The Rotary Greenway Trail

Robinson St. traffic count 516

Douro ST. traffic count 2466

Hunter St. E traffic count 15,931----no curb cut, no bollards, no crosswalk striping,
no flashing amber,no bike xing warning signs for motorists.
Parkhill xing has actuated stoplight with traffic count 16,563....only 700 fewer than Hunter St.

This trail is probably the safest trail in Peterborough barring the new Tollington Bridge extension (see Tollington Bridge Dangers July (/07).
The reason being that it mostly follows the river so there are less intersections to deal with.
It is also the trail most worthy of being called a transportation artery as it is a major north/south route for bicycle commuters, including students and faculty from Trent U and Thomas A Stewart CI
That being said it fails miserably on crossing safety at Hunter St. E. In fact it has no crossing features whatsoever. There are no yellow bollards....no ramped curb cuts......there is no crosswalk striping...... and there are no bike Xing warning signs for motorists!!! Yet this stretch of Hunter has a traffic count of 15,931 !!! Robinson St., the next crossing south, is better marked and only has a traffic count of 516. This is a gross oversight on Peterborough's favourite and most populous trail. For novice cyclists and unwary motorists, this is an accident waiting to happen.

Recommendations to improve safety:

• install bollards at trail entrance each side
• cut curbs and ramp
  
• broad broken crosswalk stripe on pavement
• overhead flashing amber crossing sign actuated by trail crosser
• bike X warning signs installed on Hunter St. at crossing and 1/2 block away in each direction
  

Bike lane urged after truck crushes bike

A letter to Peterborough Examiner and city council:

Once again when a collision happens between a cyclist and motorist, the hue and cry continues for the city to install more bike facilities.

http://tinyurl.com/35wbcr

After a careful read and a careful look at photo from Examiner, I would suggest that the tractor trailer swung wide to make right turn onto Sherbrooke St. and cyclist came up on right. When truck completed it’s turn, rear wheels went close to curb.

How would a bike lane remedy this situation? The cyclist through ignorance and a lack of education put herself in a dangerous situation. She’s lucky to be alive. Had she taken a vehicular cycling course such as the CanBike programme, she would have known better than to pass a right turning truck on the right. http://www.canbike.net/cca_pages/index.htm

The city should not build new bike facilities until they have conducted an extensive review of design safety in existing bike facilities.

A young cyclist just got hit at a bike path crosswalk on Chemong Rd. and another young cyclist died near that location last year.

I am presently conducting a critique of Peterborough Bike Facilties and I am first dealing with that crossing because of collisions. Find out more at http://transportationcyclist.blogspot.com/ I welcome comments and am happy to debate bike facilities vs. education with anyone.

A Critique of BikePaths in Peterborough

Chemong Rd. and Parkway Path Crossing (motorists' view)

Parkway Bike Path at Chemong Rd

Recreational cyclists and those who have not learned to ride on the road according to vehicular cycling principles choose to ride on bike paths and clamor for the city to build more.
They feel they won't have to deal with traffic and they perceive multi-use paths as safer than roads. Parents and school officials advise children to use MUPs.
Other than the fact that cyclists have to deal with little old ladies with little dogs on long leashes, big dogs off-leash, walkers with baby strollers, other uneducated cyclists who don't warn them (or pedestrians) when overtaking from behind, and rollerbladers doing dance moves, the MUP is only safe between road crossings. Most road accidents happen at intersections and many of these people, particularly children, do not have the skills to cross a busy road safely.
If the city is going to design and build MUPs, they must do so safely, taking into account the users' skill levels. This means all paths should have ramped curb-cuts and signage to warn and direct cyclists, and they must have adequate crosswalk markings and warning signs for motorists.

The road crossing at Parkway Trail and Chemong Rd. is probably the newest path crossing and the city has gone to a lot of expense to create an island half-way across this busy 4-lane road, complete with maze to prevent cyclists from riding straight across. Yet a young boy almost died a week ago (he's in Sunnybrook Hospital with serious head injuries), and another of similar age did die last year near this crossing. Can this crossing be improved to make it safer? I think so.

The bike-crossing sign at Armour Rd. and Rotary Greenway Trail is much more explicit, showing an X under bicycle symbol and the crosswalk marking is more explicit too, using a much wider broken line. After motorists have seen the Armour Rd sign, the Chemong sign which shows bicycle symbol with line beneath it is confusing as it is not uniform and could be mis-interpreted. Also, Chemong sign is on pole above traffic light warning sign which could lead motorists to believe, if there is a bike crossing, it is at the lights.
Some cyclists I met and spoke to at this crossing felt they would feel safer with a flashing overhead amber light.
According to City of Peterborough traffic count, this section of Chemong Rd. is used by 22836 cars daily, making it second only to Lansdowne W. in volume. A flashing overhead amber actuated by trail crosser would be a damn good idea. Traffic light warning sign should be taken down and moved past bike X sign. Another bike X sign should be posted further from crossing on vehicle approach.
If these improvements were made at this busy intersection, they could be used as a benchmark for other bike crossings in the city. And the City of Peterborough would be able to say that they've done all they could for crossing safety.

Tollington Bridge Dangers

Letter to City of Peterborough council and staff:

The Tollington Bridge extension to the Rotary Greenway trail shows the city’s lack of expertise when designing bike facilities.
Contrary to what was reported, the bridge does not connect the Rotary trail to the Lakefield trail. It misses by a mile or two, and in-between is trouble. Big trouble.

Before the trail extension, the path ended at a T intersection at Nassau Mills Rd, where, if the cyclist wished to continue north, made a safe right turn and on up over the Nassau Bridge and away they went.
Now, the extension leads them to make a left turn ( LTs being one of the more dangerous manoeuvres), then a right at a 4-way stop (which is quite busy at times).

Then over the Tollington Bridge to Nassau Mills Rd., where they end up having to make another left turn into traffic, this time between two curves where traffic is known to speed. This is still quite a ways south of the entrance to Lakefield trail. Approaching the bridge from the north, there is a right turn from Nassau Mills Rd., over the bridge and onto a contra-flow bike path ( a dangerous design flaw) that ends just before the 4-way stop where a left and a right is required to get back on trail.

Yet Mayor Ayotte is quoted as saying "….this adds a real safety feature to the trail system." Rotary President Storey says "this is a significant milestone" and "everyone should bring out their children and grandchildren to enjoy the bridge". MP Del Mastro says the bridge and trail are a great legacy.

The politicians have had their photo-op and showed they 'seem to be doing something for cyclists'. They want the credit for this project, but will they accept the blame when a young cyclist is injured or killed because of bad design?

With this as an example, the city now wants to add to their folly by creating unnecessary bike lanes when education and wide curb lanes are all that's needed.
I submit that there is no-one on city council or in any city department that knows anything about safe bicycle transportation. I welcome comments from these people and challenge them to prove me wrong.

The best 'bike facility' is traffic education and it should start with city council and staff. If a few of them were to take a Can-Bike course, their decisions might have more merit.
Oh, did I mention the great view from the bridge? It's a pity that we have to pay so high a price in safety.

'Made in Canada'- via China

More consumers are taking a hard look at "Made in China" labels after a string of recalls and publicity over deplorable safety standards in China. But it's nearly impossible to get out of the supermarket without food from China in your cart.

The good news is that avoiding products labelled "Made in China" won't crimp your grocery list, unless you really like frozen seafood - including shrimp, pollock, sole, haddock and salmon.

The bad news is that food labels don't tell the whole story. A host of Chinese imports are hiding behind "Made in Canada" labels, from the freeze-dried strawberries in your cereal to the wheat gluten in your hamburger buns.

'Made in Canada' - via China

Hope Mill-Restored sawmill 35000 watts

Canada Day Parade

Mom and I and the MicroCar joined the Green Party contingent in Peterborough's Canada day parade. We all had a lot of fun and probably will do it again next year.

Bike lanes in Peterborough are a bad idea

I cycle for transportation year round, and I believe bike lanes are a bad idea. Recreational and novice cyclists demand bike lanes as they don’t wish to deal with traffic which is understandable, but when biking for transportation, traffic is a given.

I can’t see how expending vast sums on bike lanes are going to improve the safety of the cyclists.

In fact I can see many ways where they would endanger cyclists, particularly those with little traffic experience (and those are the ones clamouring for BLs).

To begin with, the city can not build BLs for all the places transportation cyclists need to go; for work, meetings, doctor’s appointments, school, shopping and other errands. There is also the ongoing cost of maintenance and upkeep, including snow removal.

Building BLs on busy streets will attract novice cyclists to those streets, while Peterborough has so many quieter, safer residential streets with cleaner air, running parallel to same.

BLs lull novices into a false sense of security where they are not in tune with traffic flow, and suddenly they are dumped out at major intersections where most accidents happen.

Motorists pulling out of driveways and stop streets look to see if traffic lane is clear and do not see cyclists in BLs as they are not in traffic their line of sight.

Left turns from BLs are a real problem, requiring the cyclist to cross several lanes of traffic.

Cars parked in BLs cause cyclists to swerve in and out or onto sidewalks, which is dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.

The travelled portion of the road is swept clean of debris such as

nuts, bolts, broken glass etc. by cars. It all would all end up in the bike lane.

The solution to safe cycling in Peterborough is EDUCATION, for cyclists and motorists.

· ‘Share the road’ signs on all busy streets, particularly where vehicles enter the city, and on the back of buses.

· Bike-awareness programmes for drivers of City of Peterborough vehicles.

· City-sponsored BICYCLE EDUCATION programmes in elementary and high schools such as: BikeEd Hawaii http://www.hbl.org/bikeEd_general.html

· City-organised Can-Bike programmes to teach vehicular cycling techniques to adults. http://www.canbike.net/

· And WIDE CURB LANES, allowing bikes and cars to share the road in a co-operative and safe manner.

In the official transportation plan, the city has allotted funds to encourage cycling for transportation purposes. It would be better spent on education than bike lanes.