Four Pedestrian Fatality Collision on Hyde Park Road in London Ontario – Further Evidence From the Site
(Updated: 1315 hours, June 8, 2021)
A southbound vehicle struck a family of five pedestrians, killing 4, on Hyde Park Road and South Carriage Road in London, Ontario on June 6, 2021. Our examination of the collision site occurred only a couple of hours after it was opened. The following provides additional details from the site.
After the vehicle struck the pedestrians it travelled along the west roadside of Hyde Park Road for approximately 56 metres before the vehicle struck a small sign post, as shown in the image below.
The sign post was flattened at its base as shown below.
Unusually the post itself was twisted, as shown below.
Fresh markings on the stem revealed the manner of contact with the striking vehicle.
The peculiarity of this evidence is that it is believed that the vehicle was travelling quite quickly when it contacted the sign post. There seems to be considerable marking not consistent with a motion parallel to the sign post. Yet the extent of damage is considerable and therefore consistent with a significant force application.
We attempted to follow the vehicle’s path further past the struck sign post. This was an area where news personnel and other site wanderers did not cause as much trampling of the evidence. A view south of the sign post is shown below. There was no evidence of contact to the dark junction box to the right of the view and there was no evidence of tire marks south of the struck sign post.
Even though tire marks do not reveal a path, one can examine the status of any taller weeds to determine if there has been any recent damage. Examination of several of these weeds suggested that the vehicle may have travelled back on the road surface shortly after striking the sign. But this conclusion is very tentative given the lack of evidence.
The alternative is that the vehicle may have come to a stop over top of the struck sign. Evidence supporting this conclusion comes from a tire mark located on the sidewalk just north of the struck sign. The general area is shown in the northward view shown below, followed by a closer view of the tire mark.
The south end of the tire mark is darker and suggests a change in direction. Such evidence often occurs when a tire is stopped and the vehicle changes direction. In the bare earth at the upper left of the close-up view there was a tire tread print that could be the extension of the tire mark as if the vehicle backed up into the driveway. This tire tread print is shown below.
Given that numerous persons trampled through the site, including emergency personnel, and that many police personnel and vehicles were likely in the area, it is not possible to determine if this evidence occurred during the collision event or was caused sometime after. However, given the lack of visible tire marks south of the sign post, and given the extent of damage to the sign post in a non-parallel fashion, the possibility that the striking vehicle stopped and backed into the driveway cannot be excluded. Police photos and other information from their investigation will undoubtedly confirm what transpired.
Intended Murder of Muslim Pedestrians in London Ontario – Site Evidence Alone Cannot Confirm Intentions
(Updated: 1310 hours, June 8, 2021)
Four pedestrians were killed yesterday, June 6, 2021 in London, Ontario when a southbound vehicle struck a group of pedestrians on Hyde Park Road at its intersection with South Carriage Road.
Having just completed an examination of the collision site on Hyde Park Road and South Carriage Street in London, Ontario, we can confirm that the evidence at the site alone cannot determine whether four Muslim pedestrians were purposely killed by a driver who veered into them yesterday.
The photo below shows a view looking south along Hyde Park Road taken this afternoon. In the background is South Carriage Road.
The next photo takes us to the north side of the intersection with South Carriage Road. The striking vehicle veered to the right and struck the pedestrians to the right of the traffic signal located on the south side of the intersection. We would want to examine the road surface in this region to establish whether there are any markings caused by the vehicle as it veered to the right. No such markings were observed.
There were no visible markings until the vehicle struck the curb and tire scrub marks were created on the curb by the two front tires. The photo below shows the general location of the curb where the tire scrub marks existed.
The photo below shows a closer view of the curb where the tire scrub marks were created.
The photo below shows the scrub mark caused by the left front tire.
The photo below shows the scrub mark caused by the right front tire.
Once the vehicle mounted the sidewalk some tire marks became visible on the concrete sidewalk likely from overloading when the vehicle made contact with the pedestrians. One of these overloading marks is shown in the photo below.
After the vehicle struck the pedestrians and passed through the sidewalk it moved onto the grass roadside and travelled almost 60 metres before knocking over a small sign. Some of the tire marks from the vehicle can be seen below just to the right of the sidewalk.
Unfortunately some news crews have the subtilty of a charging bull elephant as they trampled all over the tire marks and other evidence. The photo below, looking north toward the area of impact, is one of many examples where news crews simply set up their equipment over top of the tire marks.
Sometimes the actions of a vehicle such as braking, acceleration or neither, can be established by the character of the grass on which the vehicle travelled. This cannot be done well when persons have trampled through that evidence and destroyed the fragile evidence that might have existed there. The paint marking shown on the asphalt in the next photo were created by the investigating police to document the southward path of the vehicle.
Looking further to the south the photo below shows the small sign that was knocked over about 56 metres south of where the pedestrians were struck.
The photo below shows a view looking north from just south of the struck sign and back toward the area of impact in the background.
Overall, the evidence at the site does not provide any conclusive evidence as to whether this was an intentional act of hate against the Muslim pedestrians. The police may have further evidence such as the data from the vehicle’s event data recorder (“Black Box”) and perhaps other evidence that might lead to the driver’s intentions but what that evidence may be has not been revealed at this time.
Whatever the intentions of the driver, it is a sad result that so many lives were taken.
Hours of Cyclist Counts Performed By Gorski Consulting During Week of Velo Cycling Count
Cyclists are being counted throughout Canada by volunteers during the week of June 1-6, 2021. Gorski Consulting in contributing to the counts.
Over the past week five sessions of cyclist observations were performed by Gorski Consulting, each approximately 2-3 hours, with respect to the Velo Cycling Count that has been taking place throughout Canada during the week of June 1-6, 2021. Because the sessions are videotaped analysis is required to extract the cycling numbers. Also the procedures performed by Gorski Consulting include counts of all users of any site, including pedestrians and specialized vehicles.
The results are available from two of the sites where observations were conducted on June 2, 2021: Three hours of observation made on Hale Street between the two legs of Heather Crescent and two hours of observations performed on the Thames Valley Parkway just south of Trafalgar St at the Pottersburg Creek Bridge. Results from the Hale Street site indicated very low numbers of cyclists and pedestrians.
At the Thames Valley Parkway (TVP) site on June 2, 2021 the data has been separated into two individual hours. In the first hour 35 cyclists were observed, 32 pedestrians and 2 other (specialized vehicles, etc). In the second hour 44 cyclists were observed, 15 pedestrians, and no others.
Analysis is on-going of the three remaining sessions, two at the Hale Street site and one at the TVP Trafalgar site.
With the completion of these two sessions Gorski Consulting now has completed 30, one-hour, sessions of cyclist observations in the City of London over the past 15 years.
Results From Velo Cycle-Counting Session on Hale Street in London, Ontario
June 1-6, 2021 is the week when volunteers throughout Canada are counting cyclist volumes of roads and paths as part of a program developed by the Velo Canada Bikes Corporation. Gorski Consulting has volunteered its services and two cycling counts were made on June 2nd in east London. Results are now available from one of those counts, from Hale Street near Heather Crescent.
For 3 hours, commencing at 1130 hours, a video camera was operated on Hale Street between the two legs of Heather Crescent. Unlike the Velo Canada program which asks volunteers to use a cellphone App to conduct the counts, Gorski Consulting has used multiple video cameras for that documentation. This process has been in use since 2004 and has been a part of regular documentations of various traffic situations as part of our collision reconstructions for civil and criminal litigation. While the Velo program relies on the sincerity and accuracy of its volunteers, the Gorski Consulting methods provide permanent video records of what has been observed and therefore those observations can be re-examined by independent entities for their accuracy.
During the 3-hour session only 6 cyclists were observed. Four cyclists were southbound and 2 were northbound. Five of the cyclists were male and one was female. Because of the small sample size we are able to display frames of the cyclists taken from our video project. The six cyclists are shown below.
Northbound, white, adult, male, cyclist, age range unknown, riding on northbound lane of Hale Street.
Northbound, middle-aged, white, male riding on the northbound lane of Hale Street.
Southbound, middle-aged, white, male riding on west sidewalk of Hale Street
Southbound, white, male, age-unknown but not elderly and not a child, riding on E sidewalk.
Southbound, middle-aged, white, male riding on west sidewalk.
Southbound, frail, possibly elderly, white, female, riding on east sidewalk.
Note that four of the six cyclists were observed riding on a sidewalk and their ages are likely above 18 years. Thus according to London’s laws they could be ticketed by police as they are not supposed to be riding on a sidewalk. Yet given the traffic volumes and the lack of a cycling lane on Hale Street it would be more safe ride on the sidewalk.
As observed in previous testing, the numbers of males (5) versus females (1) continues the trend that males generally outnumber females by a wide margin. If we are to increase cycling volumes we need to understand by this low volume of female cyclists exists and what we can do to improve those numbers.
The results from this session demonstrate that cyclist volumes differ greatly depending on what site is being examined. During an afternoon session during a weekday (Tuesday), cycling volumes appear to be very low on Hale Street. It has also been found in previous studies that seasons (summer versus winter) and time of day are also major factors in the observed variance in cyclist volumes.
Gorski Consulting Participates in Velo Cycling Counts
Cyclists riding on Clarke Road in London, Ontario in 2011. Cycling counts are necessary to understand how we can increase this mode of transportation.
Velo Canada Bikes is a corporation that has initiated a cyclist counting procedure throughout Canada during the week of June 1-6, 2021. During this week volunteers are asked to count the number of cyclists they observe at designated locations in 14 different Canadian cities. For those volunteers not residing in those cities counts can still be performed and accepted.
London Ontario is not one of the 14 designated cities where the counts are requested. Yet, as of yesterday, June 1st, 51 different counts were submitted to the organization from various sites throughout the City. While it was requested that observations be made over a period of two continuous hours many of the reports contain observations for shorter intervals. Yet the fact that persons would volunteer for this project in such numbers is revealing of the interest persons have in cycling in the London area.
Gorski Consulting has decided to volunteer our services as one of the counters. On June 2, 2021 two counts were made, one for 3 hours and another for 2 hours. Results from these sessions will be tabulated shortly. This is done in conjunction with previous observations made by Gorski Consulting for the past 15 years. Some of our data has been reported in articles posted on the Gorski Consulting website. Prior to this new initiative Gorski Consulting has documented cyclist volumes on 25, one-hour sessions throughout the City of London.
We have also been involved in documenting cyclists at specific locations such as along Dundas Street from Highbury to Clark Road. That eight year study demonstrated that a very low volume of females ride in this area and this number is reduced even more during winter months. This data was reported in an earlier article posted on the Gorski Consulting website. If cycling volumes are to increase we need to understand why female cyclists are so reduced in volume and what we can do make that change.
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