The May 19
Ride of Silence is a great idea. As per the email below and
the attachment, Chatham-Kent’s bike collision record is about four times
the provincial average (per 100 bike trips)
The stats are from police reports.
As you know, many collisions go unreported. There is also some doubt that the
fatalities number is complete – it tends to include only “dead at
the scene” and not subsequent deaths in hospital.
For a route, maybe we could follow
the streets with the highest accident rates
From
Competitive fitness
Grand
to St Clair
St
Clair to McNaughton
McNaughton
to Lacroix
Lacroix to Park
Park
to Queen
Queen
to William to King
King
to Third
Third
to
Keil back to Competitive Fitness
If my math is right that’s
about 12 kms – done slowly (commemorating dead
and injured) and allowing for traffic lights and stop signs be about an hour.
Going
through the city with numbers at a slow speed on arterials we might need a
parade permit but it’s probably the best way to draw attention to the
issue of cycling safety.
Comments?
Regards
John Sigurjonsson
Member Services
Cycle Chatham-Kent
519-352-0883
-----Original Message-----
From: Member Services CCK
[mailto:memberservices@cycleck.ca]
Sent:
To: Todd Smith; Alan Myers ; Bill
Schram ; Bill Weaver; Dick Bulsink ; Dick Haines; Doug and Dianne Flook; Faye
Geddes ; James Lively ; John Bloxham ; John Jordan
(reservations@jordan-house.com); John TeSligte (jkam@ciaccess.com); Kate
Blonde; Ken Snider ; Lance Meredith; Laurel Cammarrt ; Leo Denys ; Lynn O'Brien
; Matt Ytsma ; Maureen Geddes ; Michelle Bogaert ; Mike and Janet; Nancy
Snobelen; Paul Gardiner; Paul Mayrand; Paul Roy (plro@rogers.com); Peter
Martin; Richard Phillips; RICK GRAY; Sheldon Parsons ; Sid Ebare ; Susan Bates
Cc: Mike Domony
(mikedo@chatham-kent.ca); Rob Browning; CKmayor@chatham-kent.ca
Subject: LATEST BIKE/CAR COLLISION
STATS FOR C-K
We just received the 2008 stats on 2008
bike/car collisions in C-K. Thanks to Mark Ceppi in Traffic Engineering for his
continuing help with this.
We now have the collision statistics for
the years 2002 through 2008. I’m attaching a summary of those numbers. As
you see, 2008 ties with 2003 for the lowest number of reported collisions, the
number of incidents involving personal injuries is the lowest in the seven year
stretch, and there were no fatalities at the scene. Good news!
The averages over the past seven years are
more meaningful than this one year’s record:
-Average
annual collisions with vehicles per 100 trips in C-K is at least 400% of the
provincial average. Our streets and roads are not safe for cyclists.
-Fatalities
are under-reported. They reflect deaths at the scene, and do not include
injured cyclists who die after transport to hospital. A well-reported case of
two cyclists struck in Blenheim is an example that doesn’t show up in the
statistics.
-Over
the six years 2002 thru 2008, 66% of collisions happened in intersections. Two
things we can learn from this:
1)
We need to make intersections safer for cyclists.
2)
This is lower than the 75% average in
-
The greatest number of collisions happened on arterial ( main) streets. We need
to make them safer.
Let’s
not ignore the facts:
-Cycling
in Chatham-Kent is less safe than in other
-Many
people in C-K choose not to cycle because they (rightly) feel unsafe. As a
result, we are a less healthy, more polluted, less attractive community.
-Those
who choose to cycle pay a penalty in injury, property damage, and in some cases
death.
-We
know how to resolve these risks at moderate cost. Other
Many
municipalities have all the stakeholders (Police, Traffic Engineering, Cycling
Reps) do an annual review of these kinds of statistics to identify
opportunities for improving safety.
-Let’s
do it!
Regards
John Sigurjonsson
Member Services
Cycle Chatham-Kent
519-352-0883