Transport Canada is looking to make city streets safer for cyclists such as those in downtown Ottawa. Anna Carroll, Centretown NewsTransport Canada recently announced a plan to study safety measures aimed at reducing road accidents involving cyclists, pedestrians and heavy trucks in Canadian cities.
The announcement came less than a month after the death of 23-year-old Nusrat Jahan, who was struck by a truck while cycling near Lyon Street and Laurier Avenue. Unfortunately this was not the first accident of its kind in Centretown.
In 2014, Danielle Nacu was killed after being knocked off of her bike and into incoming traffic on Queen Street.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau said the task force is a response to the growing number of people who use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation.
“I’m pleased to work with my provincial, territorial and municipal colleagues to explore options to reduce collisions and improve safety for everyone on Canada’s roadways,” he said in a press release. “Whether it’s through technology, equipment, or an educational approach, we need to find out what works best in order to improve safety for Canadians.”
Tensions between cyclists and drivers in Ottawa have been high since the fatal accident last month.
On September 25 a photo of plasticine models of human bodies scattered about the Laurier Street bike lane labeled ‘dead cyclists’ was posted to twitter.
“Not something we…would condone,” says Gareth Davies, President of Citizens for Safe Cycling, an Ottawa-based advocacy group. “The energy put into those little characters would be better directed in constructive solutions towards City Hall.”
Large vehicles mixing with pedestrians and cyclists is a safety hazard that is common in many large cities, said Heather Shearer, a spokesperson for Citizens for Safe Cycling.
“It’s a dense environment, and those vehicles don’t have great sight lines…It certainly is something where we know we have some room for improvement,” she says.
In 2014, 310 pedestrians and 39 cyclists were killed in motor vehicle collisions in Canada, according to a government press release. The Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators developed the planned task force with Transport Canada to explore modern collision-reduction technologies that are specific to heavy trucks and pedestrians.
It will study cameras and sensor systems, which are technologies that can be installed in cars and trucks to reduce blind spots, as well as side guards, which are steel barriers that can be put on trucks to prevent pedestrians or cyclists from going under the vehicle. The task force is also contemplating the possibility of creating a countrywide safety awareness program, according to the press release.
On Oct. 4, NDP MP Gord Johns introduced a private member’s bill proposing a Canadian Cycling Strategy that will create federally mandated cycling-friendly infrastructure, encourage more Canadians to cycle, improve national safety standard measures and increase education for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists, according to Johns’ website. The bill received slack for being unnecessary in Canada, where cyclists already have an equal right to the road.
Shearer disagreed, saying federally mandated regulations surrounding cycling will be beneficial. “The great thing about a task force is that they can get an overall view of the best ways to improve safety,” she said. “With the backing of Transport Canada, they would have the authority to mandate that improvements be made… It wouldn’t be relying on voluntary measures taken by anyone.”
The task force’s focus on large trucks is an important one for Ottawa, Shearer says. Regulations surrounding heavy trucks on busy streets tend to be more lax in Ottawa than in other large cities. Trucks using the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge to travel between Ottawa and Gatineau have caused safety concerns due to the high amounts of heavy vehicles using busy downtown streets such as Rideau Street and King Edward Avenue to get to the bridge. Since August, the City of Ottawa has been studying the possibility of building a tunnel on King Edward Avenue as a way to separate the trucks from other traffic.
“One thing we’re all very focused on is King Edward and the truck traffic that goes through there,” Shearer said. “If we ever see a tunnel built, we know that’s going to be years and years in the future… In the meantime, measures that this task force identifies could save lives of people who bike downtown.”
It’s hard to precisely measure cycling accidents, Shearer says, but statistics show that the annual number of cycling crashes with injuries and fatalities that were reported to Ottawa police has stayed relatively steady over the last several years.
In 2010, there were 309 road collisions involving cyclists in Ottawa that were reported to the police, according to the City of Ottawa’s annual Road Safety Report. In 2014, that number was 264. Of these accidents, six resulted in deaths in 2010, and two in 2014. However, there was not a consistent decrease in the number of accidents involving cyclists that were reported, or cyclist deaths reported from 2011 to 2013.
“We also know that a lot more people are riding bikes now than they were a few years ago,” she says. “There are more cyclists and the rate of crashes has stayed similar, so that might suggest that cycling is actually getting safer.”
However, there is always room for improvement, Shearer says. “One fatality is too high a price to pay for mobility.”