Take the Lane

Ottawa runs a Velo-city Global "highlight reel"

The Ottawa bicycle advocacy group, Citizens for Safe Cycling, has a good idea.

The group has persuaded a number of the Ottawans who went to Velo-city Global 2012 in Vancouver in June to attend an evening debriefing tonight (Thursday, Aug. 9) for the public. They have room for 50 people, so if you live in the Ottawa area and want to attend, better let them know now.

CfSC member Hans Moor makes the point in the Ottawa Citizen article that the registration, flight, accommodation and food costs (an estimated $3,000) priced Velo-city out of the budget of most cycling adovcates, and frankly, out of most municipal budgets. This debriefing is an economical alternative.

I tend to agree. I went to Velo-city Global 2010 in Copenhagen and Velo-city Global 2012 in Vancouver because: as the media, the registration was waived; the trips chewed up my holiday travel budget; and I had somewhere free to stay.

The Copenhagen organizers worked out a system of volunteer billets. For the cost of lots of wine and a thank-you dinner out, I stayed free in Copenhagen (in a basement, admittedly). I stayed with a family member in Vancouver (several thank you dinners).

If such international events expect to attract participants from around the world, they will have to think about ways of keeping the costs manageable. The next global Velo-city is 2014 in Adelaide, Australia. As much as I'd like to go, I don't know anyone there and imagine that the flight to Australia will drain my holiday travel account. The hosted billets idea was a good one to help keep costs down.

In the interim, if you can't go to Ottawa for the debriefing, you can go to the Velo-city website for highlights of Velo-city Global 2012, and downloads of the presentations. Not as much fun as sitting around listening to participants give their personalized views of the events, but almost two hours of chit-chat will barely scratch the surface of what was discussed in Vancouver. You'll get more from the source material.

 

 

 

Anti-cycling message from host city's newspaper must sting Velo-city Global

It was a bit depressing to read this anti-cycling lead editorial in the Vancouver Province on my last day in British Columbia, following Velo-city Global 2012.

Vancouver, after all was the host city for the world cycling advocacy conference. And Vancouver has been setting a high bar for cycle friendliness. So the anonymous and half-formed opinions about the helmet stance of Dutch cyclist Hans Voerknecht "and all the other true believers" that topped the editorial page on Friday were a bit of a surprise.

You would assume that the Velo-city organizers must have felt a bit unwelcome, especially coming on the last day. "Oh, thanks for coming from around the world and spending your dollars here. And by the way, you can stuff your ideas."

Perhaps it was written by a German still smarting from the Euro 2012 loss the day before.

We don't hide; we ride

I couldn't resist mentioning this attaboy from Kathi Dietholm, of Pro Velo Switzerland, when I explained my reasons for titling this blog Take the Lane.

"Take the Lane ... that's a very successful way to make yourself known on road," she said. "I have to ride (in the middle of the lane), I don't have to hide (up against the curb)."

Yes, that's the idea. We don't hide; we ride.

And this wraps my coverage from Velo-city Global 2012. I have a pile of documents, links to studies, promises of material to be forwarded. As I get it, I will pass it along.

Why waste energy on mandatory helmet laws?

Mandatory bicycle helmet laws, like that being proposed by the Ontario coroner in his Cycling Death Review released last week, is just a waste of effort and funds that could be used to make cycling really safer.

That's the majority opinion of some panellist members of the final event of the day today, The Helmet Dialogue, at Velo-city Global 2012.

With more than two dozen events a day, it is unfair to generalize about the popularity of any issue, but I believe that the matter of mandatory helmet laws came up at every plenary and symposium I attended.

When one considers that "safety" and "children" are the over-arching themes of this conference in Vancouver, it might appear contradictory that there seems to be a strong voice here for helmet pro-choice. Aren't helmets all about safety?

Invariably, the cyclists here who speak passionately about the subject, begin with, "I have nothing against people who wear helmets," or "I wear a helmet myself," followed immediately by, "but I don't think helmet use should be legislated." The personal freedom of choice about "to wear or not to wear" seemed to be a major factor.

That was certainly part of the message from Sue Knaup, executive director of the Arizona-based One Street; Dr. Kathi Diethelm, of Pro Velo Switzerland; and Ceri Woolsgrove, policy officer with the European Cyclists' Federation, who were speaking later today on helmets. All agreed that helmet use is a personal choice. Other issues concerned them more, including the amount of time taken talking about helmets.

"The discussions about helmet laws are taking the place of discussions about safer streets," said Knaup, in an open discussion with Take the Lane. "Helmets never prevented a crash. Let's talk about what we can do to prevent crashes."

Knaup and Woolsgrove said that many officials seem to think that helmets are a substitute for good quality safety and training programs. Diethelm added that drivers "like a helmet law because they don't to care about or think as much about the safety of others. The others can take care of themselves."

And if there is an accident, it's a case of "blame the victim," said Diethelm.

All three were concerned that many helmet law discussions were taking place without sufficient objective study. "The data is flawed," said Knaup. "In some cases, tooth injuries are marked (by emergency room staff) as head injuries," said Woolsgrove. "As a mathematician, I get crazy," said Diethelm, who noted that in some instances, data from accidents involving motorcycle riders wearing motorcycle helmets are used to make the case for bicycle helmets.

Even insurance companies, who one might think would do risk-benefit analysis of bicycle injuries, haven't stepped up to the plate, preferring to argue simply for helmet use. If the rider (on a pubic bike share or a charity ride) signs a waiver agreeing to wear a helmet and then is injured while not wearing a helmet, regardless of the nature of the injury, the insurance company can walk away. "It's just laziness," said Diethelm.

What three things would they say to anyone (such as Ontario) considering mandatory helmet laws?

1. Cycing is not a risky activity, and is certainly comparable to being a pedestrian.

2. Helmet laws are making cycling appear to be dangerous, and thus creating impediments to those who might consider cycling. Part two of this is: Mandatory helmet laws are simply the ultimate product promotion, benefiting manufacturers and insurance companies, without making the roads safer.

3. Helmets are not as effective as they are made out to be (usually rated to crash speeds of 20 km/h).

Although helmet discussions can suck the oxygen out of the room, Knaup said that some conversation is necessary because "if we aren't talking about it, the helmet hysteria could wipe out the (cycling) movement. It's worth putting the energy into it."

 

 

Guess what per cent of Canadian kids ride their bikes to school

Here's a cool graphic that was available for the previous post on the Vancouver Charter on Children and Cycling, released today in Velo-City Global 2012 in Vancouver.

So the good news is that Canada's percentage of kids riding their bikes to school is double that of the United States. The bad news is that the U.S. figure is one per cent.

Since I grew up in a time when lots of children rode their bikes to school, this info made available by the European Cyclists' Federation, is pretty startling.

But we've all heard stories of bike racks being taken off school grounds because school staff don't want tohave to be responsible for potential thefts. And we've seen the anti-idling signs posted around schools, a reminder that almost every kid in the school population is getting a ride twice a day.

UN asked to support child cycling

Children as “indicator species,” children as “cargo,” children as “future citizens” and the human rights of child cyclists led the agenda for the last day of Velo-city Global 2012 here in Vancouver.

Velo-city organizers were not simply satisfied with offering a venue for the exchange of best practices on cycling advocacy and facility design, and a venue for passing the torch to the next host city.

The last day was the showcase for the Charter of Vancouver on Children and Cycling, a petition hosted by the European Cyclists' Federation, that is being placed before the global community to be placed on the agenda of the United Nations and similar global bodies.

The charter urges that cycling be included in all discussions about sustainable transportation, particularly with an aim to improving the situation of the world’s children. As well, the Vancouver charter asks that all relevant agencies seek to develop and promote policies and strategies that encourage walking and cycling to school; develop and provide cycling skills and training; and to promote mobility for all ages and abilities.

The cyclists federation sees many of its suggestions as being a perfect fit with the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, particularly as regards common standards of living and opportunities for education and development. Essentially, the ECF is calling on the UN to consider cycling as a human right for children.

The cyclists' federation makes a pretty compelling case for bringing children into the equation.

President Manfred Neun led off the presentations, noting a quote from former Bogota mayor Enrique Penalosa that “Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people.”

Neun spoke of childhood cycling as a rite of passage, of a way of connecting with community and making streets safer. He commented critically on the tendency to the “mom taxi” that treats children like something “to be delivered in a container.”

The world is longing for sustainable solutions that good for all levels of income and all ages, he said. “Let them cycle, give them a shared space.”

Paul Tranter, geography professor at the University of New South Wales, argued that children should be considered citizens, not “future citizens.” And as citizens, they have the right to be consulted about the process that creates their community, essentially the participation right that is one of the UN’s charter rights.

Tranter noted that child protection, or child safety, is often “about being placed in a car,” when cycling can expose a child to low-stakes risk that makes the child safer as he/she gets older.

He also won laughs from the crowd by noting that “a lot of parents drive their children to school to protect them from the traffic situations caused by other parents who drive their kids to school.”

Although the petition is targeting agencies, stakeholders and corporations, anyone can sign the petition. It is online here at the ECF website. Institutions can support by filling out the relevant fields. Individuals can support via Facebook or Twitter.

At Velo-city Global, there is always a bike parade

The bike parade is a tradition at Velo-city. And rain is a Vancouver tradition!

Rallying the volunteers.

Cycle chic, Vancouver style.

You're always faster in red.

But blue is good for keeping the rain off.

Most riders wore their free Lazer helmet, but there was the occasional Nutcase, modelled here by Karly Coleman of Edmonton.

Ready to ride.

And after the speech-making, they were off, with the Dutch and their inflatable "wooden" shoe-hats well in the front.

Region preparing six street demo projects

Knobbly sidewalks, better wayfinding signs on the Iron Horse Trail and a cure for the detested Erb and Caroline intersection are among the six walking/cycling demonstration projects that Waterloo Region is preparing to roll out for public consultation this summer.

Waterloo Region senior transportation planner John Hill talked about some of the Region's new approaches to mobility, at Velo-city Global 2012 in Vancouver on Thursday.

Hill is one of more than a dozen Ontario planners who spoke at three sessions about Ontario cycling plans and projects. He told the group that the Region has nine action plans to roll out for this fall, and six demonstration projects in the works.

Of course, I wanted the details on the projects and of course, they are not totally ready for a "reveal." But there are a few details:

-- Wayfinding on the Iron Horse Trail. Better signage that will show distances to destinations, riding times, etc.

-- Truncated domes at crosswalks on Frederick Street. To be tested at several locations, these are short knobs (think Lego) or textured material that are used at corners to guide vision-impaired pedestrians to crosswalks. Current curb cutouts often encompass the whole corner. A vision-impaired person could conceivably walk into the centre of the intersection.

-- A solution to the dreaded Erb and Caroline intersection in Waterloo.

These and three other projects will be presented to the public in the summer and council approval is needed before the final plans can be signed off in early 2013.

 

 

 

Sometimes, it sucks to be a city planner

Today would be one of those days when it must suck to be a municipal planner on cycling issues.

The first session of the Cycling in Ontario Symposiums at Velo-city Global 2012 here in Vancouver went a bit off the rails when some members of the audience let fire at the five municipal planners who had made presentations about the projects and programs in their areas.

Among the voices from the audience was Gil Penalosa of the Toronto-based 8-80 Cities. Penalosa, the closest thing Ontario has to Danish urban architect Jan Gehl, isn't afraid to speak his mind, and accused the planners of timidity in their thinking: Ontario is growing fast, he said, and "we don't have much time to think; we have to do. We have to be bold and ambitious."

The planners, who had discussed their intentions for bike lanes, bike boxes and other bicycle infrastructure programs, seemed a bit taken aback.

Several other audience members spoke up, including Valerie Watson, from the Los Angeles urban architectural firm Melendrez, who added to the sense of urgency by telling the planners to get something on the ground, and then build it out from there, rather than waiting to meet all the potential future needs: "Colonize the space on the road." Once the colony is planted, expand it from there.

Good sentiments, although really, it is the elected officials who need to hear them.

 

Some good news for bicycle infrastructure

Pretty exciting news for Ontario cyclists coming from the first session of the day-long Ontario symposiums here at Velo-city Global 2012 in Vancouver.

During the first part of the dayl-long Ontario symposiums, Robert Grimwood, a senior project planner with the City of Ottawa, rolled out some of the work that is being done by the Ontario Traffic Council for the Ontario Traffic Manual No. 18, aka the Bicycle Facilities book. When it is approved, it will become the bible for municipal traffic planners. Right now, there may be a certain timidity on the part of planners to incorporate bicycle-specific road structures into existing or planned roads. What is a bike box? Can a bike lane be added to a roundabout?

OTM No. 18 will offer answers to those questions, and many more. In conjunction with OTM No. 18 will come changes to the Ontario Highway Traffic Act specifically dealing with bicycles (the HTA was written way back when a bicycle needed to be equipped with "...an alarm bell, gong or horn..." Who uses a gong these days?).

The good news is that the OTM No. 18 will be ready within six months. Then it has to get provincial approval at the legislative level, probably by being added to some other piece of transportation legislation before the MPPs. Betting is that it will be available by mid-2013.

The bad news is that the Highway Traffic Act changes need the OK from the provincial Transportation Ministry and there is no time line on that. The technical manual will be ready, but it is possible the HTA part will drag on and on and on...