'More dangerous than you think' for cyclists, pedestrians in York Region

Despite pilot project, activists feel politicians too 'timid' on road safety

Yorkregion.com
July 2, 2019
Lisa Queen

Newmarket’s Stephen Harper was cycling home from his job as a teacher at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora when a car slammed into him from behind.

The driver stopped long enough to throw the injured man’s bike in his car before fleeing the scene.

“I was nearly killed. I was off work for three months. I was in hospital. It was pretty serious. My pelvis was broken in four pieces,” Harper said.

The collision on Yonge Street near Savage Road South also left him with a broken arm, broken ribs and a concussion.

“It was a bad scene,” said Harper, who was released from Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital just in time to spend Christmas with his family.

“It was one of the most memorable Christmases of my entire life because I got a chance to hug my kids. It was really profound.”

Although the collision happened years ago, on November 10, 1992, Harper is upset roads remain a danger zone for cyclists and pedestrians.

In fact, he is “alarmed” a new report shows that while overall collisions on York Region roads are decreasing, crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians are up.

“The amount that a cyclist’s damage can do on an automobile is minimal but the amount of damage a motorist can do -- I know, I’ve lived through it -- to a cyclist is immense,” said Harper, a member of Cycle Newmarket, a group committed to increased cycling safety.

“It’s about sharing. A lot of people don’t get the sharing-the-road concept.”

While there have been some improvements to cycling safety over the years, many motorists “get apoplectic” when safety measures such as bollards are installed on roads to separate driving and bike lanes, Harper said.

Harper, who wants to see more dedicated bike lanes especially in school areas and better road designs to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians, spoke at a York Region committee meeting in June when road safety was discussed.

While total traffic collisions are decreasing, crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists increased about 3 per cent every year from 2008 to 2016, although both dropped in 2017, the York Region Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety Study by consultant EXP Services Inc., said.

Combined, pedestrian and cyclist collisions were at 196 in 2008.

They topped the 200 threshold in 2010, hitting 223.

Incidents rose steadily over the next number of years, hitting a high of 290 in 2016.

In 2017, the number of pedestrians and cyclists hit by vehicles on regional roads dropped to 243.

The upward trend is mirrored in neighbouring regions.

A significant number of collisions happen in urban areas and at signalized intersections when vehicles are making turns.

“Drivers failing to yield right-of-way to pedestrians or cyclists was identified as the major cause of these collisions,” the report said.

“Inattentiveness of drivers, which contributes to driver error, was found to be increasing in pedestrian and cyclist collisions over the study period.”

Young adult and senior pedestrians and cyclists are disproportionately struck by vehicles, the report added.

More people are walking and cycling over the last decade, according to the region’s latest Transportation Tomorrow Survey in 2016 but the upward trend is disturbing.

Pedestrian and cyclist collisions account for the highest percentage of injuries and fatalities in the region, York’s 2017 annual traffic safety report said.

Worse, the reports don’t tell the whole story because they only looked at regional roads, not local streets, Peter Miasek, vice-chair of Markham’s Cycling and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said.

While 2015 to 2017 regional figures suggest 52 pedestrian collisions and 32 cycling collisions in Markham every year, including crashes on local streets would put those figures at more than 90 pedestrians and more than 60 cyclists hit by vehicles annually in Markham, Miasek said.

“That’s basically a collision involving a vulnerable user every second day in Markham,” he said, adding 80 to 90 per cent of these collisions cause injuries.

“But the trend does not have to continue. Countries in Europe like the Netherlands have much higher share of active transportation, yet have a low collision and injury rate due to better infrastructure.”

Starting this summer, the region will implement a year-long pilot project with beefed up safety measures at four intersections: Major Mackenzie Drive and Bayview Avenue in Richmond Hill, Yonge Street and Clark Avenue in Thornhill, Bathurst Street and Carrville Road/Rutherford Road in Vaughan and Bathurst and Clark in Vaughan.

While Miasek is pleased with the pilot project, he feels York politicians are only “timidly” addressing cycling and pedestrian safety.

He wants to see the region look at reducing speed limits, enacting enforcement blitzes, installing more red light cameras and adopting the Vision Zero campaign, a multi-national project that aims to eradicate fatal and serious traffic collisions.

“I think it’s a lot more dangerous than you think” to be a pedestrian or cyclist in York Region, Miasek added.