London Ward 6 Councillor Sam Trosow has organized a meeting entitled “Traffic Safety In Old North” to be held at the St John Evangelist Church, 280 St James Street in London between 1830 and 2030 hours. Zygmunt Gorski will be one of the four guests at the meeting. Official news media such as CTV News suggest the meeting has to do with “cut through” traffic, probably a concern expressed by local residents. The exact nature of the concerns will likely be revealed at the meeting. Sam Trosow is aware of the activities of Gorski Consulting and that a traffic study was conducted in the Old North area a couple of years ago at the intersection of Colborne and St James Streets and this is likely why Zygmunt Gorski was invited to participate in the meeting.
As the 2-hour meeting is likely to involve short introductions and discussions from each of the four participants it unlikely that details about the activities of Zygmunt Gorski or Gorski Consulting will be revealed in sufficient detail. It is not possible to explain what road safety activities Zygmunt Gorski has been involved in for the past 44 years while also focusing on what research has been conducted in Old North. Thus this additional article has been prepared to fill in some of the details.
What Is “Old North”
Old North is a loose term defining an area of London north of its downtown. It is a central district of London characterized by older homes. Our understanding is that Old North is a loose term that may have a different definition from one person to the next. Whatever the definition however, much of Old North exists in Councillor Trosow’s Ward 6.
The boundarys of Ward 6 are Adelaide Street to the east, Oxford Street to the south, Wonderland Road to the West and the north branch of the Thames River to the north. This Ward would encompass the grounds of Western University. There are proposed changes to Wards in London which are scheduled to take effect November 15, 2026. It appears that Ward 6 will maintain its present boundaries.
The loose term “Old North” is encompassed by portions of Ward 6 but it might also be argued that it includes portions of Ward 13 which is located generally south of Ward 6. Ward 13 would take in areas south of Oxford Street such as the Woodfield community north of Queens Ave and streets such as Waterloo, Colborne, Maitland and William south of Oxford that have been understood to be part of “Old North”.
In 2022 and 2023 Gorski Consulting conducted a traffic study within the Old North area at the intersection of Colborne Street and St James Street. It is expected that some of the results of that study will be discussed at the July 23rd Traffic Safety Meeting however there is likely to be insufficient time to properly discuss the study. Details of the study can be found in a number of articles posted to the Gorski Consulting website (www.gorskiconsulting.com). Four articles were posted in 2022 (September 7, October 7, 15 and 24). Another 16 articles were posted in 2023 between April 20 and October 10, 2023.
The purpose of the study was to examine the conditions of Colborne Street as a new, painted, cycling lane was to be created. Some residents expressed concerns that it was not a protected lane like the one south of Oxford. The specific location of the study was on Colborne Street just north of St James Street, as shown in the Googlemaps view below. It was decided that the study would be limited to northbound traffic only.
In the fall of 2022, before creation of the painted cycling lane, multiple video cameras were placed along Colborne Street within a 100-metre zone commencing 15 metres north of St James Street. Three video sessions were conducted; September 20, 30 and October 5, 2022. Analysis of the video caused the calculation of motor vehicle speed and traffic volumes, as shown in the figure below. This figure shows results from Session #2 of northbound motor vehicle traffic only. It is a comparison between the first 50 metres (zero to 50 metres) and the second 50 metres ( 50 to 100 metres) within the area of study. The posted maximum speed in this area is 40 km/h.
In the spring of 2023 orange markers were painted in the northbound lane of Colborne Street within the same study area but only for a distance of 50 metres.
As motor vehicles and cyclists passed by the rows of markers the video cameras documented their lateral position within the lane as well as the lateral distance between them. An example of this is the southward view of Colborne Street shown below.
Three video sessions were completed on April 12, 14 and June 8, 2023 whereby the paths of cyclists and motor vehicles were documented before the painted cycling lane was created. Details of these motions were reported in several articles posted to the Gorski Consulting website in the spring and summer of 2023.
By mid-July, 2023 the City of London was making preparations to paint the cycling lane, as shown in the image below. The southbound lane was re-surfaced, the position of the roadway centre-line was to be moved and a preliminary, dashed, white line was painted through the markers that were previously painted by Gorski Consulting, as shown below.
A further video session was completed on August 29, 2023 after the cycling lane was permanently in place. Once again the details of cyclist and motor vehicle paths were documented and reported in articles posted to the Gorski Consulting website between August 28 and October 10, 2023. The image below shows the conditions existing on August 29, 2023 after the painting of the permanent cycling lane.
Following the completion of analysis the lateral positions of traffic units passing through the site was averaged and a comparison was made between the data before the creation of the cycling lane and after. The table below summarizes the lateral paths of motor vehicles and cyclists during incidents where a cyclist was being passed within the study zone. The average shown in this table refers to the distance between the right edge of the lane (edge of concrete gutter) and the right wheel of the traffic unit. For cycles that do not have right and left wheels the distance was taken to the centre of the front wheel.
As can be seen in the above table this research shows that, overall, motorized traffic units rode further away from the right side of the lane (i.e. further away from the curb or concrete gutter) after the painting of the permanent cycling lane. It also shows that, after the painting of the permanent cycling lane, cyclists tended to ride closer to the right side of the lane (i.e. closer to the curb or concrete gutter). Thus the cyclists were more separated from motorized traffic after the painting of the cycling lane. This is generally a desirable result.
The variance in these vehicle paths (Standard Deviation) was also reduced for all units after the painting of the cycling lane except for light duty vehicles. This result would necessitate further study.
While this study revealed some improvements for cyclist safety there are many safety concerns with cycling infrastructure in London that have not been discussed. However these matters must be left undiscussed in this present article.
Findings Relevant to Old North Traffic Safety Meeting
While the traffic study at Colborne and St James was for the purpose of studying the creation of a new cycling lane the cameras also captured traffic safety issues that were not of direct interest at that time. These safety issues may be relevant to the upcoming safety meeting regarding Old North London.
In total, 7 video sessions were conducted in 2022-23 by Gorski Consulting north of the intersection of Colborne and St James. Indirectly some of the cameras captured traffic passing through the intersection. Zygmunt Gorski was present during all of these sessions and was able to observe the traffic situations. While reporting on the findings from the second video session (Session #2; September 30, 2022) the following comments were made in our Gorski Consulting article of October 24, 2022:
“The table below shows the relationship between motor vehicle volume and speed at 10-minute intervals while comparing the south road segment with the north road segment.
For example, in the first 10 minutes of observations (1607 to 1617 hours) 50 northbound vehicles passed through the observation area. The average speed of those vehicles passing through the south road segment was 39.96 km/h. The average speed of motor vehicles passing through the north road segment was 41.28 km/h. We can also note that in the first hour of observations the average speed of vehicles travelling through the south road segment was 41.95 km/h while the average through the north segment was 42.83 km/h.
There was a marked increase in motor vehicle speeds in the last 40 minutes of observations (noted by the red colour of the values in the above table). This would be a time between 1727 and 1807 hours. It can be noted that during this 40 minutes the average,10-minute, traffic volume was reduced to 32 vehicles whereas the average for the previous hour and twenty minutes was 39.4 vehicles.
It was noted that many traffic disruptions developed from the intersection at St James Street. Many motor vehicles entered Colborne Street from St James but also many motor vehicles exited Colborne at this intersection. As a result some consideration had to be given to the difference between “free flow” traffic on Colborne versus “non-free flow” traffic.
Of the 225 northbound motor vehicles that were observed in the first hour of documentation it was noted that 167 of them experienced “free flow” motion and their average speed was 43.14 km/h in the south segment and 43.54 km/h in the north segment. Of the 218 northbound motor vehicles that were observed in the second hour of documentation it was noted that 138 of them experienced “free flow” motion and their average speed was 44.97 km/h in the south segment and 47.28 km/h in the north segment. The reduced number of vehicles experiencing free flow in second hour should have produced slower average speeds yet this did not occur, particularly in the north road segment. So It may suggest something different about the speed of traffic in the latter portion of this testing.
A flavour for the types of obstructions to traffic on Colborne can be gained by examining the smaller sample of 57 northbound vehicles that experienced “non-free-flow” motion in the first hour of documentations and these are shown in the long table below.
(Note: Due to the size of the table it has not been included here but can be observed in the original article posted on the Gorski Consulting website on October 24, 2022)
The observations high-lighted in yellow represent vehicles that entered Colborne from St James. Since documentation began only 15 metres north of the St James intersection the speed of these vehicles would have to be low as they would just be completing their turns. So this is the reason why we determined that they could not be counted as free flow vehicles.
As can be seen in the above table there were many reasons why the free flow of northbound vehicles did not occur. Another major reason was that pedestrians crossed at the pedestrian crossing located on the south side of the intersection with St James. As such northbound vehicles had to come to a stop and this caused their speeds to be slower as they passed through the south road segment.
A surprising revelation occurred as we were present monitoring the video cameras near the St James intersection. We observed unusual behaviors by many drivers who seemed to be confused by whether they had the right-of-way. For example, drivers on both roadways appeared to believe that this was a 4-way stop. This was evidenced on several occasions as drivers on St James drove into traffic on Colborne as if they expected that the Colborne traffic was going to stop at the intersection. Similarly we observed several drivers on Colborne Street come to a stop at St James for no reason, as if they believed that there was a stop sign for their direction of travel. These unusual behaviours resulted in several close calls where collisions were barely avoided.“
After the above observations were made with respect to Session #2 an additional session video session (Session #3) was run in 2022 and four other video sessions were conducted in 2023. Articles discussing the 2023 sessions were focused on the results relating to the new cycling lane. Some of these sessions, such as those on June 8 and August 29, 2023, contained good views of the intersection of Colborne and St James. These sessions also encompassed the afternoon rush hour when traffic conflicts would likely be increased. Up to this time no specific analysis has been done to study the video for conflicts which may be relevant to the Old North Traffic Safety Meeting.
The July 23, 2025 Safety Meeting would benefit from further information about the traffic conflicts documented at Colborne and St James. As such Gorski Consulting re-examined some of the video and conducted additional analysis.
As mentioned previously, in Session #2 there were a number of instances where drivers seemed to be confused whether they had the right-of-way as they approached the intersection. This general comment has now been followed by a more specific analysis of the number of occasions where this confusion occurred. This is shown in the table below.
There may be time during the Safety Meeting to show the video of some of these occurrences. However two frames from the video are shown below where collisions almost occurred.
The video from Session #2 was also re-examined to produce some data on the volume of vehicles on St James Street, their travel directions and what actions were taken at the intersection with Colborne Street. This data was separated into 10 minute intervals for the full two hours of documentation, as shown in the table below.
The above table shows that the majority of vehicles travelling on St James either travelled directly straight through the intersection or they turned to travel southbound onto Colborne. There were very few vehicles that turned to travel northward on Colborne. For example, of the 294 observations, only 25 vehicles turned to travel northbound on Colborne.
There was no specific pattern as to when vehicles arrived at the intersection during the two hours of documentation. Although one might be tempted to believe that less vehicles arrived in the last half hour (approximately 1730 to 1800 hrs), as would be expected.
The 294 vehicles observed on St James Street in the two hours of documentation is a fairly large volume for a roadway that would likely be defined as a local street. It would lead to the belief that many of these vehicles were “cutting through” the neighbourhood as suggested by some residents. However, these data are small and are only a short “snapshot” of what is occurring at this intersection.
Summary
This article has presented some information about the traffic study undertaken by Gorski Consulting in 2022 and 2023. focused on the painted cycling lane that was created along Colborne Street near St James Street. It also provides some additional data about possible safety concerns at the intersection that may be relevant to the upcoming meeting regarding Traffic Safety in the neighbourhood of Old North London.
Whatever concerns may be expressed at the upcoming meeting decisions about what actions should be taken need to flow from properly detailed data that should be gathered at those locations where residents believe there are safety concerns. The gathering of such data should normally be the jurisdiction of London Transportation Department employees and the London Police Force. And such data should be made available to local residents.
it is known that the City of London operates mobile video units that it installs at selected locations in the City. The video from such mobile units can be delivered to private sector analysis firms that use artificial intelligence algorithms to provide information about traffic conflicts at a specific site.
UPDATE: Results From Further Video Session on July 11, 2025
Earlier in this article data was presented regarding the traffic volume on St James Street at Colborne Street from our video session of September 30, 2022 (Session #2). Subsequently we returned to the site on July 11, 2025 and conducted another video session between 1600 and 1730 hours. This time of day was very similar to the September 30, 2022 session which was conducted between 1607 and 1807 hours. The purpose of this additional session was to see if the results would be similar between the two sessions. The traffic volume data from the July 11, 2025 session is shown in the table below.
What was noticeable in this latest session is that the traffic volumes on both roadways were greatly reduced. No official analysis was conducted for traffic volume on Colborne Street but it was obvious, both from being present at the site and then again which reviewing the video, that the traffic volume was reduced. As to the volume on St James Street the previous table shown earlier can be compared to the table above and the numbers clearly show the reduction traffic volume. Since the video on July 11, 2025 was only from 1600 to 1730 hours the same time frame is used in the September 30, 2022 session where the last half hour is not used in the comparison. The numbers below provide a summary of those differences.
Total Traffic Volume
Total traffic volume on St James: Sept 30/22 1607 to 1737 hours = 251 motor vehicles
Total traffic volume on St James: Jul 11/25 1600 to 1730 hours = 162 motor vehicles
Westbound Traffic Volume
Westbound traffic volume on St James: Sept 30/22 1607 to 1737 hours = 140 motor vehicles
Westbound traffic volume on St James: Jul 11/25 1600 to 1700 hours = 70 motor vehicles
Eastbound Traffic Volume
Eastbound traffic volume on St James: Sept 30/22 1607 to 1737 hours = 111 motor vehicles
Eastbound traffic volume on St James: Jul 11-25 1600 to 1730 hours = 92 motor vehicles
The largest change in the traffic volume data would appear to be in the westbound traffic where there were only half as many vehicles on July 11th as compared to September 30th.
It is also noticeable about the westbound traffic on September 30th is that about equal numbers of vehicles made left turns onto Colborne as those that travelled straight through the intersection. In contrast, on July 11th, almost three times as many vehicles travelled straight through the intersection versus those that made left turns.
The differences in this data provide an educational warning that the results from any study need to be studied carefully as to when the study was made. Data will change depending on what time of day the observations were made. But the data will also change depending on what day of the week the study was made. And the data will also depend on the season in which the study was made. If one were presented with the data from July 11th alone one might conclude that the site contained nothing of concern as no traffic conflicts were registered. But this was a lazy day in July. Meanwhile the data from September 30th showed a much different result. So for those who are presented with seemingly reliable data, it is important to scrutinize exactly what it means and if it supports what an expert may conclude from it.
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