Observations of cyclists riding along roads in London Ontario have been gathered by Gorski Consulting for many years. With the increased usage of e-bikes the opinion about what is safe for cyclists and pedestrians has become more complicated.
Gorski Consulting remains the only entity in London Ontario that is gathering and publishing data on the numbers and characteristics of cyclists in the City. This data is being distributed via this Gorski Consulting website. This current article provides the data for the first 6 months of 2025, as summarized in the table below.
Data From Previous Years
Tables from previous years have been published in previous articles however these could be difficult to locate on the website. So we are also showing those tables below for the years 2001 to 2004.
Selection Of Cyclist Observations of Interest In 2025
The winter season of 2024-25 was unusually cold, reminiscent of the years in the 1970s. A winter storm arrived on December 2, 2024 and by December 6 the snowfall created tunnels in most driveways as shown in the photo above. This made it difficult for drivers of motor vehicles to see if cyclists existed either on a sidewalk or along a road edge.In this example from December 6, 2024 a car pulling out of a driveway was difficult to see and drivers could not detect the presence of any cyclists or pedestrians on the sidewalk or on a road. Similar winter conditions prevailed into 2025 although some melting occurred at times.Dangerous roadside conditions existed in London in mid-February 2025 when snowfalls began to populate many cycling lanes as shown in this example from February 10, 2025 looking northbound on Upper Queen Street in London. Here the cycling lane is mostly covered by snow forcing the cyclists to ride outside the bounds of the cycling lane.In this view looking north on Upper Queen Street the cycling lane is fully covered by snow and impassable by cyclists who had to ride within the lane designated for motor vehicles.For those cyclists who ventured out the travel paths on a sidewalk were no better particularly in areas narrowed by snow banks and construction. Here a cyclist riding on February 22, 2025 on Dufferin Street approaching Richmond must maneuver around pedestrians on the sidewalk while construction fencing and snowbanks make passing pedestrians difficult.In this view taken from February 23, 2025 a female cyclist is seen travelling westbound on Hamilton Road while a London City Police cruiser changes lanes to pass her. In normal conditions the wearing of black clothing would be dangerous but where snowbanks are generally white or shades of grey it makes for reasonably good contrast for the cyclist to be seen.A closer look at the female cyclist on Hamilton Road reveals that she is not wearing a helmet and the large purse hanging from her handlebars could pose an additional complication. Hamilton Road is a dangerous location to be riding a cycle within the roadway especially in winter conditions. This female is a rarity as very few females were found riding during the winter season.This view from February 24, 2025 on Ridout Street near Briscoe shows male and female cycling riding southbound along the edge of the cycling lane which is partially covered in snow. It is helpful however that they are both wearing bright clothing and helmets.One of the difficulties facing cyclists in winter conditions is that typical helmets are not designed to protect cyclists from cold weather. Here a male cyclist wears various head coverings and then places a helmet over top. This arrangement often defeats the safety benefits of the helmet since any impact will likely cause the helmet to fall off the head before it can provide any protection.In this view from April 13, 2025 on Highbury Ave a cyclist wears a balaclava which is of a thin material that allows him to wear a helmet.As cyclists continue to gain experience with their bike they will sometimes try to ride with no hands as shown in this photo taken on April 24, 2025 on Commissioners Road. This practice is not uncommon but presents dangers when a cyclist is inexperienced and does not recognize that certain surface conditions can destabilize the bike.The carriage of cargo on a bike is not uncommon in London. While very efficient cycles also present a problem in that they do not offer protection from environmental conditions. In this photo taken on April 25, 2025 on Horton Street the cyclist is walking on a sidewalk with a trap over him because of a local rainfall. But this situation could be precarious if he was riding within a lane shared with motor vehicle traffic.This view taken on June 17, 2025 is a reminder that distraction is no different whether you are walking as a pedestrian, driving a motor vehicle or riding on a bicycle. While convenient, cellphones have become greater distractions as more and more persons use them regardless of what they do or where they do it. This is an important danger that needs public discussion.
Discussion
The winter and spring of 2025 were unusually cold in the London region and therefore it was more difficult to collect observational data of cyclists because there were fewer of them. Never-the-less a greater focus was applied to obtaining this data such that in the early months the numbers of observations were similar to previous years.
Things changed in May and June when the temperatures rose and cyclists began to appear in large numbers. This is reflected by the large numbers of observations shown the table cells for these two months.
Female cyclists remain an uncommon sight along London’s Streets. In these first 6 months of 2025 the percentage of observations of female cyclists was only at 11.66 %. This is even lower in winter conditions. For example in the first three months of 2025 (Jan, Feb and Mar) only 12 observations were made of female cyclists while 172 males were observed. This represents only 6.52 % of female observations.
This year a greater focus was applied to gathering data along two areas of the City where the characteristics of cyclists appear to differ. Previous sightings seemed to suggest that the cyclists riding along the corridor running along Horton Street and Hamilton Road were different from those cyclists riding along the corridor running along Upper Queen and Ridout Street. Not enough data from these sites was available to draw reliable conclusions so we attempted a greater focus on these routes in recent months. As such the data from these first 6 months of 2025 is weighed heavily with observations from these sites. Because of this it appears that the number of cyclists riding on sidewalks is lower than previous years but that is likely because much of the data is from Upper Queen and Ridout where there is a painted cycling lane. It is expected that a separate article will be published here on the Gorski Consulting website dealing specifically with this comparison.
It has become obvious that the characteristics of cyclists have been changing in other areas over the last several years. There appear to be more cyclists riding e-bikes. But also there is a notable large increase in the numbers of riders on e-scooters. Both of these vehicles travel at substantially higher speeds than the typical riders of pedal cyclists. Yet a high percentage of these e-riders do not wear helmets and they ride on sidewalks at dangerously high speeds. E-bikes are generally heavier than typical pedal-cycles and therefore they pose a new danger to pedestrians on sidewalks because of that larger mass difference.
Many riders of e-bikes also appear to be uneducated with respect to the importance of being visible both in terms of the clothing they wear and the lighting that exists on their cycles. This is not something unexpected as there is absolutely no public instruction given by any official organization in London that focuses on this important issue.
Gorski Consulting continues to raise the alarm that there is no public disclosure of cyclist collisions and injuries in the City of London. It is as if cyclist injuries do not exist in the City, or at least this is what cyclists and drivers are led to believe. Regrettably another cyclist fatality occurred in April on Dundas Street east near Vancouver Street in London and the lack of any information about how this occurred demonstrates the irresponsible lack of regard that local officials have for keeping cyclists and drivers properly informed about how to keep cyclists safe.
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