Motor Vehicle Speed Detection in London Ontario Canada
Background
Documenting of motor vehicle speeds has become an increasing activity on roadways throughout the world. This has been possible as technology has allowed for for more sophisticated methods. As vehicles become more connected to the roadway infrastructure, and to themselves, accurate and precise speed data will become more pervasive. In the vicinity of London, Ontario, Canada those future connections are still forthcoming, however various forms of traffic surveillance exist. More permanent speed cameras have been authorized by local authorities, primarily at important intersections. However portable traffic monitoring units have also begun to be used at an increasing rate. The City of London has begun posting portable “Scout” traffic monitoring units in designated communities as shown in the example below.
As officials have concluded that typical speeding controls by the physical presence of police are expensive, a variety of infrastructure changes have been introduced. Speed bumps, or humps, are a way making it more difficult for the average driver to pass over them at higher speeds and therefore it is believed that this can be a successful method of controlling speed and increasing safety. Various methods of narrowing streets or placing obstacles within the traffic lane are also consistent with the belief that, making it more challenging to pass through them will reduce speeds and increase safety. The success of these changes has never included a detailed documentation of what damage they cause to motor vehicles that pass over or through them and to what degree single vehicle collisions are increased through contacting these structures or by drivers attempting to avoid them. As most such instances result in relatively minor damage they do not make it to official statistics.
Another option has involved the use of Speed Display Boards (SDBs) that display the speed of an approaching vehicle in the hope that this will reduce the driver’s speed. Gorski Consulting has conducted several observational documentations of SDBs in the past with mixed results. A new opportunity revealed itself when, on October 4, 2024, the City of London set up four SDBs on Hale Street in east London, Ontario. This allowed Gorski Consulting to attend at one of the SDBs to document the speeds that the SDB displayed. This also allowed for an assessment of the functioning of the SDB.
Description of the Current Speed Display Board (SDB) Study
In our recent studies on Hale Street two-hour video sessions were completed on four dates:
October 4,2024 between 2100 & 2300 hours
October 5, 2024 between 0600 & 0800 hours
October 5, 2024 between 1600 & 1800 hours
October 5, 2024 between 2050 & 2250 hours
These sessions documented northbound vehicles in the distance from the north end of the roundabout of Hale, through to the location of the SDB, just past the north end of the property at 361 Hale Street, as shown in the graphic below.
For this present article only the data from the last session, October 5, 2024 between 2050 and 2250 hours, will be reviewed.
Throughout the present study the SDB was noted to function erratically. Its display would become confused when there was more than one vehicle within the 180-metre detection zone. At times the SDB would continue displaying a speed for several seconds after the last vehicle already exited the detection zone. At other times the SDB failed to detect the presence of a vehicle even when there was no interference and there was only a single vehicle approaching through the detection zone.
However It is believed, based on previous experience, that these detection failures do not carry over into providing inaccurate displays of actual approach speed of the vehicles that have been detected. On several occasions the speed displayed by a SDB has been compared to the speed calculated from our multi-vehicle camera procedures and it has been found that the two methods come to substantial agreement with respect to the actual speed of vehicles.
Results From Current Traffic Study
A review of the speed data showed that, in the two-hour session from 2050 to 2250 hours , a total of 87 observations of northbound vehicles were documented. There were actually many more northbound vehicles present however, due to the known problems that the SDB had with reliable detection, documentation was made only in those occasions where a single vehicle was present within the detection zone. This was done to be certain that the displayed speed data was not contaminated by confusion of the SDB when more than one vehicle was present in the detection zone. Thus there were a number of occasions where a line of several northbound vehicles passed through the site but they could not be documented because it was known that the SDB would not be able to distinguish between the speed of each vehicle in the detection zone.
The speed data that was collected included the speed indicated by the SDB when the vehicle first became detected. At night-time it was observed that the SDB could first detect vehicles at a distance of about 180 metres. In daytime hours this distance was much shorter. While it cannot be known for certain it is believed that during nighttime the contrast between the headlights of approaching vehicles and the dark surroundings made it easier for the SDB to detect a vehicle.
A second speed was documented which was the highest speed detected during the time that the SDB was displaying the approaching vehicle’s speed. In a very large percentage of times the speed at first detection was also the highest speed that as detected.
A third speed was documented which was the final speed displayed on the SDB as the approaching vehicle exited the detection zone.
The posted maximum speed in this zone of detection was 40 km/h. It was found that the average speed of northbound vehicles at initial detection was 52.72 km/h. The average maximum speed detected during the full travel distance was 54.02 km/h. And the average speed when the vehicles exited the detection zone was 43.21 km/h.
The conclusion drawn from this study is that drivers were travelling substantially faster than the posted maximum speed when they entered the detection zone. Some of those drivers travelled even faster as they passed through the detection zone. However the data shows that the average driver responded well to observing the speed shown on the SDB and average speeds were reduced to just above the posted maximum speed by the time that vehicle exited the detection zone. However not all the news was good.
Thirteen of the 87 northbound vehicles were observed to be travelling above 60 km/h or over 20 km/h above the posted speed limit. Thus about 15 per cent of drivers were driving at 20 km/h or faster than the posted speed limit. This is fairly consistent with results obtained by Gorski Consulting from other sites in past studies. However, of the 87 documented vehicles, not a single vehicle was ever observed to pass through the detection zone at a maximum speed of 40 km/h or lower. Thus it could be argued that 100 per cent of the documented vehicles were “speeding”.
However, at the end of the detection zone 23 of the 87, or 26 per cent, vehicles were observed to be travelling at 40 km/h or less. This may indicate a temporary success or it may also have some longer lasting effects that would need further study.
Other Speed Studies At Site
Previously Gorski Consulting had conducted several, multi-video camera studies on Hale Street. Several sessions were conducted in June, 2021 when Hale Street was still signed with a 50 km/h maximum speed. In these sessions the purpose was to document traffic (motor vehicle and cyclist) and pedestrian volume. Thus speeds were not calculated.
The Maximum Posted Speed on Hale Street was reduced to 40 km/h on approximately September 1, 2022. Before this change took place two speed studies were conducted by Gorski Consulting in May of 2022 at the same site of Hale Street where the current SDB analysis was conducted. On Wednesday, May 11, 2022 synchronized, multiple video cameras were set up and speeds were documented over a one-hour period. In that study only non-interfered vehicles were documented. Both northbound and southbound vehicles were documented, commencing at 1335 hours. The results showed that, over the one-hour period, 226 southbound vehicles were documented and their average speed was 57.67 km/h. Ninety-one of these 226 vehicles were observed to be travelling at 60 km/h or more. This percentage is just over 40 per cent. In contrast 245 northbound vehicles were documented and their average speed was 51.56 km/h. Only 17 of those 245 vehicles were observed to be travelling at 60 km/h or higher, or about 6.9 per cent. Thus on this afternoon the average speed of southbound vehicles was much higher than northbound vehicles.
In the second study, on May 21, 2022, vehicle speed documentation was commenced at 1825 hours for one hour. Of the 199 southbound vehicles their average speed was 54.69 km/h. Forty-two of those southbound vehicles were observed to be travelling at or above 60 km/h, or 21.1 per cent. For northbound vehicles 205 were documented with an average speed of 53.51 km/h and 38 of those vehicles travelled at or above 60 km/h, or 18.5 per cent. Thus during these session conducted during the evening the average speeds of northbound and southbound vehicles was similar.
Additional data was also obtained on two other dates but this data has not be analysed up to this time. Thus a speed study was conducted on May 12, 2022 when the posted speed limit was 50 km/h, and another was performed on May 26, 2023 after the posted speed limit was reduced to 40 km/h. Because speed analysis is so time consuming we have not found time to review this data, although this may be done sometime in the future.
Summary
It has been suggested by many that road safety can be improved by posting a reduced maximum speed. Studies by Gorski Consulting suggest this belief is not supported by our traffic data. On Hale Street vehicles were observed to travel substantially above the speed limit of 50 km/h however the speeds varied in terms of time of day and direction of travel. Once the speed limit was reduced to 40 km/h the SDB data showed that, when first detected, motor vehicles continued travel at about the same speed in the new 40 km/h zone as they did when the area was a 50 km/h zone. As the SDB data showed that not a single documented vehicle travelled at or below the 40 km/h speed limit one could argue that 100 per cent of drivers were “speeding” when they were first detected. Yet the SDB data also showed that the vast majority of drivers reduced their speed as they passed through the detection zone. This success may be temporary, or it may have longer lasting benefits. Conclusions can be made if further traffic studies are performed.
The Political Destruction of Dundas Street and Downtown London Ontario
Governments that force changes in transportation efficiency and safety often fail to understand that they ought to help those whose existence is threatened by those changes. While official plans glorify the benefits of the changes they rarely discuss what elements of society will be destroyed. In the medium-sized City of London, Ontario, Canada the results of government interventions, or lack there of, have led to the destruction of many small and independent businesses along its main street, Dundas Street. Along with other political decisions that also targeted persons of low income this has led to areas of depressed economic activity that has not been seen before.
Background
Looking back, the main street of London, Ontario, Dundas Street, was a vibrant area of economic activity for well over 100 years. Dundas Street in downtown London was where you wanted to be. An example of this is the historic photo of the area below, from the year 1956.
Dundas Street in downtown London was beginning to falter even as early as the 1980s. It was then that politicians agreed to have a new mall built to help boost the area. Galleria Mall saw its opening day in 1989. It is shown on the left of the photo below, taken in 2013. While there were great expectations that Galleria Mall would revive downtown Dundas, the opposite occurred. The exterior or the mall appeared to be closed to its surroundings as there were no street-side windows and there was no connection with existing, local merchants.
Political decisions caused changes to London as well as to the Province of Ontario leading to a progressive attack on cities such as London and specifically Dundas Street. The Tory provincial government of Mike Harris was brought into power in 1995. Its legacy is encapsulated by a single sentence written in a 2023 article by John Ibbitson:
“The government closed and amalgamated dozens of hospitals, cut welfare benefits by more than 20 per cent and slashed the number of school boards by almost half.”
The Harris government also introduced the Municipal Act which off-loaded many costs, such as roadway responsibilities, to local governments. Also, the monitoring of roadway safety issues, that used to be conducted in uniform manner by the province, province-wide, was now left to local municipalities. This led to the creation of non-uniform roadway control, planning and implementation.
The “common sense” of closing many mental hospitals meant that those persons with cognitive challenges were sent onto the street, essentially to fend for themselves. This had disastrous effects on communities and Dundas Street in particular. Dundas Street in East London had already been feeling the effects of previous political disasters in the late 1960s and 1970s such as the rebuilding of Dundas Street into a a river-like, curving road that took away parking and thus took away customers from East London businesses. The city mayor at the time owned a construction company that was hired to install expensive brickwork along Dundas between Elizabeth Street and Adelaide Street. This brickwork started to fall apart and was expensive to repair. That whole area of Dundas Street was reconstructed again to its original, straight form, with some parking, but the damage had already been done to local, independent businesses. The main businesses such as Hudsons, London Furniture, Metropolitan and the Brass Rail Tavern all began to leave the area with nothing to replace them. Those displaced persons from mental hospitals and those who had their social benefits removed by the Harris government began to enter onto the sidewalks of Dundas east. But Dundas in the downtown area was still saved from that prospect for several more decades.
For decades the most commercial “place to be” had always been the intersection of Dundas Street and Richmond Street. This is where the very successful Ingram & Smallman department store expanded to the very successful Simpsons department store. Bus Simpsons began to falter and was bought out by The Bay. This change lasted successfully for a few more years before The Bay moved out of the Dundas-Richmond intersection and the depression of the area began to intensify.
Historical photos of downtown Dundas Street show that there was many beautiful buildings that existed here but these were torn down. Without such buildings it made it more difficult to attract customers to the area when there was nothing beautiful to see. An example of some beautiful architecture is shown in the historical photo below, taken on Dundas Street from just west of the Simpsons store, reportedly in 1951.
As mentioned earlier the political disaster of the Galleria Mall began to take its effect on downtown Dundas Street. Essentially no business could survive inside the mall and they soon departed leaving an empty shell. The mall was re-named the Citi Plaza but the name change made no difference. From every direction the exterior walls of the mall contained no windows and no connection with the local businesses located next to it.
Signs of economic problems on Dundas Street were not easily recognized. The development of the John Labatt Centre (JLC) was a great success to downtown London. This arena holding approximately 10,000 persons saw many new musical and sports events. With the re-development of the Covent Garden Market next to it there was a sense that downtown was headed toward some good times. But the backside (north side) of the JLC faced Dundas Street and, just like the Galleria Mall, its walls contained no windows and no connection to the outside street. Also, with the building of the formidable London Court House, and the Bell building, the trio of these buildings made it unpleasant to walk in the area of Dundas Street between Ridout and Talbot, as shown in the 2017 photo below.
The rise of Big Box businesses such as Costco, and on-line shopping establishments such as Amazon, placed further pressure on the small businesses lining the downtown of Dundas Street, and these businesses continued to falter.
Meanwhile to the east, the Dundas Street community in East London had been in complete shambles for many years. The successful business area of Dundas Street near English Street became destroyed as the complete block of buildings on the north side of Dundas were leveled, as shown in the 2013 photo below.
With the hot real estate markets of nearby cities like Toronto, home rental costs went up and the building of affordable housing was low. This sent more persons onto Dundas Street East with no where to go. Normal businesses could not survive and new ones such as cash lending and pawn shops emerged.
Intensified Road Reconstruction in Downtown London Commencing in 2018
In the midst of the economical woes politicians continued to make roadway “improvements” which shut down parts of Dundas Street. A decision was made to close Dundas east of Egerton for roadway improvements. But this area was shut down and dug up again only a few years later to make room for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
Meanwhile, as time passed, politicians came to the realization that the world’s climate was changing and drastic measures were needed to stop our burning of fossil fuels. This led to the recognition that transportation systems needed to be changed. Transportation needed to involve multi-passenger buses that used electric power rather than gasoline or diesel. And it became essential to cause more transportation via bicycling or by walking. In London this became the impetus for a rapid increase in the number of cycling lanes throughout the City. It also became the impetus for creating a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system through select, high-volume roads.
For Dundas Street in London these political decisions led to many years of traffic chaos which began in 2018 with the decision to create “Dundas Place” between Ridout and Wellington Rd. But this was also an area where many small businesses were attempting to survive harsh economic times.
Dundas Street became closed to all traffic from the spring of 2018 to the fall of 2019 for the creation of Dundas Place. As shown in the photos below, this was a dramatic stoppage of economic activity that greatly affected local, independent businesses.
As if the hardships of Dundas Place were not enough, a pandemic struck the world in late 2019 with the introduction of Covid 19. Persons could not interact in public and were required to wear masks. This created severe hardships for businesses throughout Canada but those hardships were increased along downtown Dundas Street where essentially no shopping was possible.
In the spring of 2020 the completion of Dundas Place could be examined and the logic of the costs to create it could be assessed. It was noted that a complicated brickwork of a winding “river” in the road surface was developed as if this would be the saving characteristic of the revitalization. This was reminiscent of the meandering “river” that was created on Dundas Street in East London in the late 1960s and 1970s which was instrumental in accelerating the depression of that neighbourhood.
Even though Covid-19 and the traffic problems of Dundas Place were creating havoc in downtown London, politicians embarked on other transportation “improvements” which worsened these problems. As an example, Richmond Street was closed from York to King Street for restoration, as shown in the photo below.
A seemingly yearly shut down of King Street for various road construction also continued through 2020, as shown in the photo below.
Meanwhile city politicians also allowed for lane restrictions on Dundas east of Dundas Place. The area of Dundas east of Wellington Road was restricted to traffic as a new cycling track was being constructed eastward from downtown, as shown below.
By the spring of 2021 city politicians once again decided to make road “improvements” at the west end of Dundas Street by commencing construction at Dundas and Ridout, as shown in the photo below.
City politicians also experimented with closing Dundas Place to traffic at the Talbot, Richmond, and Clarence intersections. The results shown in the next photos are that Dundas Place looked more like a ghost town rather than the vibrant place it had been for decades.
In the fall of 2021 photos showed that King Street was closed once again as work was being done on Richmond Street and the latest construction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was being completed between Ridout and Wellington Road. Photos from that time are show below.
As shown in the photo below King Street still remained closed to traffic on December 1, 2021.
In the spring of 2022 several road closures and restrictions were noted. Queens Ave began be restricted to traffic west of Richmond Street. This also prevented traffic on Queens Ave from entering onto Ridout Street.
Queens Ave then began to be completely closed to traffic at Richmond Street as noted in photo below taken on June 17, 2022.
Wellington Road also became restricted from continued construction on King Street, as shown in the photo below.
Southbound traffic on Talbot Street was also restricted in the spring of 2022 between Dufferin and Queens Ave as the new Centro high-rise building continued to be constructed.
Photos also show that Ridout Street became closed south of Horton Street as the new Victoria Bridge began to be constructed. A photo that is shown below.
The beginning of the year 2023 continued to show that roadway construction was continuing to cause chaos on Dundas Street and downtown London. The construction along King Street was still not completed and this caused lane restrictions on Wellington Road between King and Dundas, as shown in the photos below.
Photos taken on March 24, 2023 show that Ridout Street became closed as work was under way on building the new Victoria Bridge south of Horton Street.
Also reconstruction was taking place along Wellington Road at the south end of downtown resulting in further chaos at intersections such as Horton Street, as shown in the March 30, 2023 photo below.
Lane closures along Horton Street meant that there were long lines of waiting traffic as shown in the photo below from April 3, 2023.
The chaos on Horton Street could be appreciated when looking along Wellington Road on its approach to Horton. Wellington Road was being reconstructed on its approach to downtown London as shown in the photos below taken in the spring of 2023.
In downtown London itself traffic chaos was still occurring on Wellington Road between King Street and York Street as shown in the photo below, looking south along Wellington, taken on September 26, 2023.
The start of the year in 2024 showed that the traffic chaos along Wellington Road intensified. Major reconstruction was now taking place further north, past Dundas Street and toward Queens Ave through the spring of 2024, as shown in the photos below.
At Ridout Street the Victoria Bridge construction was taking shape and some sidewalk access was created along the new bridge as shown in the photo below.
A new element of traffic chaos commenced in the spring of 2024 when the City of London decided to perform major road reconstruction of York Street which closed the road west of Wellington Road. This was at a time when major construction was also taking place along Wellington Road.
By July, 2024 the newly constructed Victoria Bridge was being prepared for opening, as shown in the photo below.
By August 1, 2024 traffic on York Street was still severely limited as shown in the photo below.
Photos taken on September 18, 2024 showed that York Street became fully closed at Clarence Street. Signs of that closure could be seen from the intersection of York and Richmond as shown in the photo below.
By September 30, 2024 photos taken in downtown London showed that Wellington Road still remained restricted from Horton Street through to Dufferin Street, as shown in the photos below.
Throughout these detailed descriptions of road construction in downtown London between 2018 and 2024 there was a demonstration that, although improvements were being made, the improvements also negatively affected the area and particularly Dundas Street. While construction of Dundas Place was completed by 2019, many additional road construction projects commenced which either blocked access to Dundas Street or political decisions were made to close access to it. The combination of these political decisions, along with a lack of recognition that homeless street people were increasingly assembling along downtown Dundas led to extreme difficulties for normal, independent businesses to stay open. Upon completion of this article in October, 2024, these problems continued to exist. While the City of London was becoming larger in population its politicians seemed to conclude that development of large, high-rise buildings would be the mark of a successful city while not seeing the reality that many small businesses were closing and for too many persons on the sidewalks of downtown London were not customers or tourists but the streets became their home, as the cost of housing made it unreachable and they had no where else to go.
Comparison To Other Successful Downtowns
A trip to Great Britain in August and September of 2024 demonstrated how pedestrian malls can be successfully integrated into downtown areas. Britain has a northern climate similar to that of southern Ontario so many of the cold conditions of winter affect both locations. Here are some examples of some successful pedestrian malls in Britain.
The photo below shows Buchanan Street in Glasgow in late August, 2024. It is completely free of motor vehicle traffic yet there are numerous persons walking through the area and many successful, independent shops sell their merchandise to those customers.
Another example of a very successful pedestrian mall is the Royal Mile area in downtown Edenborough Scotland. As shown in the photo below very large numbers of pedestrians walk along this road which is closed to motor vehicle traffic.
A particularly relevant comparison to London’s downtown can be made with Bath England. Bath is a city which is about half the population of London and is located in the county of Summerset, west of London England. While the downtown of London Ontario is struggling the politicians of Bath turned its downtown into a spiderweb of successful pedestrian malls. Much of that success came from Bath officials recognizing that they had interesting and unique, historical buildings that needed preservation. One of the best-known locations in Bath are the roman baths which still stand two thousand years after they were first created.
Extending from the area of the roman baths are a series of pedestrian malls, another example is shown below.
An important element of a successful pedestrian mall is to include unique and independent shops that may sell items of specific relevance to the region. The photo below is an example of merchandise being sold in such an independent shop.
The success of the downtown of London, Ontario must be compared to these other areas where business is thriving. While London’s downtown is expanding in the height and size of its buildings, it is not difficult to detect the decay at its street level. The true measure of success is how the most vulnerable in a community are taken care of, not how the most rich can express their narcistic desires.
In London Ontario we spend much of our time and resources controlling the vulnerable persons we have created and then refuse to make a commitment to make a lasting change.
While this article has expressed some doom and gloom there is also hope and optimism. Much like a brown and dried up lawn on a late summer’s day, the apparent death of a downtown is not forever. A few days of rain, some re-seeding, and careful application of fertilizer can bring back a seemingly dead lawn and the same can occur in downtown London. Despite the folly of many, cities are resilient. In the country my birth, Poland, that resiliency was most evident when 85 per cent of Poland’s capital city was leveled in the 1940s by Nazi aggressors. Warsaw’s historical castle, its main square and the famous King Zygmunt’s monument (my namesake) were completely levelled. But that did not stop the Polish citizens. They gathered photos and drawings of all these destroyed places and reconstructed everything to the point where it is difficult to detect that any of these reconstructions ever took place. This was possible through the resilience, dedication and pride of its citizens. By no means has London Ontario been destroyed to the extent that it cannot be revitalized. It just takes some level-headed thought and wisdom to understand what needs to be done and how to do it.
Volvo Interior Radars to Protect Children & Pets Left Unattended
Technology is expanding to protect the rich. If you can afford to pay about $80,000 US for a new 2025 Volvo EX90 you can be guaranteed that any child or pet left in the interior of your Volvo will be protected by advanced radar sensors. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Volvo is installing advanced radars that can detect the smallest (just millimeters) movements inside Volvo vehicles and that the vehicle will take action to prevent overheating or hypothermia. When motion is detected the vehicle cannot be locked. The system will turn on the climate control keeping the vehicle at a reasonable temperature until the vehicle’s battery is drained. If potential over-heating is detected the system will unlock the doors and will roll down the windows. It is reported that other manufacturers such as Hyundai and Toyotas will offer less complex systems in some 2025 vehicles.
The Detroit Free Press reported that, since 1998 when records began to be kept, more than 900 children have died in hot vehicles in the U.S. No information is available about how many pets have died.
While this technology may eventually inhabit most vehicles sold in North America will be likely be some time before the average family can be protected for these dreadful outcomes.
London City Transit Bus Loss-Of-Control Collision on Highbury Ave in London Ontario
Local news media reported that a southbound London City Transit bus was involved in a loss-of-control collision on Sunday, August 18, 2024, at approximately 0930 hours, on Highbury Ave north of Hamilton Road in London, Ontario. Several passengers reportedly sustained injuries but none were seriously injured. News media reported that the surface of Highbury Ave was “rain-soaked” at the time of the collision. These facts were of interest to Gorski Consulting since the surface of Highbury Ave was noted to be uneven for a number of years and there has never been a correction to the surface problems. Due to these conditions Gorski Consulting had conducted some testing on October 23, 2019, to provide some objective data on the surface conditions and to compare these to other expressways in southern Ontario. The results were posted in a Gorski Consulting website article on November 29, 2019. Not much interest was shown in those results as demonstrated by the few visitors to the website who actually reviewed the article. Given the occurrence of the present collision we have opted to re-post the original article because it may have some relevance to the cause of the bus collision. The website article is shown in its entirety below, and then we provide some additional comments afterwards.
NEW ROAD SURFACE DATA AVAILABLE FOR HIGHBURY AVE IN LONDON
by Zygmunt | Nov 29, 2019 | Articles, News
On October 23, 2019, Gorski Consulting conducted testing on Highbury Ave between Hamilton Road and Highway 401 in London, Ontario to document the road’s surface conditions. This was done in a manner that has been discussed numerous times on the Gorski Consulting website. It involved the attachment of an iPhone to the structure of a 2007 Buick Allure test vehicle. An App on the iPhone was used to document the longitudinal and lateral motion of the vehicle. Video cameras documented the position of the vehicle along the road including other factors such as the vehicle speed. This article will provide a general description of the testing site, numerical results from the testing and
finally a discussion of how this testing relates to results from other similar
highways in Southern Ontario.
THE SITE
Highbury Ave is the only, four-lane, controlled-access, freeway located in the City of London, Ontario which has a population of about 390,000. This expressway is only about 5 kilometres long. To the south it connects with Highway 401 (MacDonald Cartier Freeway) which is the highest-volume freeway in Canada, stretching from Windsor to border of the Canadian Province of Quebec. To the north the Highbury Ave expressway terminates at Hamilton Road, which is an old arterial roadway that crosses at a diagonal along the south-east quadrant of London. North of Hamilton Road Highbury is no longer a controlled access freeway but a four-lane arterial.
Highbury Ave contains two interchanges, one at Commissioners Road and another at Bradley Ave. It contains some sections of surface that are an asphalt pavement while in other sections it contains a concrete surface.
Highbury Ave contains two interchanges, one at Commissioners Road and another at Bradley Ave. It contains some sections of surface that are an asphalt pavement while in other sections it contains a concrete surface.
Several older features of the Highbury Ave make it less safe than other similar, high-speed freeways. One sub-standard feature involves the lack of additional surface beyond the painted, yellow, edge line, as shown in the example photo below. Several decades ago Highway 401 contained a similar lacking of surface width and this resulted in many loss-of-control collisions as vehicles drifted off the surface edge. Almost all freeways of the current age contain some additional surface width including rumble strips that warn drivers when their vehicle wanders too close to the surface edge.
Tall, non-native grasses have also begun to grow in some sections of the median of Highbury Ave. While some forms of vegetation can be helpful in decelerating a vehicle that has entered a median, not all vegetation is helpful. In this case the tall grasses provide minimal deceleration while also blocking the view of drivers across the median. Vision across a median can provide an additional second or more of warning allowing a driver to detect an opposing vehicle that has entered the median and may be approaching into impact. A second or two of additional warning can be an important difference in avoiding a collision or reducing its severity.
These are some examples of deficiencies that plague many old freeways that have not been upgraded. The City of London is expecting to conduct a re-surfacing of Highbury Ave, likely in 2021, however it is unclear what corrections will be made to improve its substandard conditions beyond its surface.
The need for an improved surface is exemplified in the results of the Gorski Consulting surface testing that was conducted on October 23, 2019.
THE TESTING RESULTS
 Five test runs were conducted on Highbury Ave on October 23, 2019. Each of the five tests commenced from the intersection at Hamilton Road and progressed southward past the Highway 401 interchange. Then the test vehicle was turned around and the testing was continued northward back to the Hamilton Road intersection. The intention was to conduct the five tests at increasing speeds, from 80 to 120 km/h.
Unfortunately, due to the traffic volume, interference by traffic prevented a steady speed and in many instances the test vehicle’s position had to be changed from the right lane to the left lane and back again. These changes in speed and lane position had some effects on the data making it more difficult to compare the results from one test to the other. Never-the-less some interesting results were obtained. The following five figures provide the results from the five tests.
In the past we have attempted to make it easier for readers to differentiate between “good” and “bad” road surfaces by colour coding the values. Thus green coloured values, below 0.0200 indicate good road surfaces. Black coloured values, between 0.0200 and 0.0500, indicate acceptable surfaces that will likely contain local problems. Red coloured values, above 0.0500, indicate there are likely major problems with the road surface. An exception has been made in the above table to reflect the observation that it is important for high speed expressways to contain a higher level of service, less vehicle motion and therefore lower values of rotation. Thus in the above table several values have been coded in red wherever they rise substantially above the norm for what would be expected for expressways. This is to note that any expressway with a value greater than 0.0500 must be considered of greater concern than a similar value on a lower speed road with less traffic volume.
DISCUSSION
 Without some background to the meaning of the data the significance of the posted results can be lost. Yet it is a challenge to review the background without going into a long and detailed discussion. So, the following will be an abbreviated background which will likely require readers to look at some of the previously posted articles dealing with the Road Data datafile.
In brief, the columns in the above figures labelled “Lateral Rotation” and “Longitudinal Rotation” provide an indication of how the body of the test vehicle was moved, bounced or rotated as a result of its travel over the road surface for the time period of 30 seconds. If the test vehicle was travelling at 90 km/h that would translate to 25 metres every second. So in 30 seconds the vehicle would travel about 750 metres or 3/4 of a kilometre. So the posted number of 0.0400 provides the average rate of rotation of the vehicle body over that time and distance. The number is displayed in radians per second. One radian is equal to 57.3 degrees.
Let us look at an example where the lateral rotation is noted as 0.0400. If we multiply 0.0400 by 57.3 we obtain 2.29 degrees. So this value says that, during the noted time segment of 30 seconds, the average deviation, from a level, non-rotating position, of the body of the test vehicle was 0.0400 radians or 2.29 degrees per second. Lateral rotation refers to the motion that occurs if we were to grab a hold of the door frame and began rocking the vehicle back and forth sideways. This motion is referred to “rotation about the longitudinal axis” of the vehicle because the longitudinal axis is the line that passes through the centre of the vehicle from the front license plate to the rear license plate. This sounds odd because we are talking about something “longitudinal” when we are referring to a lateral motion. But this is the technical description of what we mean by lateral rotation. Now, because we are talking about an “average”, or standard deviation, this means that individual deviations within that average could be quite different from that average. Thus, for example, if our test vehicle runs over a length of 1 metre of uneven surface this might cause a major upheaval in the vehicle’s motion during that short time period. And we would not detect that short but huge spike unless we looked more closely at the graphing of the rotation.
An example of this is shown below. This figure shows the Longitudinal (blue) and Lateral (Red) Rotations of the test vehicle in Run #1 as the vehicle was northbound and passed by the Commissioners Road overpass while travelling in the right lane. Most of the data is clustered within the range of 0.1000 to -0.1000 radians per second yet we can observe several large “spikes” in the Lateral Rotation. At least one of the spikes in the middle of the graph rises above 0.5000 radians per second.
It would be of interest to find out what specific portions of the road surface caused these spikes and this can be done with considerable accuracy because of the multiple video cameras that are attached to the test vehicle and these cameras are synchronized to the iPhone App which senses these motions.
Yet it needs to be kept in mind that the spikes occur over a very short time frame of just fractions of a second and that matters. If the motion occurs for just fraction of a second then although the rate of rotation might be very high it does not correspond to a large rotation. We would be more interested in those spikes where there are high rates of rotation but also when they exist for several samples in succession. This would mean that not only did we have a right rate of rotation but the longer time of that high rate means that the vehicle’s body actually rotated to a greater angle.
We have also mentioned in previous articles that we acknowledge use of the 2007 Buick Allure test vehicle means that the results may only be valid for that test vehicle. In other words the use of a different vehicle may result in different data and that difference could be important. There are many agencies that use specialized equipment to plot the smoothness of a road surface and because this equipment is somewhat standardized the data is comparable from one dataset to the next. While this is useful for agencies that need to evaluate matters such as wear of a surface and timing of surface maintenance those are not the same needs as ours. Our interest is in documenting how road surfaces affect the motion and therefore the stability of a typical vehicle that drives on the surface. We only need to know how our road data compares to other road data from other roads. While it may be interesting to compare the data obtained using a different vehicle that is not essential for our purposes.
A substantial amount of data has now been obtained from a variety of testing over the past 5 to 6 years. The Road Data datafile on this Gorski Consulting website now contains tested roadways from many parts of parts of Southwestern Ontario and several counties. It also contains data from expressways that are similar to Highbury Ave. We can now look at the data from several of these expressways and see how Highbury Ave compares. The table below provides a summary of testing that has been conducted just this year on these expressways.
This table enables a general comparison of the road surface conditions of these major expressways in relation to each other. It can be seen that, overall, the Lincoln Alexander Parkway in Hamilton and Highbury Ave contain the worst road surface conditions.
Update To November 29, 2019 Website Article
The above article was posted to describe conditions throughout the length of Highbury Ave from Hamilton Road to Highway 401. It was not focused on the specific location where the collision occurred with the London Transit bus. In the last figure of the above article, and in the last paragraph it was emphasized that the full length of Highbury Ave was in worse condition than other expressways in Ontario. What was not emphasized is that the specific area through which the Transit Bus travelled before crashing was much worse than the rest of the length of Highbury Ave where testing was conducted.
When looking at the data from the five tests we can look at the lateral rotation numbers along the road segment where the test vehicle travelled south of the Thames River bridge, and these numbers are repeated below:
Run #1 = 0.0397
Run #2 = 0.0362
Run #3 = 0.0417
Run #4 = 0.0417
Run #5 = 0.0403
Each of the above numbers represents a travel distance of about 900 metres. Clearly they indicate that the lateral rotation of the test vehicle was much higher in this area than along any other part of Highbury Ave and much higher than any of the data shown for other expressways in southern Ontario. The London Transit bus would have been travelling through this portion of Highbury when the loss-of-control event began. And nothing has been done to the surface of Highbury in this segment since the testing done on October 23, 2019.
The inconvenient reality is that the data shown here has been basically ignored. It has been available but no one has taken any notice of it. Thousands upon thousands of vehicles have passed over this area and experienced the disturbances but the unique circumstances which lead to a loss-of-control were not met. But at 0930 hours of Sunday, April 18th, 2024 there were intermittent periods of heavy rain which would start and then stop again. The road surface became drenched and the tire force that kept vehicles under control was lost. There has been no information provided about the specifics of the Transit Bus crash and therefore a final determination of its cause cannot be made. And this is often the case because those who had direct access the information, such as the London City Police, rarely provide a public accounting of what they have found.
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.
Failures To Focus 0n Vehicle Fires
In a June 29, 2024 Twitter (X) post by Grenville OPP a photo of a burned out vehicle was shown along with the following comment:
“driver reported having medical distress – lost control, hit 18 guardrail posts, crossed into opposite side ditch, car caught fire. Miraculously, no injuries – pull over if you’re feeling ill.”
The advice to “pull over if you’re feeling ill” in helpful but the greater importance of the incident is that a fire occurred after a vehicle struck a guardrail. The occurrence of a fire is much more important because of the danger posed to any occupant who might not be able to escape it. Furthermore, vehicles should not catch fire striking a guardrail unless there are some unusual circumstances. A fire in this instance would be very rare even 30 years ago and vehicle safety should be improving with the advance of time, not deteriorating.
The above photo does not indicate that there has been any massive deformation to the vehicle such that the commencement of a fire would be explained. And massive deformation should not occur from a simple impact of a guardrail where the deceleration of a vehicle is prolonged as a vehicle is dragged along a guardrail and its velocity is reduced over an extended time.
Gorski Consulting has been raising the red flag of danger for a number of years now as the number of vehicle fires seem to be increasing. Yet no one appears to be paying attention to this danger. We have stated a number of times previously that vehicle fires should not be inevitable nor should they be accepted as commonplace. All modern safety installations such as seatbelts, air bags, and various crashworthiness improvements become nullified when a vehicle catches fire because, even when an occupant survives a crash, they could become victim to the aftermath of a fire.
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