that could be used in a specific collision primarily for settlement of claims in civil litigation. As a result of these video analyses observations of cyclists also became possible because video simply captured every traffic unit in the site that is studied. Thus it has been possible to return to some of these earlier collision reconstruction studies and gather information about cyclists. These observations have been supplemented recently by our own direct studies of cyclists. Thus a substantial body of data is being assembled on cyclist issues in London and its vicinity.
One of the ongoing cycling studies has involved still-photo documentation of cyclists riding on or in the vicinity of roadways in London. We have just completed the calculations for the year 2022 where a total of 1083 cyclist observations were made. We will be reporting on some of these data in the near future. Some of the results may be surprising to some.
For example the numbers of male versus female cyclists has been of continued interest. In observations from the year 2022, the gender of 53 cyclists could not be determined. Thus this resulted in a study of the remaining 1030 observations. Of those 1030 cyclists where gender could be determined there was a vastly higher number of male cyclists than female. For example, of the 1030 observations, 895 were males and only 135 were females. This results in a percentage of females of only 13.11 %.
Given that one would think that one could purchase a cycle equally regardless of whether one was male or female, this imbalance of vastly higher numbers of males interesting. Yet this percentage has not changed much throughout the 10 years of our observations.
So what is the cause of this discrepancy? And how will this affect the ability to increase cyclist ridership in the future?
Highway 401 Blizzard – When Will Cable Barrier Repairs Be Done?
The blizzard that came through southern Ontario on December 23, 2022 tested the resources of all official personnel. Numerous collisions occurred throughout the region and roads had to be closed, including Highways 401 and 402.
Now, as some sense of normalcy is returning, the issues of clean-up and repairs come into focus. For example there have been many collisions described in the news media and many were mentioned along Highway 401. Presumably the median cable barrier that runs between Tilbury and London has been damaged at many locations.
During storm events the cable barrier becomes damaged and, to function properly, it must be repaired. When it is not repaired there is a likelihood that a subsequent collision might occur where a vehicle strikes the previously-damaged barrier. Not only does this make the barrier less effective but in some instances the damaged barrier can be more dangerous than if no barrier existed at all. So repair of the barrier needs to be done as quickly as possible.
In an article posted to the Gorski Consulting website on September 5, 2022 (“Highway 401 Damaged Cable Barrier – Continued, Unadvertised Safety Problem”) we described how drives along Highway 401 on May 7 and September 2, 2022 demonstrated several areas where the cable barrier was damaged and unrepaired. In the September 5, 2022 article we made the following observation:
“In summary impact damage to the cable barrier on Highway 401 caused the barrier cables to be loose for a distance of 2.1 kilometres west of Furnival Road. Two additional impacts to the cable barrier between Dunborough Road and Coyne Road meant that an additional 3.6 kilometres of cable was left loose. Thus a total of 5.7 kilometres of cable were observed to be loose in the 68 kilometre distance between Colonel Talbot Road and Victoria Road. Stated differently, 8.4 percent of the total cable length was observed to be in a state of disrepair.”
What is the present status of the cable barrier? How many impacts have occurred and what length of the barrier remains damaged? There should be an answer to this question that is publicly visible. Yet neither Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation, nor the OPP, and not even the various news-reporting organizations have provided that answer. It must rely on private individuals to drive along Highway 401 and make observations. And even then there is no way of disseminating that information to the wider public domain.
Whatever damage has been done, how long will it be before that damage is repaired? Will it be springtime? Thousands of users of Highway 401 are placed in danger when these repairs are delayed.
While there is considerable propaganda using the Vision Zero motif, and claims that we will reach zero transportation deaths in the not-too-distant future, it remains nothing more than propaganda when those words are not followed up by concrete action.
Multi-Fatal Rollover on Amiens Road West of London Ontario
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have not released any photos of the collision site where at least 2 persons were killed when a Ford Escape rolled over on Amiens Road just west of London Ontario in the mid-morning of Thursday December 22, 2022. The photos that are available are the property of various news organizations that will not allow their photos to be shown except through their outlets. The difficulty with this result is that crucial information cannot be fully discussed with respect to the possible causes of the crash.
The crash site is close to a Canadian National Railway (CNR) crossing. Amiens Road is also a lightly travelled road that would not garner the attention of road maintenance personnel in comparison to more travelled highways. Also a Ford Escape is known to be a vehicle with a higher centre-of-gravity, narrower track width and a shorter wheelbase compared to other light, passenger vehicles. Combining these facts unbiased investigators should consider the involvement of the railway crossing as a possible contributor to the Escape’s loss-of-control.
Unfortunately the OPP are the only entity that is allowed on the collision site to conduct their investigation. No one else has the opportunity to follow-up with an independent study should there be questions about the OPP conclusions. This is unfortunate because the OPP have no objective means to evaluate road surface problems that could lead to a vehicle loss-of-control.
At Gorski Consulting there has been an extensive evaluation of road surface conditions and their effect on the motion of a vehicle. The Road Data page of this website contains the details of numerous tests that have been performed throughout south-western Ontario that have documented the response of a test vehicle to a variety of road surface conditions. More specifically testing has been done on railway crossings, bridge junctions and speed bumps that would relate specifically to the current case.
The text below is a summary of a website article posted on the Gorski Consulting website on July 25, 2018. It describes testing that was conducted on a railway crossing on Hardy Road in Brantford, Ontario. This is the type of testing that should be conducted on the Amiens Road site to assess the condition of the railway crossing.
RESULTS FROM TESTING ON CN RAIL CROSSING OF HARDY ROAD IN BRANTFORD ONTARIO
by Zygmunt Gorski | Jul 25, 2018 | News
The results are now in from the testing that was conducted on the CN rail crossing of Hardy Road in Brantford, Ontario.
The Brantford Expositor newspaper had run a story regarding complaints by local residents regarding the “deplorable” condition of the CN rail crossing at Hardy Road in Brantford. Gorski Consulting visited the site on July 23, 2018 and testing was done to determine the effect that the crossing had on the motion of a test vehicle.
There was considerable longitudinal and lateral motion caused to the test vehicle travelling eastbound at just 28 km/h. The standard deviation of the Longitudinal Rotation was 0.0979 radians per seconds, while the standard deviation of the Lateral Rotation was 0.1744 radians per second. These values can be compared to the data shown on the Road Data webpage of this Gorski Consulting website.
The motion caused when travelling westbound was not as dramatic.
For the westbound test the standard deviation in the Longitudinal Rotation was 0.0642 radians per second whereas the standard deviation in the Lateral Rotation was 0.0985 radians per second.
Three tests were performed in each direction.
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