In two previous articles (posted on July 6 and July 15, 2026) Gorski Consulting has discussed the traffic safety study at the intersection of Wortley Road and Mountsfield Drive in south London, Ontario. The study was introduced in the first article and then in the second article the results of motor vehicle volumes and speeds were presented. The present article will focus on the observations of pedestrians, cyclists and other micro-mobility riders observed during the June 15, 2026 video session conducted at the site.
Observed Actions of Pedestrians, Cyclists & Other Micro-mobility Units
Review of the June 15, 2026 video session provided details of the actions of transportation units other than motor vehicles. It has been previously reported that, during the full video session on June 15, 2026, 156 pedestrians, cyclists and micro-mobility units were observed. This total can be broken down to the following:
Pedestrians = 124
Cyclists = 27
Push scooters = 3
E-scooters = 2
So pedestrians were the predominant observations followed by a moderate number of cyclists.
The actions of children are difficult to describe and document due to the unorthodox and unpredictable nature of their actions. This is particularly true when they exit a school in a large mass. For this reason some of the students had to be documented as a group particularly during the 8 minute time frame when they reached the study area.
Of the 156 observations that were documented in the 74-minutes of the video session, 108 occurred in the 8-minute time frame between 1527 and 1535 hours.
Throughout the full video session, a total of 51 observations were documented where someone used the pedestrian crossing. And 35 of those observations occurred in the 8-minute time segment of 1527 to 1535 hours. It is these 8 minutes that are different from the other portions of time before and after them. So it would be useful to provide some indication of those differences.
The best way we have found to describe the happenings at the site is to divide the descriptions into three as follows:
- Those occurrences that were observed from the beginning of the video session (1503 hours) up to the beginning of the 8 minute segment (1527 hours).
- Those occurrences that were observed within the 8 minute segment of 1527 through to 1535 hours.
- Those occurrences that were observed from the end of the 8-minute segment (1535 hours) through to the end of the video session at approximately 1617 hours.
Observations From Beginning Of Video Session To 1527 Hours
Only 16 pedestrians were observed passing through the site during this time period of 24 minutes. No other travellers such as cyclists or scooter riders were observed. No children of an age consistent with attending Mountsfield Public School were observed.
Nine of the 16 pedestrians were adult, or teenage, females. One of the females was pushing a stroller while two of them were walking with a dog.
There were seven instances where pedestrians used the pedestrian crossing to walk across Wortley Road. The types of observations are noted below:
Teenage Male Pedestrians = 3
Adult Female Pedestrians = 3
Adult Male Pedestrian = 1
In two instances drivers parked their vehicles against the curb of Wortley Road, exited, and then walked across Wortley Road. In one instance a male driver parked his southbound Pick-up truck just north of the 50-metre-south marker, walked northbound on the west sidewalk, used the pedestrian crossing then continued walking eastbound on the north sidewalk of Mountsfield toward the school. In the second instance a female parked her southbound SUV just north of the pedestrian crossing, exited, crossed Wortley without using the pedestrian crossing, and met another female on the east sidewalk of Wortley. Then both females walking southbound to Mountsfield Drive where they turned and walked eastbound on the north sidewalk of Mountsfield toward the school.
In those seven instances where pedestrians used the pedestrian crossing they approached from the following locations:
Southbound on West Sidewalk of Wortley = 3
Northbound on West Sidewalk of Wortley = 1
Westbound on North Sidewalk of Mountsfield = 1
Eastbound Through Church Driveway = 2
In one instance, an adult female pedestrian had been walking eastbound on the church driveway and stopped at the west edge of the pedestrian crossing. A black car (NB Obs #54; at timecode 00;26;43;00) approached the crosswalk at an average speed of 52.48 km/h and did not stop for the pedestrian at the crossing. This black car then continued northbound, north of the pedestrian crossing, at an average speed of 56.25 km/h. The pedestrian was available to be seen by the car driver at a time when she was on the west sidewalk. This was at a time when the car driver was at the 50-metre-south marker. Thus the driver had the opportunity to stop to allow the pedestrian to cross but the driver failed to stop. Other than this one instance there were no other safety issues identified with the crossing of the other six pedestrians.
Eleven of the total 16 pedestrians ended up walking eastbound on the north sidewalk of Mountsfield Drive and toward the school.
Observations During 8-Minute Segment Between 1527 & 1535 Hours
In this short time of 8 minutes 108 observations were made at the site. The types of observations can be broken down to the following:
Girl Pedestrian = 39
Boy Pedestrian = 36
Boy Cyclist = 15
Girl Cyclist = 9
Adult Female Pedestrian = 6
Girl Cyclist = 9
Adult Male Pedestrian = 2
Adult Female Cyclist = 1
Boy on Push Scooter = 1
It can be noted that no adult male cyclists were observed in this time period.
In 102 of the 108 observations (94.4%) the observed persons were initially seen walking westbound on the north sidewalk of Mountsfield Drive. In 60 (55.6%) instances the observed persons completed their passage by walking northbound on the east sidewalk of Wortley Road.
There were 35 incidents where an observed person used the pedestrian cross walk. The types of persons making that crossing are listed below:
Boy Pedestrian = 13
Girl Pedestrian = 10
Boy Cyclist = 5
Adult Female Pedestrian = 4
Adult Male Pedestrian = 2
Girl Cyclist = 1
Some images taken from video are shown below. The video was purposely shot at low resolution to prevent a display of details about the individuals in the views.
Observations From 1535 Hours Thru To End Of Recording At 1617 Hours
This last segment of observation occurred over a time of 42 minutes.
Only 32 observations were made during this time
Fourteen of the 32 pedestrians were boy and girl pedestrians. Twelve of the 32 observations were adult male and female pedestrians. The details of these are noted below.
Boy Pedestrians = 7
Girl Pedestrians = 7
Adult Female Pedestrians = 7
Adult Male Pedestrians = 5
Boy Cyclists = 2
Adult Males on E-scooter = 2
Adult Female Cyclist = 1
Boy Riding Push-Scooter = 1
Girl Riding Push-Scooter = 1
There were seven observations of pedestrian crosswalk usage and these are detailed below:
Girl Pedestrians = 3
Adult Female Pedestrians = 2
Adult Male Pedestrian = 1
Boy Pedestrian = 1
In 23 of 32 observations the persons travelled westbound on the north sidewalk of Mountsfield Drive and then 17 of those turned right to walk northbound on Wortley Road.
Discussion of Results Pertaining to Pedestrians, Cyclists & Micro-mobility Units
The video session of June 15, 2026 was intended to examine what safety problems might exist at the Wortley-Mountsfield site during the afternoon when students reached the area upon being let out of the nearby Mountsfield Public School. This was accomplished by conducting video observations for a short time prior to the release of the students, and then an additional time of observation was conducted after the students had left the area. This process allowed for an understanding how the site conditions changed as there were large differences in those conditions which needed to be revealed.
The primary factor that caused differences in observations at the site was the release of students from Mountsfield Public School. This release caused a large influx of observations in the 8-minute time segment of 1527 to 1535 hours.
The 24 minutes of observations previous to this, and the 42 minutes of time after, could probably be combined because the observation results were relatively similar. For example, the following summarizes the observations per minute in the three time segments:
Start of Video Up To 1527 Hours = 16 observations in 24 minutes = 0.67 observations per minute.
8 Minute Segment of 1527 to 1535 Hours = 108 observations in 8 minutes = 13.5 observations per minute.
Last time Segment from 1535 Hours to End of Recording = 32 observations in 42 minutes = 0.76 observations per minute.
So this is a fairly clear indication that the times previous to, and after, the 8-minute segment provided similar numbers of observations whereas the 8-minute segment provided a much larger number of observations than the other two.
The observation of cyclists should also be noted. In the first time segment there were no observations of any cyclists. In the 8-minute time segment 25 cyclists were observed and 15 of these were boys. In 23 of these 25 instances the cyclists were initially westbound on the north sidewalk of Mountsfield and then made right turns to travel northbound on either the east or west sidewalk of Wortley. In the last time segment there were only 3 cyclist observations.
Other micro-mobility devices were uncommon. None were observed in the first time segment, a single push-scooter was observed in the 8-minute segment and in the last segment two males were observed on e-scooters, a girl was observed on a push scooter and a boy was also observed on a push scooter.
Dangers of the Wortley- Mountsfield Site
A full discussion of the safety of the Wortley-Mountsfield site will be postponed for now because we want to give residents an opportunity to review the contents of our three articles written about this study. During our initial discussions with the individual representing those interested in this study it was noted that a meeting would be held where opinions would be expressed by a number of persons, including local residents who were familiar with the site. Those who have opinions about the safety of the site should have an opportunity to examine the data produced by the Gorski Consulting study and form their independent conclusions without our interference.
However, before leaving this issue, there are some further observations that might contribute to the discussion.
At approximately 1531 hours a girl toddler was observed riding a push scooter westbound on the north sidewalk of Mountsfield Drive. Male and female adult pedestrians were also walking westbound several metres behind the toddler. As the toddler reached the intersection with Wortley Road she stopped and looked back at the two adults. The adults caught up to the toddler and then all three walked to the east edge of the pedestrian crosswalk. At this time a northbound commercial pick-up truck was observed entering the view of Camera JVC4. JVC4 was the camera pointing northward from 50 metres south of the intersection. It was not possible to capture the initial speed of this pick-up truck however it appeared to be travelling relatively quickly. The driver of the truck applied braking and the truck came to a stop just south of the pedestrian crossing. The toddler began entering the crossing just as the Pick-up truck was coming to a stop. If an additional camera had been posted further south of the intersection the precise, pre-braking speed of the Pick-up truck would have been identified. While nothing came of this incident it revealed to us that a simple miscalculation could easily lead to a tragedy if any of the involved persons did not perform as expected.
There were also two instances where pedestrians were stopped on the edge of the pedestrian crossing but the drivers of motor vehicles failed to stop as required. In one instance, at approximately 1535 hours, a dark blue car was travelling northbound at an average speed of 47 km/h as it approached the pedestrian crosswalk where a boy was stopped on the east edge of the crosswalk. In the second instance, at approximately 1537 hours, an elderly female pedestrian was within the pedestrian crossing when a northbound passenger car, travelling at an average speed of 43.58 km/h, travelled through the crossing. Again, this was a non-event but the driver of the motor vehicle should have slowed or stopped until the elderly pedestrian fully cleared the crosswalk.
Speeding vehicles are always seen at any site of study and the present one is no exception. At this site, which is posted with a 40 km/h maximum speed, 34 southbound motor vehicles were observed travelling at 50 km/h or higher, or 10.7 % of the total of 317 observations of southbound vehicles. And 21 of the total of 229 northbound motor vehicles, or 9.17%, were similarly observed to be travelling at 50 km/h or more.
Vehicles travelling at 60 km/h or higher were naturally more scarce. Only two southbound vehicles, or 0.63%a were observed at that speed whereas 3 northbound vehicles, or 1.31% were similarly observed. In our view the very small numbers of these observations precludes drawing any conclusions about them.
It can be noted however that no motor vehicles were observed travelling at 50 km/h or higher in the 8-minute segment when school children were most active at the site. This may not be because drivers were more cautious but simply because there was a congestion that prevented these higher speeds.
While we were conducting an analysis of this video session it was announced by the local city councillor representing this ward that the City of London had completed a contractual agreement to have beacons installed at the crosswalk. One of the residents representing the community indicated that he was very pleased with that news. We also agree that this installation should be a safety benefit to the site. However further study needs to be conducted to determine the degree of benefit and if other safety issues may continue or arise.
A second video session was completed on the morning of June 22, 2026 and analysis of this additional data could provide some further useful information about the safety of the site. It is likely that this work will not be done until a meeting with local residents is completed.
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