Background
The Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, has caused legislation to be introduced that will prevent cycling lanes from being created on urban arterial roads in the province. He also has threatened to remove cycling lanes that have already been installed. And he has introduced legislation that will prevent cyclists and their families from suing his government for any negligence that the courts might apply to his actions. In this milieu laws exist that prevent cyclists from riding on sidewalks and nothing is said about the dangers that might exist to cyclists on certain roads where there is no room on a roadway designed from motor vehicle traffic to accommodate a cyclist. Furthermore, whatever collisions occur, that cause cyclist injuries and deaths, are only reported in general terms, with no information about what factors caused them and what could be done to avoid them. This is the realm within which cycling is promoted as a means of reducing our use of fossil fuels and preventing global warming.
Hamilton Road Characteristics
Hamilton Road in London, Ontario is an example of many similar roadways in the Province of Ontario where cycling represents a danger and where no solution is forthcoming. Being an urban, arterial roadway Hamilton Road is a target for the Ford government’s attacks on urban cycling lanes. Yet, if cycling is expected to increase in the near future, a solution is needed to deal with the safety problems for cyclists on this roadway.
While the numbers of tragedies are not large, three fatal cyclist collisions have occurred on Hamilton Road in London, Ontario since the year 2019. How and why these collisions occurred has never been revealed. The result is that cyclists continue to ride on this roadway without critical information that could save them from death.
Recent Studies on Hamilton Road
After the most recent fatality on June 19, 2024 two articles were posted on the Gorski Consulting website. In an article posted on June 21,2024 entitled “Hamilton Road Fatal Cyclist Collision – Characteristics of Cyclist Road Users” a number of photos were presented showing the characteristics cyclists riding on Hamilton Road.
On June 19, 204 an article was posted on the site entitled “Cyclist Collision on Hamilton Road in London Ontario – Safety Concerns Continue”. This article posted a table of the most recent observations of cyclists riding through Hamilton Road between 2021 and up to February 2023. Only 65 observations were available and that table is reproduced below.
The number of observations in the above table is very small yet some concerns were made obvious in the Summary. Only about 8.5% of observed cyclists were females. Often small percentages of female riders are an indication of a dangerous roadway. Just over 86% of observed cyclist were not wearing a helmet. This is lack of helmet use is greater than in other parts of the city. And 80% of the cyclists were not riding within the travel lanes of the road. If this study contained more observations there would be reason for concern, however one needs to be cautious when reporting on such low numbers of results.
Subsequent to the above Gorski Consulting has continued to make observations of cyclists on Hamilton Road and this has led to an updated table with a larger number of observations, as shown below. This data contains observations up to the end of November, 2024.
The number of observations in the above table is still small yet some concerns are visible in the Summary. Only about 12.8% of observed cyclists were females. This is similar to the percentages of female cyclists observed in other parts of the city. Just over 75% of observed cyclists were not wearing a helmet. This lack of helmet use is greater than in other parts of the city. And just over 72% of the cyclists were not riding within the travel lanes of the road, this is just slightly higher than what has been observed in other parts of the city. With the addition of these new observations the results have regressed toward the mean, as expected. Yet concerns are evident. Although more than 72% of cyclists were not riding on the roadway, there is information to suggest that the three fatally injured cyclists were stuck while within the travel lanes of Hamilton Road. Put another way, there were no fatalities of cyclists who were riding on the sidewalk even though almost three quarters of cyclists were observed on the sidewalk.
Discussion
Cycling groups have erected white “ghost bikes” at each of the three fatal cyclist collision sites on Hamilton Road. But beyond this cyclists have not publicly expressed their recognition that information about how and why these collisions occurred ought to be gathered and shared with the public, and especially cyclists.
Although the numbers of cyclist observations discussed in this article is small there is no other source of public information that provides objective data on the status of the cyclist safety problem on Hamilton Road. Up to now the articles posted on the Gorski Consulting website have had few reviews. Recent discussions in London suggest that the City of London has opted to conduct another construction project whereby lanes for motor vehicle traffic will be replaced by cycling lanes. This becomes problematic as, just recently, the Province of Ontario will require their permission to remove such motor vehicle lanes on arterial roads and that permission may not be granted by the Province. So how can improvements be made to protect cyclists?
Gorski Consulting is of the opinion that these developments need discussion. What is needed is a gathering of minds. Up to now there has been no gathering of individuals into an effective group who have cyclist safety as their top, and only, commitment.
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