August 2011 - AT-Network - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

City Cycling courses - poster & handbill
by Beth McKechnie 31 Aug '11

31 Aug '11

** Please help promote these City Cycling courses if you are able (poster and handbill attached). Thanks! ** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dave Elmore <dave(a)greenactioncentre.ca> Date: Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 2:53 PM Subject: RE: City Cycling courses ** Cara from The WRENCH was kind enough to produce a poster and handbills thatcan be used to promote the courses. If you feel you can use them, please feel free to print as you see fit. Thanks Dave o _ ( \ _ (X)\ /(X)

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CanStar Metro: Groups push for AT - Centreport hub should include trails, pathways (Aug.30'11)
by Beth McKechnie 31 Aug '11

31 Aug '11

Groups push for active transportation Centreport hub should include trails, pathways By: Matt Preprost http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/metro/Groups-push-for-acti… A group of west Winnipeg businesses and organizations are joining forces to pressure officials to make active transportation a part of the development of CentrePort Canada. Current plans for the project don’t include the community’s active transportation needs and that is threatening to cut off pedestrian connectivity between several communities, according to Janice Lukes of the Winnipeg Trails Association. "If the province, feds and the city are moving us towards this global multi-modal transportation hub, we need to consider active transportation," Lukes said. "But they’re not looking at it in the big picture." The Red River Exhibition, Assiniboia Downs and the MTS Iceplex in St. James, as well as Friends of the Harte Trail in Charleswood and Adrenaline Adventures and the Headingley Grand Trunk Trail in Headingley have partnered with the Winnipeg Trails Association to lobby for some form of active transportation strategy in the area. They contend the redevelopment of portions of the Perimeter Highway will threaten existing trail developments from connecting to each other, like the Harte Trail and the Headingley Grand Trunk Trail. They would like to see studies and analysis conducted to see how to incorporate a trail system and pedestrian crossings to keep the neighbourhoods connected. "It’s frustrating. You work for years to build these trail systems and hope the government sees the big picture, and when they don’t it’s disheartening," Lukes said. "We don’t want to be riding on cloverleafs with semis but give us something." Lukes pointed to the construction of the Red River Floodway in which there were four studies done on recreation. Officials with CentrePort Canada said creating an active transportation network isn’t mandated in their legislation, which focuses on business development. "We understand the desire to have more bike paths, to have more trails," said Riva Harrison, executive director of communications for CentrePort, adding that recreational areas like the Little Mountain Sportsplex and Prairie Dog Central won’t be displaced. Harrison said CentrePort is supportive of building recreational areas around CentrePort, but that CentrePort won’t lead the development. "Our mandate is to increase trade via transportation. I think there’s no question that we’re supportive of the idea that some trails or recreation can be incorporated into the land use plan, but obviously it has to be carefully done because it’s a truck-oriented expressway." The province said in a statement it’s too early in CentrePort’s development to define specific AT plans. "Active transportation routes will be explored as the more detailed development plans associated with CentrePort Canada evolve," a spokesperson said in a statement. Garth Rogerson, CEO of the Red River Ex, said plans are in the works to develop trails on the Ex grounds and that he would like them to connect into a bigger network, especially along Portage Avenue. Rogerson said he’s noticed school children walking alongside the road and under the Perimeter Highway overpass to get to the park. "There’s a lot of development going on in Headingley and west of the Perimeter," he said. "It’s conceivable that the city will just continue to expand beyond Headingley and we need to start thinking now before we build too many things. "Let’s at least plan for it now so we don’t get caught 20 years from now saying we should have put paths in. Don’t just plan for cars — plan for bicycles and people as well. That’s what we’re pushing for."

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Minneapolis? More like Bike-opolis
by Beth McKechnie 30 Aug '11

30 Aug '11

Minneapolis? More like Bike-opolis <http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-08-25-minneapolis-a-rising-bike-metropolis…> by Tim De Chant 25 Aug 2011 http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-08-25-minneapolis-a-rising-bike-metropolis If you've never been to Minneapolis, you're missing out: It's populated by unrelentingly friendly folk, oodles of lakes surrounded by city parks, and a bike network on its way to becoming second-to-none. Just last month, * Bicycling* magazine named it the top city for bicycling<http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/1-bike-city-minneapolis>, and a few months before, the League of American Bicyclists gave it a gold medal<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/08/22/from-minneapolis-ten-street-design-sol…>. These days, bikes are a big deal in the bigger of the Twin Cities. These accolades aren't exactly unexpected: Minneapolis has put a lot of effort into bolstering its bike-friendliness<http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/>. Money from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program has given Minneapolis -- along with Columbia, Mo., Marin County, Calif., and Sheboygan County, Wis. -- a total of $25 million to improve biking and walking infrastructure. But the city deserves much credit for its laser-like focus on improving biking conditions. We can trace much of the city's bike renaissance to the Midtown Greenway<http://www.midtowngreenway.org/>, a 5.5-mile former railroad opened in 2000 that has since has become a non-automotive superhighway. Cyclists and pedestrians can hop on and off at various points with ease, and the striking Martin Olav Sabo Bridge sends cyclists over busy Hiawatha Avenue. The path even has its own dedicated bike shop complete with bike parking, water, bathrooms, and showers for commuters. Basically, it's a cyclist's dream. Beyond the Greenway, Minneapolis has followed a 10-step program of sorts to guide its bike-friendly improvements. Many steps -- like dedicated bike lanes, lanes buffered from traffic, and plenty of bike parking -- are obvious choices, but others draw on ideas culled from around the country. One of my favorites is their adoption of bicycle boulevards (which I remember fondly from my time in Berkeley). Bike boulevards route bicycle traffic down nearly deserted side streets, where car traffic is kept low by including speed humps and "diverters" that block cars but allow bikes to pass through. At busy intersections, bikes even get special sensors beneath the pavement to change traffic signals. They're a great way to get across town in a hurry. On busier roads where there's no space for dedicated bike lanes, Minneapolis has painted "advisory" bike lanes. These lanes are demarcated by dashed lines and run on both sides of the street. Since this takes away space from existing car lanes, the city simply removed the old center line. This gives bikes visual priority on the street, and the narrowed center lane slows car traffic. Where possible, the city has reduced the number of regular lanes on some roads to widen bike lanes. With all these pieces in place, Minneapolis' seems well-poised to overtake Portland as the country's top bike city. Though Portland can still boast that 5.8 percent of its commuting trips happen on a bike, Minneapolis is catching up with an impressive 3.8-percent bike commuter rate. The improvements also encourage more errands by bike, and to lure the uncertain, bike lanes and paths also tie into the city's extensive park system. It's taken a lot of effort to get to this point (including lots of political support from the mayor's office), but Minneapolis is getting ever closer to becoming a two-wheeled paradise. Tim De Chant is the creator of Per Square Mile <http://persquaremile.com/>and an environmental journalist <http://www.de-chant.com/tim/journalism>. You can also find him on Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/tdechant>.

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WFP: Valets ease cyclists' worries - Group seeking bike-minders
by Beth McKechnie 29 Aug '11

29 Aug '11

Valets ease cyclists' worries Group seeking bike-minders By: Erin Madden http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/valets-ease-cyclists-worries-1285773… As an avid cyclist, David Wieser knew he wanted to get involved in making Winnipeg a more bicycle-friendly community. So, while away on a tour of duty in Afghanistan as a member of the Canadian Forces, he spent his free time establishing Bicycle Valet Winnipeg. The program operates like a coat check at large community events such as Winnipeg Blue Bomber games, street festivals and the Red River Exhibition. Cyclists can "check" their bicycles with Valet volunteers who watch over them, free of charge, until they return to retrieve them. Wieser launched the initiative upon his return home from Afghanistan last summer, and the program has served cyclists at nearly 40 events in and around Winnipeg since then. Wieser, a master corporal with the military, said he's been pleased with the initial success of Bicycle Valet Winnipeg but he's convinced there is still room for growth. But any future success will have to come through the hard work of new volunteers, however, as Wieser was transferred from Winnipeg to Petawawa, Ont., earlier this month. Marissa Steindel, 25, is one of the volunteers who are looking to grow the program. She started volunteering about three months ago after learning about it online. She initially signed up to volunteer at one event, but quickly committed to lend a hand at more. "I was so excited when I saw it -- it just made so much sense," said Steindel, a draftsperson at MacDon Industries. "One of the biggest deterrents to cycling in the city is knowing if there is a safe place to leave your bike and if it will still be there when you come back to it. Also, if you're carrying a bunch of gear with you and you're going to events, it's a pain to have to bring it around with you. When I saw Bicycle Valet, I decided I had to support it." Fellow volunteer Sandeep Dhariwal shares that sentiment. She moved to Winnipeg last winter and took up cycling for the first time in her life. Within weeks, she was hooked. A volunteer with Bicycle Valet for the past three months, she said she quickly saw the importance of the program in the community. "I volunteered (at my first event) and it was amazing. It was at Kids' Fest and seeing all these families come out -- families transporting their kids on these carriages -- it was just so inspiring," said Dhariwal, a 29-year-old facilitator with an inner-city youth mentoring program. "For me, volunteering with Bicycle Valet is about the culture and the people you meet and their mindset and how they see the world." She said it's a great opportunity for people looking to meet new people -- both the clients and the fellow volunteers -- and for those who want to explore the city. "A big thing is exposure to these events. We chill out on our breaks -- we get to go and see the events and often partake. "It's a really good way for volunteers, especially those who are new to the city like I was, to see the city highlights." Wieser said he hopes to see the number of events and volunteers continue to grow. He said cyclists have embraced the initiative, as have the approximately 20 volunteers who have donated their time over the first year. He adds that before leaving the city, through the support of sponsors, he was able to hire a part-time staff member to ensure the program's ongoing success, co-ordinating volunteers and events. "I'm very happy that it will continue on in my absence and when I come back to Winnipeg, I look forward to seeing it bigger and better." If you would like more information, or would like to become a Bicycle Valet volunteer, please email volunteer(a)bicyclevaletwinnipeg.ca. You can also learn more online at www.bicyclevaletwinnipeg.ca. -- If you know a special volunteer who strives to make his or her community a better place to live, please contact Erin Madden at erinmadden(a)shaw.ca

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Which types of people choose a walkable lifestyle?
by Beth McKechnie 26 Aug '11

26 Aug '11

Which Types of People Choose A Walkable Lifestyle?Posted August 26, 2011 by *Walkonomics Blog <http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/user/77163>* There’s been plenty of research<http://walkonomics.com/w/index.php/research/19-supporting-research>into how walkable streets and neighbourhoods get more people walking. However what we’re less sure about is: Who are the people that choose to walk more? In an attempt to answer this question, Transport for London have released new research<http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/walking-segement…>with some interesting findings. By combining a large travel survey with Londoners demographic data, the study attempted to identify which types of people walk more as part of their everyday lifestyle.Women walk more They found that, on average, women make more journey stages on foot than men (females walked 4.1 journey stages while males only walked 3.8). However one consolation for any overly-competitive male is that the study also found that women walk a shorter distance per stage than men. It seems that men walk even less once they are in a relationship and have children, while for women it’s the exact opposite, they walk more once they have children. Perhaps this is partly explained by the fact that, on average, women are still more likely than men to stay-at-home to look after children, including journeys like walking to school. Younger people (aged 20 – 44) walk more stages per day than older people, with young women (aged 20 – 44) walking the most. This rings true with recent reports<http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/01/13/no-mcmansions-for-millennials/>that have found that Generation Y (born between 1979 and 2000) are looking to live in walkable urban locations and are embracing the walkable lifestyle. *Is being single good for you?* The study also found that single adults walked more than people in a relationship (regardless of whether they had children or not). So we can now add ‘getting more exercise’ to the list of benefits of being single! Urban location was also found to be key, with ‘Central’ Londoners walking more than ‘Inner’ Londoners and a lot more than those in the ‘Outer’ suburbs. As the built environment becomes more dense, public transport more frequent and driving is more hassle, it seems that people walk more. Unsurprisingly car ownership reduces walking (people without a car made 4.5 journey stages on foot, while those with 2 or more cars only walked 3.2 journey stages). In contrast to this, is the fact that the richer people are, the more likely they are to walk, despite having the option of driving. The research team put this down to ‘narrower travel horizons amongst those on lower incomes’.Marketing walking But why are Transport for London so interested in peoples walking behaviours? It seems that one reason is to better target marketing in order to get people to change their behaviour and walk more. The study even utilises similar approaches that big business use for customer marketing, creating target groups for future behaviour change programmes. This approach found that demographic groups with names like ‘Active Urbanites’ and ‘Cosmopolitan Lives’ (32% of Londons population) were walking more than the average Londoner. It seems that factors such as your stage in life (young and single) and lifestyle (living in a very urban area) influence how much you walk.But peoples attitudes to walking also seem to change as they progress through life, with people classed as ‘Active Urbanites’ and ‘Cosmopolitan Lives’ much more likely to make positive statements about walking such as: “Walking is a method of transport that I would want to be seen using.” While people with families and on lower incomes were more likely to agree with negative opinions on walking, including: “Walking is only for people who can’t afford other ways of getting there.” This highlights an opportunity for Transport for London to try to change attitudes and behaviours in these groups. It would also be interesting to see how this geo-demographic data compares to the walkability of local streets using a dataset such as the Walkonomics London map<http://walkonomics.com/w/index.php/london-map> . While this study has drilled down a bit deeper into the factors behind walking behaviour, the real test will be to see how governments in London and other big cities use this information to get more people walking.

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Ciclovia looking for community displays and volunteers!
by Jessie Klassen 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

Hi All, Ciclovia <http://www.downtownwinnipegbiz.com/home/events/ciclovia/>, the huge annual street festival and active transportation event happening Sunday, September 11th, is looking for community and environmental organizations to display in their enviro-block. Last year's festival attracted 10,000 people! The cost is free and a table and chairs are provided. All you need to do is bring your awesome display or activity and staff your booth from 11am - 8pm the day of. Register your community display<https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/greenactioncentre.ca/viewform?formkey=dHF…>. Get more information<http://www.downtownwinnipegbiz.com/home/events/ciclovia/>. Also, Ciclovia needs over 200 volunteers to make the day a success! If you are able to give some time, sign up to volunteer<http://manyfest.volunteerhub.com/SignIn.aspx?ReturnUrl=/Default.aspx>and receive a free t-shirt, meal voucher, and more. It's sure to be a great time! Hope to see you on September 11th! ** *Jessie Klassen* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca>| Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Avenue* | *(204) 925-3772 Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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Vancouver traffic-enforcement blitz seeks to curb pedestrian deaths & Vancouver slashes speed limits
by Beth McKechnie 25 Aug '11

25 Aug '11

Vancouver traffic-enforcement blitz seeks to curb pedestrian deaths VIVIAN LUK VANCOUVER— Globe and Mail Update Published Monday, Aug. 22, 2011 Vancouver Police, with $30,000 from the province, are launching a three-week traffic enforcement blitz aimed at halting a spike in pedestrian deaths. The new enforcement drive will see the VPD target 10 intersections deemed to be most dangerous, though half of the pedestrian deaths were clustered near Hastings and Main streets. And although the nine pedestrian deaths so far this year are nearly double the count for all of 2010, overall traffic injuries are actually down – particularly in the policing district that includes the Downtown Eastside. Drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists will all be targeted during the blitz. But drivers going through the Downtown Eastside now face an additional hurdle: a 30-kilometre-an-hour speed limit between Jackson and Abbott Streets that was implemented by the city over the weekend. “When you look at the fact that we are barely just 50 per cent of the way through the calendar year, and already we are seeing fatalities of pedestrians that exceed what we’ve seen in recent years … that is something to be concerned about,” said MLA Colin Hansen, who spoke on behalf of Solicitor-General Shirley Bond on Monday. Mr. Hansen said the perception that the intersection between East Hastings and Main Street is much more dangerous than other corridors such as Burrard Street, between Dunsmuir and Davie streets, and Broadway, is inaccurate. Yet four of the nine deaths this year occurred around East Hastings Street. Most of the fatalities occurred in the middle of the night. In July, a pedestrian was struck on East Cordova Street just after midnight. A month before that, a 52-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were killed within a day of each other while they were crossing East Hastings Street between 3 and 4 a.m. And in January, a 79-year-old man was struck by a car at Main Street and Keefer Street. Marion Allaart, executive director of the Vancouver Area of Drug Users, said speed is one of the biggest contributing factors to pedestrian deaths in the Downtown Eastside. “My experience today is that it’s usually pedestrians that [the police] are [ticketing] the most, which really needs to shift, especially in our neighbourhood,” she said. “There’s less onus on motorists and we’d just like that to be more equal.” According to Inspector Ted Schinbein of the VPD traffic unit, both distracted drivers and pedestrians who were jaywalking or leaving the curb when it is not safe to do so, have been the predominant cause of pedestrian deaths. “For that reason, we will be targeting all road users,” he said, adding that officers will also focus on areas where they’ve seen a trend or increase in traffic injuries or fatalities. Motorists will be targeted for cellphone use, traffic-light infractions, failing to yield to pedestrians and stop-sign offences. Officers will also be watching for pedestrians who are stepping off the curb when it is not safe and jaywalking, as well as cyclists who are riding on the sidewalk or failing to stop at stop signs or traffic lights. * * * * * Vancouver slashes speed limits after nine pedestrian deaths FRANCES BULA VANCOUVER— >From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published Tuesday, Jul. 26, 2011 With nine pedestrians killed already in Vancouver only halfway through the year, it wasn’t surprising that people started calling for the city to take action. And take action it did on Tuesday. One of the city’s major commuter routes, Hastings Street, will have its speed limit reduced to a school-zone number of 30 kilometres an hour for six blocks through the Downtown Eastside, where three of those deaths occurred. That move prompted applause from Downtown Eastside advocates who came out to council to ask specifically for that change, which they hope will help reduce the number and severity of the accidents near Main and Hastings. “The Vancouver Coastal Health trauma team has identified that intersection as having the highest rate of injuries in the city,” said Medical Health Officer Patricia Daly, in an appearance at council to support the speed-reduction zone. As well, the city, which has made it a priority to promote non-car ways of moving around the city, will spend $150,000 on an education program aimed at making both drivers and pedestrians more aware of being safe. A new advisory committee for pedestrians will be created. New signals with countdown clocks are being put in and other measures will be considered. “We have to make sure that the city's a great city to walk in,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson, as he voted for the measures. The high number of deaths this year – double what the statistic was for the entire year last year – has attracted a lot of attention in a city that takes pride in the way it has transformed its downtown into a livable residential zone where thousands of people walk to work. But that issue is just one that the city is moving on quickly, in what has become the traditional month for getting an extraordinary amount of city business done. This year, however, is different, with an election fast approaching. For Vancouver council, already one of the most activist in recent memory, this July has become the month to drive through many of the big, ambitious policy documents that will set the stage for the fall election. Besides the pedestrian safety report, July has also brought council’s comprehensive plan for becoming the world’s greenest city, a plan for tackling not just homelessness but also affordable housing, a plan for removing downtown viaducts that constitute a major commuter route in the city, and an analysis of the economic impact of downtown bike lanes and how to reduce it. Mr. Robertson acknowledges frankly that the July reports are setting the stage for Vision Vancouver's election platform. “These do set the direction for the next term and beyond,” said the mayor, in a brief break Tuesday between three sets of meetings that extended from 9:30 a.m. to near midnight. “This is an overall framework for the action steps ahead.” But the mayor's biggest critic, the woman running against him for his job, said the problem is that too much of what's being driven through is so vague and lacking in detail as to be meaningless. The housing and homelessness report, says Non-Partisan Association Councillor Suzanne Anton, is muddled and, at points, incomprehensible. “It's a demonstration of how things have been rushed through,” she said, eating a quick soup-and-sandwich lunch at her desk before starting the next meeting. The Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, she said, is meaningless. “They spent two years on that document and I don't know where it takes us. It's a whole bunch of complete unknowables.” But Mr. Robertson said the plans, which range from creating a hub to showcase local green-tech companies to charging lower permit fees for those reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, have plenty of details. It will be enough for voters to get a sense of the direction that the city wants to move in, he believes. In spite of the political fighting, however, one initiative on which the mayor and Ms. Anton agree is the one on pedestrian safety. Ms. Anton said she doesn't see that report as having been rushed through too quickly. She voted against the idea of the 30-kilometre-an-hour trial in the Downtown Eastside until others who use the road heavily – trucks, taxis, limousines and commuters – can be consulted about the impacts. But she supported everything else. Special to The Globe and Mail

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Economic impact of cycling & Increasing participation
by Charles Feaver 24 Aug '11

24 Aug '11

An interesting article on the BBC web site; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14610857 about a study which measures the economic impact of cycling The bottom of that page includes a link to an article that shows how some efforts to get people cycling can have rather low impact rates. Getting participation up takes effective promotional activity once the facilities are in place...

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CanStar Weekly online: Group's cycling survey reveals some interesting results
by Beth McKechnie 24 Aug '11

24 Aug '11

Group’s cycling survey reveals some interesting results By: Marlo Campbell Posted: 08/24/2011 "If you build it, they will come," seems to be the theory underlying recent investments in local active-transportation infrastructure. Last year saw an unprecedented $20.4 million was spent on upgrades to Winnipeg’s AT network — everything from improved signage and painted bike lanes to new multi-use pathways and those oh-so-controversial traffic-calming circles. One assumes the goal of such investments is to encourage more citizens to cycle by making it safer and more convenient to do so — which begs the question: how do we know whether the improvements are having the desired effect? The answer: count the number of Winnipeggers riding bikes. Bike to the Future, a volunteer-run organization working to promote cycling as a means of transportation, has been doing exactly this for the past five years. Each spring, it stations people at various locations around the city during morning and afternoon rush hours to document the level of bicycle traffic. Because its focus is on commuter cycling, counts are limited to weekdays with special attention paid to routes in and out of downtown, particularly "choke points" (such as bridges) that cyclists can’t avoid. Since 2007, volunteers have completed 312 counts at 86 locations. This year, they completed 96 counts at 45 locations — 21 of which formed a circle downtown, although counts were also done in Fort Garry near the University of Manitoba, in St. Vital at Dakota Street and Bishop Grandin Boulevard, in St. James at Overdale Street and Bruce Avenue, and in West Kildonan at Main Street and the Chief Peguis Trail. The 2011 final report was released Aug. 12 and is available at biketothefuture.org. It estimates 5,600 Winnipeggers commute into downtown by bike on a typical spring weekday — but volunteers recorded other things, too. For example, 61% of cyclists were observed to be wearing helmets (more women than men), while, on average, 53% of cyclists rode illegally on sidewalks. Jeremy Hull, the volunteer co-ordinator/manager of the annual count, says sidewalk riding depends a lot on location. Take the underpass on Pembina Highway near Jubilee Avenue, for example. "People are very afraid of going through the underpass," Hull says. "They’ll cross Pembina and take the sidewalk and then come back — at quite a bit of extra inconvenience to them, in some cases." This year’s most surprising finding is an apparent 20% decline in commuter cycling traffic from 2010 (although it should be noted that overall bike traffic has increased by an estimated 20% since 2007). Hull suggests this could be explained by geography and Bike to the Future’s limited capacity. "Maybe cycling is increasing in general, but maybe, because we’re counting at these places that haven’t been improved, like the bridges, we’re not capturing it. So maybe people are cycling more on those trails within Fort Rouge or within St. James or within other area of the city, but they’re not crossing the bridges; they’re taking short trips and doing things within their neighbourhoods, or going on some of the new trails that we just aren’t capturing." Hull’s hypothesis begs another question: why is the city relying on volunteers to collect such important data? If it’s truly committed to developing Winnipeg’s AT network, shouldn’t it also be committed to documenting cycling trends in order to know where future investments are needed? If you build it, they will come — but only if you build it right. *Marlo Campbell drives a car to work but cycles for fun. There’s no way in hell she’d ride her bike through the Pembina underpass.* http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/column/

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APBP 2011 Professional Development Seminars
by Mark Cohoe 24 Aug '11

24 Aug '11

*APBP 2011 Professional Development Seminar *October 24-27 | Charlotte, N.C. Details and registration: www.apbppds.org <http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=markc@biketothefuture.org&job=444708&ymlink=…> *Early registration rates in effect through September 14* Plan to attend the best sustainable transportation conference in 2011! Join a wide cohort of bicycle and pedestrian staff, consultants, engineers, planners, landscape architects, policymakers, advocates, and many others at APBP's Professional Development Seminar in Charlotte, N.C., October 24-27. Complete Streets is the focus of this year's seminar, and Charlotte is a living laboratory where participants can explore textbook policy and exemplary implementation. Three conference tracks will focus on Complete Streets Design and Implementation, Livability and Economic Development, and New Guidelines, Research and Standards. PDS participants may choose from 26 in-depth, three-hour classroom and mobile sessions beginning Tuesday, October 25. Special all-day intensive seminars on Monday, October 24, offer deep classroom learning opportunities about Smart Trips, Healthy Living In Place, and Toward Zero Deaths as well as mobile sessions to Greenville and Spartanburg, S.C. and Davidson, N.C. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from a dream team of bike/ped experts, including Andy Clarke, League of American Bicyclists; Barbara McCann, National Complete Streets Coalition; Dan Burden, Walkable and Livable Communities Institute; exceptional professionals from Charlotte's Department of Transportation; and many other recognized masters. Find the conference agenda and session details at www.apbppds.org <http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=markc@biketothefuture.org&job=444708&ymlink=…>. A student poster contest offers five winners the chance to attend the conference through a student scholarship award and travel stipend. Conference Location and Hotel: The Blake Hotel 555 South McDowell Street Charlotte, NC28204 (704) 372-4100 Website: http://www.blakehotelnc.com/ <http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=markc@biketothefuture.org&job=444708&ymlink=…> Click here <http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=markc@biketothefuture.org&job=444708&ymlink=…> to learn how to make your reservation at the group rate of $95 (king) or $129 (two doubles) per night. The room block is open until 9/23/11 or until full, whichever occurs first. The GSA per diem hotel rate for Charlotte is $95. For exhibit and sponsorship opportunities, contact sponsorship(a)apbp.org <mailto:sponsorship@apbp.org>. Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals PO Box 93 . Cedarburg, WI . 53012 262.228.7025 . info(a)apbp.org <mailto:info@apbp.org> www.apbp.org <http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=markc@biketothefuture.org&job=444708&ymlink=…>

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People Powered photo contest - submit your biking and walking pics!
by Beth McKechnie 24 Aug '11

24 Aug '11

http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/index.php/photo-contest The *People Powered Movement Photo Contest* addresses a critical need for bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations. Bicycle and pedestrian advocates need high-quality images of biking and walking to make their campaigns and communications both professional and engaging. Our nationwide contest builds our online Photo Library<http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/index.php/photo-library/>, which provides hundreds of images for Alliance members to download and use at no cost. Support grassroots advocacy by submitting your best biking and walking photos for use in the Alliance’s photo library. Enter the 2011 People Powered Movement Photo Contest! * * *You could win:* - An all-expense-paid trip to Tuscany from VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations <http://www.vbt.com/> - A new bicycle from PUBLIC Bikes <http://publicbikes.com/> - Bags from Ortlieb <http://www.ortliebusa.com/> - Great products from Planet Bike <http://www.planetbike.com/> - Helmets from Bern <http://www.bernunlimited.com/> - *Bikes Are Better* products and gear from Fyxation<http://www.fyxation.com/> - PLUS, winning photos will be published in Momentum magazine<http://momentumplanet.com/> The contest runs from August 1 to October 31, 2011. - Online photo submissions will be accepted from August 1 to September 30. - Public voting will open October 1 and close October 31. - Winners will be announced in early 2012. Official 2011 People Powered Movement Photo Contest Terms And Conditions 1. *The People Powered Movement Photo Contest is open to all*. Eligible photos must be related to biking and walking and be generic in nature or taken in North America. 2. Entrants must provide contact information (valid e-mail address and name) to be eligible to win. 3. To be eligible, participants must enter each image in at least one of the following seven categories. The Alliance reserves the right to switch images to other categories. (See Photos page for full descriptions of each category. 1. *Biking* 2. *Walking* 3. *Biking and walking* 4. *Open Streets* 5. *Advocates in Action* 6. *Women* 7. *Diversity / Building an Inclusive Movement* 4. Each individual is eligible to submit up to 20 photos. 5. Photographs must be in digital format. No print or film submissions will be accepted for entry into this Contest 6. All digital files must be 5 megabytes or smaller, must be in JPEG or .jpg format, and must be at least 300 dpi (dots per inch or pixels per inch) 7. All images must be digitally uploaded. We do not accept mailed or shipped entries. 8. Entrants retain their ownership and other rights to their photos, but they grant the Alliance for Biking & Walking and its member organizations use of the photos for any and all purposes related to charitable work promoting bicycling and walking. 9. Digital Alterations: All photographs should accurately reflect the subject matter and the scene as it appeared. Photos that have been digitally altered beyond standard optimization will be disqualified. Acceptable are adjustments to color, contrast, brightness and sharpness; removal of dust and scratches; cropping; and black and white conversions. 10. No photos will be returned. 11. *Contest runs from midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST) August 1, 2011 to 11:59 pm EST September 30, 2011 during which contest participants can submit photos. DEADLINE: The final date and time for submitting photos is 11:59 pm EST, September 30, 2011.* To avoid uploading delays, please do not wait until the final days of the contest to enter. Large number of entrants trying to upload their photos just prior to the deadline may cause unforeseen technical problems. 12. Voting period runs from October 1, 2011 to October 31, 2011, during which contest participants are able to vote for their favorite photos. 13. Contest winners will be announced in March 2012, and prizes will be distributed soon thereafter.

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More on reduced speed zones
by Beth McKechnie 24 Aug '11

24 Aug '11

[snipped from http://8-80cities.org/ August e-newsletter] * * *Effect of 20 mph traffic speed zones on road injuries in London* by Chris Grundy et al. in the British Medical Journal Road injuries are among the leading causes of mortality and disability worldwide, disproportionately borne by poor pedestrians, particularly children and young adults. Chris Grundy and his colleagues from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine investigate the effect of 20 mph (32 kph) speed zones on road casualties in London. They found that the introduction of 20 mph zones was associated with a 41.9% reduction in road casualties and that the percentage reduction was greatest in younger children and greater for the category of killed or seriously injured. In addition the researchers found that the areas adjacent to 20 mph zones, also had a reduction in casualties (8%) suggesting that there was no migration of casualties to nearby roads. Read the full article here<http://e2ma.net/go/7167857415/208643797/224271619/1404577/goto:http://www.8…> .

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City Cycling courses - Sept. 17 & 24
by Beth McKechnie 24 Aug '11

24 Aug '11

** please share widely! ** Leisure Guide cycling courses available in September! *city cycling for beginners* Do you want to ride your bike more often but just don’t feel safe? Do you want to teach your kids how to cycle safely? Can-Bike certified instructors from Bike to the Future will help you build both the knowledge and confidence to start riding on the streets and trails in Winnipeg. The course is endorsed by the Manitoba Cycling Association and each participant will receive a copy of the 2011 Winnipeg Cycling Map. *Fee:** $43.00 * *Fort Rouge Leisure Centre: 625 Osborne St.* *401595 Sat Sep 17 Noon–4:00pm* ** ** * * * * * *city cycling for commuters* new! Would you like to start commuting but are uncomfortable on busier streets? Are you already commuting, but want to learn the cycling skills that will allow you to ride safely in heavier traffic? Certified Can-Bike instructors from Bike to the Future will help you build the skills and knowledge to ride confidently in traffic. The course is endorsed by the Manitoba Cycling Association and each participant will receive a copy of the 2011 Winnipeg Cycling Map. *Fee: $43.00 * *Sport for Life Centre:145 Pacific Ave.* *401594 Sat Sep 24 Noon–4:00pm*

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Designing and Retrofitting Bridges for Active Transportation Handouts
by Mark Cohoe 23 Aug '11

23 Aug '11

Hi, Sorry I didn't manage to get these handouts sent out prior to the webinar last Wednesday (I've been sending messages to the list from the wrong email account). For those who would like to browse through the slides and handouts from that informative webinar, here <http://www.apbp.org/?page=Webinar_Downloads> they are. Mark October 19th, 2011 into your calendars, as Green Action Centre and Bike to the Future will be hosting the the APBP webinar, Multimodal Level of Service, on Wednesday October 19th, from 2-3pm in the MB EcoCentre boardroom at 303 Portage Avenue. Mark

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WFP online: Driving the future - Master transportation plan to be released in Sept (Aug.19'11)
by Beth McKechnie 23 Aug '11

23 Aug '11

Driving the future Master transportation plan to be released in September By: Jen Skerritt Forty-one years ago, Winnipeg metro councillor Bernie Wolfe warned cars would be on a "collision course" with cities unless governments of all levels sat down and negotiated a planned approach to urban transportation. At the time, Winnipeg was debating whether or not to move ahead with recommendations from a 1968 study to build 30 kilometres of freeways and an 8.6-kilometre subway system. Ultimately, the idea was scrapped, and the city grew to rely on major routes and traffic signals to keep vehicles flowing. Winnipeg has been without a long-term transportation plan ever since. Today, the city faces a similar dilemma: How will it upgrade its existing roadways and move people from point A to point B? The city is in the middle of finalizing a $1.15-million transportation master plan that will identify plans for land use and what future road and rapid-transit improvements are needed. It is expected to be publicly released in September and put to a city council vote on Oct. 19. Some critics worry history may repeat itself, and the plan will not have a specific vision for Winnipeg’s future. "Despite efforts and progress, we’re still simply trying to define what the heck we’re doing with our transportation system," said Jino Distasio, director of the University of Winnipeg’s Institute of Urban Studies. "I think it’s going to continue to put us behind other cities that have made significant strides in creating more integrated systems of transportation." Road infrastructure plays an important role in safety since it influences how people travel — via transit or bike lanes, for example — and how they interact with pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles on the road. Winnipeg is in a similar bind to other Canadian cities since it is trying to balance the need to fix and maintain existing roads and bridges while investing in major upgrades to transit and active transportation. Public works director Brad Sacher said roads and bridges built in the 1950s and 1960s are nearing the end of their lifespan. There is a need for significant rehabilitation of Winnipeg’s infrastructure in general, as well as for new infrastructure in response to growth in parts of the city. "It is a difficult balancing act and it’s a real challenge," Sacher said. Department staff have reviewed things such as traffic flow, collision data, transit patterns and active-transportation corridors to determine how people and goods move across the city, Sacher said. That way, the city can anticipate future growth and set aside space for things such as intersections and rights-of-way, instead of spending more money on costly road upgrades later, he said. The master plan will be "flexible," he said, and could prevent situations in which construction of major road infrastructure is required to catch up with development, such as along south Kenaston. "That’s a situation where it went from being a rail yard in the past to a very desirable location," Sacher said. "The trick in the longer term is to be out in front of as many development opportunities as possible so you can be as efficient as possible in planning them." Intersections are likely to need improvements before roadways since safety issues often arise when vehicle volumes increase. Winnipeg public works staff use engineering software tools to analyze how many vehicles travel through an intersection, the types of vehicles, pedestrian activity, traffic-signal timing and side-street traffic volumes to see what improvements can be made and what impact any improvements may have. One of the big fixes being made to the city’s intersection stop-and-go problem is taking a long time to complete. Mayor Sam Katz made synchronizing traffic signals an election pledge in 2006, but a recent audit found no workers are dedicated to the $11.5-million project, despite the fact it would improve safety and the flow of cars. Lights have not been synched in 80 intersections downtown, and traffic-signals-branch staff say they are still working on "tweaking" the timing of lights that have been synched elsewhere in the city. The project might not be done until 2013. Traffic signals engineer Michael Cantor said part of the difficulty is traffic flow is always changing, and even a five-second interval can make a difference between hitting a stretch of red or a stretch of green lights. Timing patterns will likely have to be updated every few years, he said. The city has hired an Ontario-based consulting firm to prepare a plan to time intersections based on speed, traffic volumes, distance between them and time of day. City staff will implement the timing plans, and the consultants will make any necessary additional changes. Engineers are currently trying to gauge how well the synchronization works on certain routes by comparing travel times before and after implementation. Cantor said city staff are driving the routes and timing them with a GPS. "We try to reduce delays and see the traffic going more fluidly." Some transportation activists are worried governments are spending an unprecedented amount of money on highways without considering the impact on cyclists and pedestrians within Winnipeg. Janice Lukes, head of the province’s active transportation advisory group, said provincial and federal governments have devoted more than $200 million to build an expressway for the CentrePort transportation hub but have not studied the need for active-transportation corridors or pathways as part of the industrial development. "Huge opportunities are being missed," Lukes said. CentrePort CEO Diane Gray said CentrePort has not examined active-transportation routes yet, but it is something that should be looked at as the development moves ahead. "I’m supportive of that because I don’t want to see cyclists riding on expressways next to large trucks," Gray said. "We need to find a balance here that makes sense." However, it’s still too early to predict how many people will travel to work at the Centre-Port air, rail and truck cargo hub every day and how many more vehicles could be flowing into Winnipeg, she said, because the numbers depend on what types of industries want to locate there. In general, labour-based industries employ more workers, while warehouses or distribution centres typically employ fewer people, Gray said. The new expressway is expected to reduce the number of vehicles on the western stretch of the Perimeter Highway by 5,900 trucks and cars a day and take pressure off feeder routes such as Oak Point Highway and Saskatchewan Avenue, she said. Distasio said what’s really missing in Winnipeg is innovation and leadership. A "car rules the road" mindset still exists among some Winnipeg drivers, he said, and the city has missed opportunities — such as in the debate surrounding parking at the new Bomber stadium — to educate the public about the merits of rapid transit and active transportation. Distasio said he’s not optimistic the city’s latest plan will outline any clear vision for the future. "I’m going to be very interested in whether this comprehensive plan actually says what it is we’re investing in. BRT (bus rapid transit), LRT (light rail transit), subways, seaways, tramways, gondolas to St. Vital?" Distasio said. "Does it actually say something or, for the umpteenth time, are we going to be wishy-washy?" jen.skerritt(a)freepress.mb.ca <%C2%A0jen.skerritt(a)freepress.mb.ca> Traffic flow See a map showing the average number of vehicles that drive on city streets in a 24-hour period<http://media.winnipegfreepress.com/documents/2009-TrafficFlow-Map.pdf>. Source: City of Winnipeg public works, 2009 Mapping a way forward for Winnipeg traffic *What's the city's plan to improve roadways and traffic flow?* *To figure out a plan:* The city is in the midst of finalizing a $1.15-million transportation master plan that will identify what future road and rapid-transit improvements are needed. City officials expect it will be publicly released in September and put to a city council vote on Oct. 19. *To finish what we started:* The city is also working to end one of Winnipeg’s greatest driving frustrations: getting stopped at multiple red lights on the same stretch of road. While a plan to synchronize traffic signals is six months behind schedule, city staff say it should be done by 2013. Here’s a look at which routes are done and which ones are scheduled to be done in the coming years. City staff say they’re still doing some "tweaks" to get the timing right on intersections that have already been synched. *Routes that are done:* Kenaston Boulevard — Academy Road to Scurfield Boulevard Lagimodiere Boulevard — Headmaster Row to Bishop Grandin Boulevard Main Street — Euclid Avenue to Fernbank Avenue St. Anne’s Road — Aldgate Road to St. Mary’s Road St. Mary’s Road — Burland Avenue to Marion Street/ Goulet Street Portage Avenue — Vaughan Street to St. Charles Street Bishop Grandin Boulevard — Lagimodiere Boulevard to Waverley Street McPhillips Street — Notre Dame Avenue to Templeton Avenue Pembina Highway — Confusion Corner to Rue des Trappistes *Routes to by synched this year:* Henderson Highway — Hespeler Avenue to McIvor Avenue Grant Avenue/Roblin Boulevard — Pembina Highway to Barker Boulevard/Dale Boulevard *DOWNTOWN AREA:* How do we get from A to B? In 2007, the city hired an outside consulting firm to find out how and where Winnipeggers travel. They found on a typical weekday, residents in the city made 1,569,470 trips, for an average of 2.83 trips per person age 11 and older. Thirty-seven per cent of the daily trips took place between the morning and afternoon rush-hour periods, and work-related and school trips accounted for the vast majority — 74 per cent — of all morning travel. The survey found 81 per cent of trips by Winnipeggers and residents in surrounding areas — including East St. Paul and Steinbach — were in cars. Only 10 per cent of all residents walked or cycled to get from A to B. The downtown core saw the highest influx of people in the morning rush-hour period. About 16 per cent of all trips in the city in the morning period are to the downtown, more than to any other part of Winnipeg.

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It's all about speed...
by Beth McKechnie 23 Aug '11

23 Aug '11

Winnipeg Free Press Letter to the Editor One step further (Aug.20'11) Re:* Mayor hopes to reduce speeds in school zones<http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Mayor-hopes-to-reduce-speeds-in-scho…> *(Aug. 17). Mayor Sam Katz should be commended on his leadership in taking the initiative toward making our communities safer around schools. But why not take it one step further and reduce the speed limit to 30 kilometres per hour throughout residential neighbourhoods? This would make the entire community safer for everyone, whether you are eight years old or 80. This is especially salient when one considers the World Health Organization statistic that "pedestrians have a 90 per cent chance of survival when struck by a car travelling at 30 km/h or below, but less than a 50 per cent chance of surviving an impact at 45 km/h and almost no chance of surviving an impact at 80 km/h." JACKIE AVENT Winnipeg Letter of the day: Speed is biggest danger (Aug.18, 2011) Re:* Walking, cycling can be deadly<http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/walking-cycling--can-be-deadly-12771…> * (Aug. 15). Thank you to Jen Skerritt and the *Free Press* for raising this important public health issue. Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are the leading killer of children, teens and young adults in Canada. As the article points out, this tragedy is magnified by the fact that there are a number of relatively simple interventions to reduce injury and death from MVCs. Speed more than any other factor predicts the chance of injury and death in a MVC. According to the World Health Organization: - An increase in speed of one kilometre per hour results in a three per cent higher risk of a crash involving injury and a four to five per cent increase in crashes that result in death. - The likelihood of death is 20 times greater for a car occupant in a crash with an impact speed of 80 km/h compared with 30 km/h. - Pedestrians struck by a car travelling 30 km/h have a 90 per cent chance of survival, which drops to 50 per cent at 45 km/h. Pedestrians have almost no chance of surviving an impact at 80 km/h. Obeying posted speed limits and exercising due caution, along with sustained and visible enforcement and environmental controls such as speed bumps to encourage reduced speeds, can significantly reduce the risk of motor vehicle collisions that injure and kill. DR. MICHAEL ROUTLEDGE Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

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Macleans: Do the health benefits of cycling outweigh the safety risks?
by Beth McKechnie 18 Aug '11

18 Aug '11

Do the health benefits of cycling outweigh the safety risks? by Julia Belluz<http://www2.macleans.ca/author/juliabelluz/>on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/17/do-the-health-benefits-of-cycling-outwei… *The Statement: * “To be sure, cycling provides good exercise, but there are safer ways to get it. [...] Second, bike riding here is not as environmentally virtuous as it’s cracked up to be.”—*Montreal Gazette<http://www.montrealgazette.com/Deaths+show+downside+urban+cycling/5238644/s…> *, 08/11/2011** This* Gazette<http://www.montrealgazette.com/Deaths+show+downside+urban+cycling/5238644/s…> * story was prompted by a series of five very sad cycling fatalities in Montreal this year, “an unusually high death toll,” the writer lamented, before going on to list myriad downsides related to cycling in the urban environment. The *Winnipeg Free Press*<http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/walking-cycling--can-be-deadl…>published a similarly disturbing article, which noted that in the last 18 months, 29 people have died on Winnipeg streets in car crashes, and 18 of them were pedestrians or cyclists. The *Winnipeg Free Press* article’s message was as clear and pedantic as its title: “Walking, cycling can be deadly.” Ontario doctors<https://www.oma.org/Mediaroom/PressReleases/Pages/ItsTimetoMakeCyclingSafer…>have likewise called for safer cycling. They note that while biking is good exercise, the government needs to invest in cycling infrastructure, such as purpose-built bike lanes, to make commuting on two wheels safer. The provincial NDP in Ontario offered another (seemingly unlikely and impossible to enforce) solution to the problem of cars and bikes mingling dangerously on the road: they suggested<http://www.windsorstar.com/travel/promise+auto+cyclist+buffer+zone/5255145/…>changing the Highway Traffic Act so motorists can be fined for crossing a one-metre buffer with cyclists. But what is the evidence behind these proposed cycling policies? And if cycling is as dangerous as these news articles purport, do the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks? Or should people refrain from biking on city streets altogether? I looked at a myth-busting evidence review<http://www.ncceh.ca/en/practice_policy/ncceh_reviews/active_transportation>produced for the Canadian National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health<http://www.ncceh.ca/>. First, the good news: people who choose “active transport” (walking and cycling to get around) are, on average, more fit and less overweight and obese than motor-vehicle users. As well, all-cause mortality, disease-specific mortality, and cardiovascular risk are lower in this group. Exercise for transportation is also found to be sustained more consistently throughout a person’s life than other workouts, such as gym regimes. Now, the bad news: people who choose active transport face higher risks of fatality or injury per distance travelled than people who use cars, buses, or rail, according to the review. A 2003 study published in the *American Journal of Public Health <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12948971> *found that the fatality risks per distance travelled for U.S. pedestrians and cyclists are 23 and 12 times higher, respectively, than for drivers. A study<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19540975>that looked at injury rates for Norwegian pedestrians and cyclists per distance travelled found they were 4 and 7.5 times higher, respectively, than for those who travelled by car. There is no Canadian data on the absolute risk of injury and fatality for cyclists, but there are a few things we know about how bike accidents happen here. Transport Canada, which tracks crashes between cyclists and road motor vehicles, reported<http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp2436-rs201002-1067.htm>that 64 per cent of these deaths occurred on urban roads, and the peak time for crashes was afternoons and evenings. Bicyclists also make up the smallest percentage of road fatalities compared to other road users. For example, people<http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp3322-2009-1173.htm#t7>who died while biking in 2009 made up 1.9 per cent of fatalities on the road (compared to 53.1 per cent for drivers, 19.5 per cent for passengers, and 13.9 per cent for pedestrians). Of the risk to Canadians, Kay Teschke, a professor of public health at the University of British Columbia who studies cycling in cities, told * Science-ish*, “The fatality rates are about the same for cyclists and pedestrians, though the numbers of pedestrians killed is much higher, because more people walk. Of course, the numbers of motor-vehicle fatalities is much higher than either cycling or walking.” She concluded: “The safest mode of transport by far is transit—like buses or subways —there’s no question about it.” So what would make cyclists safer: bike lanes or a one-metre buffer? Teschke noted that the evidence shows purpose-built bike lanes seem to be the way to go. “One of the interesting features that has been found in North American cities <http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/prospectparkwest.shtml>where European-style separated bike lanes are being installed is that this is not only lowering cyclist crashes, but also pedestrian and motor vehicle crashes.” She also pointed to European centres where bike-specific infrastructure is ubiquitous and cycling injury rates are much lower than in the United States. (See this comparison<http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/17/do-the-health-benefits-of-cycling-outwei…>of American, Dutch, and German cyclists, which shows Americans are twice as likely to get killed as Germans and over 3 times as likely as the Dutch per kilometer and per trip cycled.) Other studies from Europe indicate there are large net benefits of cycling. A 2010 review in *Environmental Health Perspectives*<http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901747>looked at cycling in the Netherlands—with its extensive cycling networks—and found that, “on average, the estimated health benefits of cycling were substantially larger than the risks relative to car driving.” A recent review published in the *British Medical Journal*<http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4521.full>, which looked at the risks and benefits to health of travel by bicycle, came to similarly positive conclusions. “The health benefits of physical activity from cycling using the bicycle sharing scheme (Bicing) in Barcleona, Spain, were large compared with the risks from inhalation of air pollutants and road traffic accidents.” One of the study authors told *Science-ish*, “Our findings are applicable to other cities, although the risk benefit ratio may change depending on the level of pollution between cities, as well as the risk of traffic accident. But the benefit of physical activity will remain constant.” So, here in Canada, to cycle or not to cycle? Teschke said, “I think getting exercise is a major problem in North America, and though we have higher [injury and fatality] risks from cycling than in Europe, we have higher risks from obesity, as well. So, in North America, while the risks are greater, the benefits are greater as well.” It’s important to note, too, that there is a well-documented “safety in numbers” effect for pedestrians and cyclists, meaning that as more people get on their bikes or walk to work in a city, the safer these methods of transport become. “In the Netherlands, which has some of the highest cycling rates in the world (almost 30% of all trips are by bicycle) the injury risk for cyclists is 1.1 cyclists injured per 10 million km cycled. In comparison, in the UK and the U.S. only about 1% of trips are made by bicycle, and the risk is 3.6 and 37.5 cyclists injured per 10 million km cycled,” the 2010 evidence review<http://www.ncceh.ca/en/practice_policy/ncceh_reviews/active_transportation>stated. Teschke is hopeful that as more awareness is raised in Canada about the benefits of cycling and the need for biking infrastructure, the roads will be safer places for motorists on two wheels. In fact, already, the number of fatalities for cyclists has been decreasing. In 2010, Transport Canada reported<http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp2436-rs201002-1067.htm>that “bicyclists accounted for about 2 per cent of traffic fatalities, with an average of 60 bicyclists being killed each year in collisions with motor vehicles.” This was a 2 per cent decrease from the 1996-2001 period. Similarly, this summer, the Canadian Institute for Health Information put out a press release<http://www.cihi.ca/CIHI-ext-portal/internet/en/Document/types+of+care/RELEA…>that said while “the annual number of cycling injury hospitalizations remained relatively stable between 2001–2002 and 2009–2010, the number of cycling-related head injuries decreased significantly, from 907 to 665, over the same period.” By now you may be wondering: what about that ubiquitous bicycle appendage, the helmet. Is it safer to wear one? Stephen Walter<http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ceb/faculty_member_walter.htm>, a professor in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics at McMaster University, told *Science-ish*, “Some people argue they increase risk because their use may encourage riskier behaviour by riders and drivers.” But he added: “Conditional on being in an accident, I know I would rather be wearing one than not. If you’re going to bike, wear a helmet.” *Science-ish is a joint project of Maclean’s, The Medical Post<http://www.canadianhealthcarenetwork.ca/login/>, and the McMaster Health Forum <http://www.mcmasterhealthforum.org/>. Julia Belluz is the associate editor at The Medical Post<http://www.canadianhealthcarenetwork.ca/login/>. Got a tip? Seen something that’s Science-ish? Message her at julia.belluz(a)medicalpost.rogers.com or on Twitter @juliaoftoronto*

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Wednesday smile
by Stacy Matwick 17 Aug '11

17 Aug '11

What To Say When Drivers Yell At You http://www.notquitewrong.com/rosscottinc/2011/02/28/the-system-472-road-sag… enjoy Stacy Matwick Information Centre International Institute for Sustainable Development 161 Portage Ave. E., 6th floor Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 0Y4 Voice: (204)958-7755 Fax: (204)958-7710 Email: smatwick(a)iisd.ca<mailto:smatwick@iisd.ca> IISD Research Library web page: http://www.iisd.org/ic SD-Cite: IISD Research Library database: http://sd-cite.iisd.org<http://sd-cite.iisd.org/> GENERata web-magazine: http://www.iisd.org/generata/ "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read" Groucho Marx

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Living large–and healthy–on the bike
by Beth McKechnie 16 Aug '11

16 Aug '11

Living large—and healthy—on the bike by Elly Blue <http://www.grist.org/people/Elly+Blue> 15 Aug 2011 http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-08-15-living-large-and-healthy-on-the-bike As Chelsea Lincoln pedaled up a hill one day, partway through her seven-mile commute, someone cruised by in a car, yelling: "You're fat!" "The irony of the situation," she told me in an email, "was ridiculous." The relationship between bicycling and health -- and driving and ill-health -- has been demonstrated many times over<http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-03-28-pedaling-away-from-the-health-care-c…>. The promotion of bicycling and bicycle-friendly streets has become integral to a number of high-profile public health efforts aimed at mitigating what is widely termed to be an American "obesity epidemic." Lincoln, a graduate student in Portland, Ore., rejects the term "obesity," along with the negative stereotypes and focus on weight loss that come with it, and prefers to say "bigger bodied" or, though she says many don't understand it, "fat." She's just starting to ride again after an injury forced a long hiatus, but in the past she's been used to riding 20 to 30 hilly miles a day for transportation and fun. "My body has always been fat," she said, "but I was really fit and healthy, with all the biking I did. I chose self acceptance as a way to allow myself to be myself without shaming my body." Bicycle transportation, despite its importance to anti-obesity campaigns, isn't necessarily a recipe for weight loss. It is, however, exactly what public health advocates should be promoting instead: An excellent way to get and stay healthy, no matter what your body type. The irony is that body weight -- and the cultural baggage that comes with it -- can be a barrier to getting on a bike. "Any exercise can be difficult to get started, and unfortunately fat people face obstacles with judgment, finding a bike that works for them and proper clothing for biking," Lincoln said. Despite this, it can be done. And it can be amazing. Developing a good relationship with someone at a bike shop helps. Lincoln "never felt comfortable in most bike shops, since I felt judged, or they assumed I was just getting started in biking and treated me like a moron." She finally found a shop where the owner was "really friendly, welcoming, and helpful." You don't need a special bike or components. Really. Many bike shop employees will try to steer bigger-bodied customers towards hybrids. That might be what you want -- a slower, slightly more upright ride that isn't necessarily built to put a lot of miles on -- but it might not. Try out a range of bikes before making your decision. If you're concerned about a bike being sturdy, look at mountain bikes and touring bikes -- they're built to get you up hills and take a beating. Investing in a set of strong wheels will help you avoid the common peril of heavy riders, kid-haulers, and cargo bikers alike -- the broken spokes. Likewise, if you always feel in danger of tipping over while riding, try a set of wider tires -- the less tread on them, the faster you'll be able to go. Beware the allure of the wide seat with lots of padding. If you sit bolt upright on your bike -- say it's a cruiser, Dutch bike, or recumbent -- then a wide seat makes sense. Otherwise, it's your sitz bones that rest on the seat, not your fundament, and having a lot of extra quishy stuff down there can lead to all kinds of discomfort. You do need your bike to fit you well so you don't strain your back and knees. A centimeter in seat height can make all the difference between bliss and knee pain. Check out some basic tips<http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/articles/bike+fit.html>on choosing and adjusting a bike yourself. Some of the best-dressed people I see riding around Portland are larger women. Someone finally clued me in -- it's because bike gear can be nearly impossible to find if you're a woman over size 14 or so. There are some online outlets, like the woman-owned Team Estrogen, that carry plus sizes, but the selection may be less than amazing. A friend's sister chooses to ride slowly and wear a classy wool jacket to keep the rain off because she can't find a high-tech one that fits. Lincoln says she had to make her own rain pants because the only plus sizes were fit for men. But don't despair. There are affordable, one-size-fits-all rain accessories for fancy technical rain gear: a poncho and a good set of fenders for your bike. I asked Lincoln for more tips. "My advice for fat folks just getting started is to find support and just go for it," she said. "Support can be friends or family who are understanding, or others who have been in the same situation." For exactly that reason, she helped create a Portland-oriented Facebook group called Big Butt Biking<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Butt-Biking/104009306340342k>, which plans group rides and regular social get-togethers to support each other and share their experience and knowledge. People still sometimes yell at Lincoln out of cars, but she doesn't let it get to her: "There is a lot of empowerment in the freedom of a bike and not allowing others to get you down."

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Background safety info: WFP: Walking, cycling can be deadly - As more of us hike and bike, will death toll rise? (Aug.15'11)
by Anders Swanson 15 Aug '11

15 Aug '11

Hi folks, Just a bit more ammunition for those interested in road safety. This is an aspect of transportation that no one likes to talk about, but since it's out there in the form of a media article, (and since I was extensively quoted), I wanted to follow up with some relevant facts. I note that I am quoted in the article as calling these things "preventable". Of course, I recognize that it is not always the case, as human error sometimes just happens. What I intended to convey to the reporter was that *serious injury was preventable thorugh infrastructure design aimed at lower vehicle speeds*, as it basically comes down to physics. mass X acceleration, etc... If you keep speeds low, good things happen. Period. When I was referring to "diseases" I was referring to the fact that we, as humans, dedicate significant campaigns and $$$ going towards finding cures for diseases with no known cure (i.e. breast cancer, MS, etc..), while at the same time have a nearly preventable "top ten" cause of death sitting right in front of us that we accept as "a fact of life". It just doesn't make sense. I am often reminded of the following quote from the World Health Organization: *The relationship between speed and injury severity is particularly critical for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. For example, pedestrians have been shown to have a 90% chance of survival when struck by a car travelling at 30 km/h or below, but less than 50% chance of surviving an impact at 45 km/h. Pedestrians have almost no chance of surviving an impact at 80 km/hr. * Some resources: this: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/wor… this: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/wor… and this: http://www.statisticstop10.com/Causes_of_Death_in_US.html and this: http://www.statisticstop10.com/Causes_of_Death_Older_Teens.html and this: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Details-on-pedestrian-fatalit… This is why slower speeds around pedestrians is really the only solution, especially around schools and seniors centres and frankly anywhere else that we feel like having safe communities. I note in the free press article and comments, freeways and crosswalks are brought up as a way of keeping pedestrians safe from speeding cars. Don't be fooled. Crosswalks come in many forms, some good, some not so good. What really needs to happen is to discourage overall automobile travel, especially travel at higher speeds and to give priority to pedestrians as a rule. Unfortunately, rarely do we have the guts to make the seemingly unpopular decisions required. Freeways. hmm. One way to eliminate pedestrians accidents is to simply eliminate pedestrians. However, it just pushes the problem elsewhere. We end up driving instead of walking, which is even more dangerous. We all end up going farther (and getting fatter), not safer. Think globally, walk locally, slow down. Better yet, don't drive unless absolutely necessary. Personal note: Sorry for taking the liberty to add to this post. This is a sore spot for me, as my girlfriend was hit by a car a couple years ago (she's OK) whilst doing absolutely nothing wrong (green light, walk signal, etc..) She flew about 20 feet. When we reported it at the police station, they initial said there was nothing they could do and that, incredibly, the driver would have to report it (!!?) I am sure this is not the only story like this. Anyway, just to note, safety is not normally my thing. I am not afraid of dying. Bring on the tigers, mudslides, random explosions, etc... I would simply rather it not be the result of someone switching Beyonce albums and not paying attention for a second. Accidents do happen, but slower design speeds mean that *when* they do, the results aren't so gruesome. Anyway, it's not about that. It's about walkable, bikeable, enjoyable communities. Accidents happens, death happens. I just don't understand why we insist, as humans, on doing it to ourselves. Hopefully one of you will be able to do something about it. Have a great day. Regards, Anders On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 8:09 AM, Beth McKechnie <beth(a)greenactioncentre.ca>wrote: > Walking, cycling can be deadly As more of us hike and bike, will death > toll rise? > > By: Jen Skerritt > > > http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/walking-cycling--can-be-deadly-12771… > > Pedestrians and cyclists have long been a major part of traffic deaths > and injuries, Winnipeg police say, and there's increasing cause for concern > as more people take up walking or bike riding. > > In the last 18 months, for instance, 29 people died on Winnipeg streets in > car crashes, and 18 of them were pedestrians or cyclists. > > Since 2007, 79 people have died on Winnipeg streets in vehicle collisions, > including 36 pedestrians and cyclists. > > So far this year, four pedestrians have been killed on Winnipeg roads. Of > the 18 serious or fatal crashes that police investigated in 2011 to date, 11 > involve pedestrians and two involve cyclists. > > Active-transportation activist Anders Swanson said he's worried society has > collectively forgotten these deaths are preventable and lowering vehicle > speed and investing in better infrastructure can help prevent them. > > He said governments spend millions of dollars on research to prevent deaths > caused by disease, but comparably spend very little on preventing road > crashes. > > "Here you have this one cause of death, which is basically preventable, and > we're not doing anything about it," Swanson said. > > Sometimes, accidents happen at intersections or pedestrian corridors. Other > times, pedestrians are jaywalking, intoxicated or not paying attention. > > Most years, Winnipeg Police Patrol Sgt. Damian Turner said, between 20 and > 25 people die on Winnipeg roads, and a substantial portion of those deaths > are people who were crossing the street or cycling. According to the latest > police data, 140 pedestrians and 79 cyclists were injured on Winnipeg roads > in 2009. Police are still reviewing data from last year. > > "We're concerned about the fact that pedestrians are being hit," Turner > said. "It is common. We've known for a number of years that a significant > proportion of the fatalities we're going to experience every year are going > to be pedestrians." > > Turner said he's seen cases where drivers do not see the pedestrian, > including an instance on Portage Avenue where a bus driver did not see > someone crossing. He also said he sees people every day who dart across the > street after taking a quick look at the traffic and "just run for their > lives." A number of pedestrian fatalities in the city's core area have > involved intoxicated people, he said. > > Unlike other cities, jaywalking is not illegal in Winnipeg so police do not > hand out fines or tickets. > > "Unfortunately, the only accountability is when they get smacked by a car > and they're killed or severely injured," Turner said. "The result is that a > driver who, a lot of the time is not at fault, suffers the trauma of knowing > they've hit a pedestrian they really couldn't control." > > Swanson, co-ordinator of One Green City, a volunteer project to create a > network of safe cycling routes, said part of the problem is that the current > road system was designed with cars in mind, not people, and it will take > time and money to make streets safer. Last year, the city spent $24 million > on bike-and-pedestrian upgrades to 35 routes. The overhaul was part of an > infrastructure-stimulus program funded by all three levels of government. > > Swanson said it's a good starting point, but there's still a long way to > go. > > "Since the car has caught on, we've invested almost exclusively on > automobile infrastructure for decades. It's going to take a big investment > to make things safer," he said. > > High-volume intersections such as Portage and Main are designed to take > pedestrians out of the mix, and the city keeps tabs on problem areas that > may need a pedestrian crossing. > > City road engineer Stephen Chapman said the city examines 10 years of > collision data when concerns are raised about pedestrian safety. > > The city looks at the volume of cars, the number of pedestrians and factors > in any reported collisions to determine if engineering improvements could > make the road safer. > > While new roads are built with safety in mind, Chapman said Winnipeg has a > lot of older areas that still need to be brought up to modern standards. > Sometimes, he said, the city will put in a guard rail, widen a sidewalk, > raise curbs and move a light stand back to address safety concerns. > > "When you have a road that was designed years and years ago, it's older and > may not meet certain standards," he said. "We try to bring it to those > standards." > > Chapman said in recent years the intersections prone to the highest number > of pedestrian crashes -- including Portage Avenue and Langside Street and > Osborne Street and Wardlaw Avenue-- have had lights replaced by half-signals > facing just one, not both, of the roadways. Often, he said, the width of the > road can make it more difficult for pedestrians to cross and the city needs > to make it clear who has the right of way. > > Widening the streets to make it safer for pedestrians is tricky in older > areas of the city. Winnipeg has narrow, old roads and dated bridges that > make seriation safety upgrades difficult. > > "We're always working toward improving the pedestrian crossings in the city > and concentrating our efforts on areas that are most problematic for > collisions," he said. > > But those upgrades have to be done within a limited budget. > > This year, the traffic engineering improvement program -- which is > responsible for intersection and road design improvements and pedestrian > corridors -- will spend a total of $1.95 million. Chapman said the branch > prioritizes projects according to need, and works within their annual budget > to get things done and move other projects up the list. > > While Chapman said the good news is the city is in the midst of major road > upgrades -- including the Chief Peguis Trail extension -- due to > partnerships with other levels of government, the city's infrastructure > deficit is a daunting $3.8 billion. > > Earlier this year, staff and parents from École River Heights asked > council's public works committee for a pedestrian crossing at Elm Street, > where students get off the bus. In the last eight years, five students have > been taken to the hospital after a vehicle struck them. > > The committee agreed to move the existing pedestrian corridor from Oak > Street to Elm Street, but decided against overhead flashing lights to alert > drivers a student is crossing. > > Parent council chairman Rod Miller said the city told him the crossing > doesn't meet the criteria to have flashing lights and 88 per cent of > similarly requested projects are ahead on the city's list. Miller said he > doesn't understand why the city will not take the extra step and eliminate > any potential risk to students. > > "It's frustrating from where I sit," he said. "If between now and the time > the thing is done a kid gets hit and breaks a leg, what's the cost? > $100,000, $200,000 minimum, versus a $32,000 installation. Where's the money > better spent?" > > Swanson said he would like to see citizens say "enough is enough" and > demand Winnipeg strive for zero road fatalities. He said every Winnipegger > needs to take responsibility and decide that people have the right to get > from point A to point B safely. > > "In an urban environment, I don't see any reason for people to die > unnecessarily," Swanson said. > > jen.skerritt(a)freepress.mb.ca > > *The numbers* > > *2011: four deaths, (as of Aug. 2, 2011)* > > April 3: Redwood Avenue and Powers Street > > April 13: Henderson Highway and Leighton Avenue > > June 13: Main Street and Higgins Avenue > > June 29: Pembina Highway and Dalhousie Drive (cyclist) > > *2010: 12 pedestrian deaths and two cyclist deaths* > > March 18: Taylor Avenue and Waverley Street > > March 27: Main Street and Atlantic Avenue > > April 11: Main Street and Machray Avenue > > April 15: 1145 Dakota St. > > June 17: Main Street and Jarvis Avenue (cyclist) > > June 25: Manitoba Avenue and Charles Street (cyclist) > > July 15: McPhillips Street and Templeton Avenue > > Aug. 11: Portage Avenue and Raglan Road > > Aug. 21: 1670 Portage Ave. > > Oct. 25: Mountain Avenue and McGregor Street > > Dec. 19: 446 Young St. > > Dec. 20: Portage Avenue and Sherbrook Street > > Dec. 23: McPhillips Street and Pacific Avenue > > Dec. 24: Fife Street and Inkster Boulevard > > 2009: 1 cyclist death > > July 4: Jefferson Avenue and Airlies Street (cyclist) > > *2008: six pedestrian deaths* > > Feb. 1: Kenaston Boulevard and Boulton Bay > > Feb. 11: Grant Avenue and Lilac Street > > June 7: Selkirk Avenue and Andrews Street > > June 25: Donald Street and St. Mary Avenue > > Sept. 26: Notre Dame Avenue and Spruce Street > > Dec. 29: Isabel Street and Ross Avenue > > *2007: six pedestrians and three cyclists* > > March 23: Mountain Avenue and Kildarroch Street > > May 23: McPhillips Street and Leila Avenue > > July 24 - Burrows Avenue and McGregor Street (cyclist) > > Sept. 14: St. Mary's Road and Oakleigh Place > > Sept. 28: Redonda Street and Gunn Road (cyclist) > > Oct. 31 - Warsaw Avenue and Harrow Street (cyclist) > > Nov. 6: Inkster Boulevard and Sinclair Street > > Nov. 13: 1395 Grant Ave. > > Dec. 6: Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway > > -- Source: Winnipeg Police Service > > > > _______________________________________________ > AT-Network mailing list > AT-Network(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/at-network > >

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WFP: Blazed by the trails - Wpg family thrilled to use city's well-hidden network of paths (Aug.15'11)
by Beth McKechnie 15 Aug '11

15 Aug '11

Blazed by the trails Winnipeg family thrilled to use city’s well-hidden network of off-the-beaten paths By: Shamona Harnett http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/Blazed-by-the-trails---… Janice Lukes has flown to the most exotic places on Earth. And although the Winnipeg mother of three’s globetrotting days are over, her past travels can’t compete with the adventures she experiences every day in the unlikeliest of places — on her own city’s pathways. Most citizens here don’t know much about the Winnipeg’s trails — hidden wilderness gems that meander through river-bottom forests, wind through open fields and snake along abandoned rail beds. But Lukes, her husband and her sons — eight-year-old triplets — walk, cycle and play on many of them. And they’re always seeking out new ones. Their latest fascination? The Yellow Ribbon Greenway Trail, a 5.5-kilometre stretch of pathway located in a remote section of St. James. There’s lots to see on this trail, including an outdoor warplane museum and a creek full of frogs. But the best part of the trail for the family are the low-flying airplanes they get to see touching down at James Armstrong Richardson International Airport. "You can touch the fence where the runway is," says Lukes, one of the city’s leading trail advocates and a member of the province’s Active Transportation Advisory Group. "You stand on the trail and you can see these fat-bellied planes come in and land. It’s fascinating. My kids were blown away by that. And I was blown away by it." Her voice inflects upwards when she talks about her latest trail discovery. "It’s a really obscure location that no one would have gone to before because there was no road. There was nothing around it!" Lukes says it was two decades ago when some forward- thinking city officials came up with the idea to build a trail system in Winnipeg — one whose legs would would eventually connect together. Then, the city had only scattered bits and pieces of trail that really didn’t go anywhere. Today, trail advocates are closer than ever to realizing their dream of a Winnipeg full of people using their own physical power to get to from point A to point B along a connected trail system. Wander onto city trails on a summer day and you can see walkers, runners, cyclists, in-line skaters, parents pushing their babies in strollers as well as people in wheelchairs. Some are commuting to a specific place. Others are just enjoying a deep breath of nature. To date, the Winnipeg Trails Association lists nearly 40 trails. Some are more connected than others. In the last five years, Lukes says, more than $40 million has been spent on trails and cycling infrastructure around Winnipeg — $20 million just last year alone. Of course, many would argue that the money would be better spent elsewhere. But to Lukes, the health benefits are worth the price tag. "If I don’t keep my kids mobile, what are they going to do?" says Lukes, the St. Norbert resident who has advocated for trails for nine years. "It’s so easy to turn the TV on. It’s so easy to let them sit in front of this stuff. "I think what’s good about the trails are that (they are) free. You need a pair of runners. Trails fit people’s schedules and they fit people’s budgets. And they cost peanuts to build compared to the roadways." Here are the basics you need to know about Winnipeg’s trails. This is the first in a series of Healthy Living stories about our growing trail system: *What’s the purpose of Winnipeg’s trails?* Trail advocates want Winnipeggers walking, running, cycling, in-line skating, skipping and wandering down city trails. Ideally, the trails will help Winnipeggers become more active and, therefore, fitter. (According to a Active Transportation Advisory Group report, 55 per cent of Manitoba’s people are overweight or obese. Meanwhile, 45 per cent of Manitobans are considered inactive. Trail proponents hope the trails’ increasing connectivity make them a viable, safe way for people to get from one neighbourhood to the other free from car traffic. *How many trails are in Winnipeg?* "It depends on what you define as a trail. There are many bits and pieces which are too small to have an official name," says Lukes. The Winnipeg Trails Association has mapped out 38 city trails. Many trails are outfitted with signs that depict points of interest, etc. *How is the trail system organized?* In 1993, the city came up with the idea to divide the city into six parkways — essentially consisting of land along both sides of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. The goal is to hook up the parkways to form a continuous trail system. This web of parkways joins one park to another. Trails mainly curve around the riverbanks and, when necessary, wind onto residential streets. The riverwalk at the Forks, for example is part of the North Winnipeg Parkway. It, like other trails in the city, is partially under water due to flooding. There are also several community trails that are not part of the parkway system. These trails generally thrive thanks to the dedication of community volunteers who lobby on behalf of these neighbourhood trails. Monkey trails are unofficial trails not sanctioned by the city. Adventurers tend to like these trails because they wind up and down along the edge of riverbanks. "You have to be a monkey to go on them," explains Lukes. *What is the Trans Canada Trail?* A project the federal government touts as the world’s longest network of trails. Today, more than 15,500 kilometres worth of Trans Canada trail has been developed nationwide, 1,400 kilometres of which is in the wilds of rural Manitoba. *Is there a way for the city to profit from its trails?* Advocates say Winnipeg’s trails will attract tourists and lead to growth in the city’s economy. We may already be profiting from our trails, according to Brandon Bertram, an employee at Woodcock Cycle Works on St. Mary’s Road. He says he often rents bikes to visitors who seem more eager to explore city trails than Winnipeggers are. "They come in asking for good places to ride, that kind of thing. Not a whole lot of people from the city come in for that type of advice," says Bertram. *How can you find out how to get to various Winnipeg trails?* Log onto the Winnipeg Trails Association website. It’s located at www.winnipegtrails.ca The site contains maps and detailed information about city trails. Follow Shamona on Twitter at Follow Shamona on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ShamonaHarnett *Have an interesting idea you’d like Shamona to write about? Contact her at shamona.harnett(a)freepress.mb.ca*

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Blazed by the trails
by Mike Tutthill 15 Aug '11

15 Aug '11

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/Blazed-by-the-trails---… Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION Blazed by the trailsWinnipeg family thrilled to use city’s well-hidden network of off-the-beaten paths By: Shamona Harnett Posted: 08/15/2011 8:28 AM Janice Lukes has flown to the most exotic places on Earth. And although the Winnipeg mother of three’s globetrotting days are over, her past travels can’t compete with the adventures she experiences every day in the unlikeliest of places — on her own city’s pathways. Most citizens here don’t know much about the Winnipeg’s trails — hidden wilderness gems that meander through river-bottom forests, wind through open fields and snake along abandoned rail beds. But Lukes, her husband and her sons — eight-year-old triplets — walk, cycle and play on many of them. And they’re always seeking out new ones. Their latest fascination? The Yellow Ribbon Greenway Trail, a 5.5-kilometre stretch of pathway located in a remote section of St. James. There’s lots to see on this trail, including an outdoor warplane museum and a creek full of frogs. But the best part of the trail for the family are the low-flying airplanes they get to see touching down at James Armstrong Richardson International Airport. "You can touch the fence where the runway is," says Lukes, one of the city’s leading trail advocates and a member of the province’s Active Transportation Advisory Group. "You stand on the trail and you can see these fat-bellied planes come in and land. It’s fascinating. My kids were blown away by that. And I was blown away by it." Her voice inflects upwards when she talks about her latest trail discovery. "It’s a really obscure location that no one would have gone to before because there was no road. There was nothing around it!" Lukes says it was two decades ago when some forward- thinking city officials came up with the idea to build a trail system in Winnipeg — one whose legs would would eventually connect together. Then, the city had only scattered bits and pieces of trail that really didn’t go anywhere. Today, trail advocates are closer than ever to realizing their dream of a Winnipeg full of people using their own physical power to get to from point A to point B along a connected trail system. Wander onto city trails on a summer day and you can see walkers, runners, cyclists, in-line skaters, parents pushing their babies in strollers as well as people in wheelchairs. Some are commuting to a specific place. Others are just enjoying a deep breath of nature. To date, the Winnipeg Trails Association lists nearly 40 trails. Some are more connected than others. In the last five years, Lukes says, more than $40 million has been spent on trails and cycling infrastructure around Winnipeg — $20 million just last year alone. Of course, many would argue that the money would be better spent elsewhere. But to Lukes, the health benefits are worth the price tag. "If I don’t keep my kids mobile, what are they going to do?" says Lukes, the St. Norbert resident who has advocated for trails for nine years. "It’s so easy to turn the TV on. It’s so easy to let them sit in front of this stuff. "I think what’s good about the trails are that (they are) free. You need a pair of runners. Trails fit people’s schedules and they fit people’s budgets. And they cost peanuts to build compared to the roadways." Here are the basics you need to know about Winnipeg’s trails. This is the first in a series of Healthy Living stories about our growing trail system: What’s the purpose of Winnipeg’s trails? Trail advocates want Winnipeggers walking, running, cycling, in-line skating, skipping and wandering down city trails. Ideally, the trails will help Winnipeggers become more active and, therefore, fitter. (According to a Active Transportation Advisory Group report, 55 per cent of Manitoba’s people are overweight or obese. Meanwhile, 45 per cent of Manitobans are considered inactive. Trail proponents hope the trails’ increasing connectivity make them a viable, safe way for people to get from one neighbourhood to the other free from car traffic. How many trails are in Winnipeg? "It depends on what you define as a trail. There are many bits and pieces which are too small to have an official name," says Lukes. The Winnipeg Trails Association has mapped out 38 city trails. Many trails are outfitted with signs that depict points of interest, etc. How is the trail system organized? In 1993, the city came up with the idea to divide the city into six parkways — essentially consisting of land along both sides of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. The goal is to hook up the parkways to form a continuous trail system. This web of parkways joins one park to another. Trails mainly curve around the riverbanks and, when necessary, wind onto residential streets. The riverwalk at the Forks, for example is part of the North Winnipeg Parkway. It, like other trails in the city, is partially under water due to flooding. There are also several community trails that are not part of the parkway system. These trails generally thrive thanks to the dedication of community volunteers who lobby on behalf of these neighbourhood trails. Monkey trails are unofficial trails not sanctioned by the city. Adventurers tend to like these trails because they wind up and down along the edge of riverbanks. "You have to be a monkey to go on them," explains Lukes. What is the Trans Canada Trail? A project the federal government touts as the world’s longest network of trails. Today, more than 15,500 kilometres worth of Trans Canada trail has been developed nationwide, 1,400 kilometres of which is in the wilds of rural Manitoba. Is there a way for the city to profit from its trails? Advocates say Winnipeg’s trails will attract tourists and lead to growth in the city’s economy. We may already be profiting from our trails, according to Brandon Bertram, an employee at Woodcock Cycle Works on St. Mary’s Road. He says he often rents bikes to visitors who seem more eager to explore city trails than Winnipeggers are. "They come in asking for good places to ride, that kind of thing. Not a whole lot of people from the city come in for that type of advice," says Bertram. How can you find out how to get to various Winnipeg trails? Log onto the Winnipeg Trails Association website. It’s located at www.winnipegtrails.ca The site contains maps and detailed information about city trails. Follow Shamona on Twitter at Follow Shamona on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ShamonaHarnett Have an interesting idea you’d like Shamona to write about? Contact her at shamona.harnett(a)freepress.mb.ca -- Mike Tutthill Planning & Community Engagement Consultant HEALTH in COMMON 100-6 Donald Street Winnipeg, MB R3L 0K6 tel: 204.949.2002 1.800.731.1792 fax: 204.284.2404 email: mtutthill(a)healthincommon.ca web: www.healthincommon.ca +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ June E-Newsletter deadline is May 20. *Health in Common on Facebook*<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-in-Common/120069149875> ü Please consider the environment before printing this email. *Coming to Health in Common?* *By bicycle: *Bicycle parking is located behind the building. *By Winnipeg transit: *Routes 62, 65, 66, 68, 70* *** *By car: *Two visitor parking spaces are available at the back of the building.* Street parking (restrictions): *Bell Avenue (1hr 9h00 – 17h30), Clarke Street (none); Lewis (none); Cauchon (none); River (none west of Clarke).

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WFP: Our daily demolition derby - Car crashes mean death, misery and expense -- all avoidable (Aug.13'11)
by Beth McKechnie 15 Aug '11

15 Aug '11

[Accompanying car context as counterpoint for the earlier walking & cycling article...] Our daily demolition derby Car crashes mean death, misery and expense -- all avoidable By: Jen Skerritt http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/our-daily-demolition-derby-12… They can happen as you back out of your driveway, stop at a red light or turn onto a busy street in morning rush-hour traffic. Car crashes can occur anytime, anywhere, to anyone, and records released through a freedom of information request reveal they are so common, an average of 143 are reported to Manitoba Public Insurance on any given day in Winnipeg -- about one collision every 10 minutes. A staggering 261,875 claims were reported in Winnipeg between 2005 and 2009, the latest available MPI data. That's an average of 52,375 crashes every year. These are not all major incidents, and claimants did not identify the crash location in about half of all collision reports. MPI says the collisions range from fender-benders in back lanes and parking lots to cars that bump into trees or poles or get smashed up after run-ins with potholes. The numbers also include single-vehicle rollovers and multiple car pileups. Police respond to a fraction of these -- about 12,000 every year -- typically, the ones that tie up traffic or cause injuries. While the bulk of reported collisions are relatively minor, the most recent police data show 2,690 people were injured in automobile crashes in 2009 and 13 people died. MPI anticipates as many as five dozen crash victims will sustain life-altering brain injuries from the impact each year, and another 10 people will be para- or quadriplegic. The real rub is these crashes are largely preventable and take a staggering emotional toll on victims and financial toll on society. MPI does not calculate the total direct and indirect costs of road accidents, which include everything from hospitalization and insurance rates to police and paramedics. However, estimates out of Edmonton peg the annual cost of road crashes in that city at $500 million. While the total number of road accidents has remained relatively stable in the past few years, critics say Winnipeg still lags behind other cities when it comes to making roads safer and needs to explore what more it can do to ensure motorists are not on a collision course. "Many, many other cities in Canada and in the U.S. are far, far ahead of us in terms of the progress they've made. They're making it a more hospitable environment for cars and bikes and pedestrians," said CAA Manitoba spokeswoman Liz Peters. "I think we've got a long way to go." Winnipeg is unique among cities of its size as it does not have freeways and relies on major roads such as Kenaston and Lagimodiere to funnel traffic to other regional streets. City road engineers say they use traffic signals to control the flow of vehicles on every major road, and there are 620 intersections and 157 pedestrian corridors across the city. Intersections are conflict points and, by design, increase the risk motorists will collide with another vehicle or a pedestrian. That's because they are the point at which drivers have to decide whether to stop, go or turn. Road-safety experts say there are 32 points of potential conflict at an intersection, compared to about eight for a roundabout. "Every time you have to stop, you increase the risk of a crash because the person behind you may not feel it's appropriate to stop and they keep going," said Toronto-based traffic engineering consultant Alison Smiley, president of Human Factors North. In Winnipeg, intersections with the highest traffic volumes -- including Kenaston and McGillivray boulevards and Leila Avenue and McPhillips Street -- have recorded the most crashes. Kenaston and McGillivray see upwards of 45,000 vehicles on a daily basis, which is only expected to increase with more cars on the road, new housing and big-box developments such as Waverley West and Ikea. Between 2005 and 2009, three people died and 1,500 injuries were reported at the 10 intersections that recorded the largest number of crashes. Fridays were the worst days, recording 1,233 collisions in total, and the afternoon rush-hour is the worst time period for crashes, with 2,020 reported in a five-year span. Snowy, blustery winter days recorded the highest number of crashes, and January was the month that recorded the most car accidents. "It's astronomical," Winnipeg police Patrol Sgt. Damien Turner said. "It's a huge, huge drain on resources." The data MPI collects paint a clear picture that crashes happen every day, everywhere. Yet the statistics do not say much about what causes them or why some intersections are more accident-prone than others. Cities such as Edmonton have devoted traffic analysts and statisticians to interpret crash data. Edmonton has used the information to move toward more evidence-based policing on things such as speeding, and to measure the outcome of programs targeted at nabbing drunk drivers. MPI officials record the date, time and location, if reported, of all crash-related claims. Police collect similar information and inform the city's public works department, which keeps tabs on intersections of concern that may need engineering improvements. In general, the usual suspects -- speed, alcohol, driver distraction and road conditions -- play a big role. MPI does not track how many crashes are caused by speed, but the public insurer says it and distracted driving account for a large number of collisions. About one-third of all collisions reported every year are rear-enders. Another 15 per cent are T-bone crashes at intersections, which are considered the most serious since they tend to cause more severe injuries. Though drinking and driving remains a huge problem, MPI CEO Marilyn McLaren said it causes fewer crashes than speeding and inattention. However, she said, drinking and driving is more likely to cause catastrophic injury and death and tends to have a larger "impact" in terms of the severity of the crash. "We can say that speed is certainly a factor, and I think distracted driving is another big category, for sure," McLaren said. The good news, McLaren said, is the percentage of injuries has dropped and the total number of yearly crashes has remained relatively stable despite a spike in the number of newly licensed drivers. That's in part due to better vehicle design and construction, she said, since things such as airbags and passenger-side airbags can help prevent more serious injury. The same trend is seen across parts of the globe, where a focus on safe driving and better road design and construction has helped reduce the number of fatalities in the last half-century. In Canada, the number of fatalities due to car accidents has dropped 60 per cent in the last 40 years. The bad news is, there is still a lot of work to do. Transport Canada statistics show one person dies every four hours or is admitted to hospital every 90 minutes as a result of a traffic collision somewhere in the country. The human and financial toll is huge, and MPI pays out $2,300 for every non-fatal claim and about $90,000 for every traffic-related death. Gerry Shimko, director of Edmonton's office of traffic safety, said people would not tolerate 20 airplanes crashing in Canada every year, but road accidents kill roughly the same number of people. He said governments need to better integrate their road-safety systems to reduce costs and save lives. "I think there's an opportunity to turn the other way. It's not easy," McLaren said. "Most crashes are absolute accidents, but it also fundamentally means somebody could've done something to avoid it." jen.skerritt(a)freepress.mb.ca The numbers *NUMBER OF COLLISIONS IN WINNIPEG BETWEEN 2005 AND 2009 (REPORTED TO MANITOBA PUBLIC INSURANCE):* 261,875 *WHOA! THAT'S A LOT.* Yes, and that includes every kind of damage claim, including run-ins with potholes, single-vehicle rollovers, fender-benders and multiple-car pileups. *WHERE DO THESE COLLISIONS OCCUR?* Everywhere, though safety experts say drivers are at most risk of a crash at intersections, since that's the place where people have to decide to stop, go or turn. *INTERSECTIONS THAT RECORDED THE LARGEST NUMBER OF COLLISIONS BETWEEN 2005 TO 2009:* 1) Kenaston Boulevard & McGillivray Boulevard: 1,039 crashes 2) Leila Avenue & McPhillips Street: 993 crashes 3) Grant Avenue & Kenaston Boulevard: 774 crashes 4) Lagimodiere Boulevard & Regent Avenue West: 759 crashes 5) Bishop Grandin Boulevard & St. Mary's Road: 641 crashes 6) Bishop Grandin Boulevard & St. Anne's Road: 619 crashes 7) Archibald Street & Marion Street: 608 crashes 8) Moray Street & Portage Avenue: 556 crashes 9) Bishop Grandin Boulevard & Dakota Street: 537 crashes 10) Portage Avenue & St. James Street: 524 crashes *MONTH THAT RECORDED THE MOST CRASHES:* January *MONTH THAT RECORDED THE FEWEST CRASHES:* August *DAY IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS THAT RECORDED THE MOST CRASHES:* Feb. 9, 2009 *WHAT KIND OF CRASHES ARE THE MOST COMMON?* Police respond to about one-quarter of all crashes reported to Manitoba Public Insurance. They say about 31 per cent of all collisions are rear-enders. Another 15 per cent of crashes occur at intersections where a vehicle is T-boned. *HOW MANY DRIVERS ARE THERE IN WINNIPEG?* In 2011, there are nearly 400,000 registered vehicles and light trucks in the city -- a 6.5 per cent increase from 2007. *HOW MANY OF THEM ARE NEW DRIVERS?* According to the most recent statistics, about 25,000 drivers successfully obtained their driver's licence in 2009. MPI says that number usually remains stable every year. *HOW OLD ARE THESE NEW DRIVERS AND WHO ARE THEY?* The majority are under 34, and more Winnipeg women are getting their driver's licence than men. MPI officials say in all likelihood, immigrants to Canada account for a large percentage of new drivers over age 35. -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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WFP: Walking, cycling can be deadly - As more of us hike and bike, will death toll rise? (Aug.15'11)
by Beth McKechnie 15 Aug '11

15 Aug '11

Walking, cycling can be deadly As more of us hike and bike, will death toll rise? By: Jen Skerritt http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/walking-cycling--can-be-deadly-12771… Pedestrians and cyclists have long been a major part of traffic deaths and injuries, Winnipeg police say, and there's increasing cause for concern as more people take up walking or bike riding. In the last 18 months, for instance, 29 people died on Winnipeg streets in car crashes, and 18 of them were pedestrians or cyclists. Since 2007, 79 people have died on Winnipeg streets in vehicle collisions, including 36 pedestrians and cyclists. So far this year, four pedestrians have been killed on Winnipeg roads. Of the 18 serious or fatal crashes that police investigated in 2011 to date, 11 involve pedestrians and two involve cyclists. Active-transportation activist Anders Swanson said he's worried society has collectively forgotten these deaths are preventable and lowering vehicle speed and investing in better infrastructure can help prevent them. He said governments spend millions of dollars on research to prevent deaths caused by disease, but comparably spend very little on preventing road crashes. "Here you have this one cause of death, which is basically preventable, and we're not doing anything about it," Swanson said. Sometimes, accidents happen at intersections or pedestrian corridors. Other times, pedestrians are jaywalking, intoxicated or not paying attention. Most years, Winnipeg Police Patrol Sgt. Damian Turner said, between 20 and 25 people die on Winnipeg roads, and a substantial portion of those deaths are people who were crossing the street or cycling. According to the latest police data, 140 pedestrians and 79 cyclists were injured on Winnipeg roads in 2009. Police are still reviewing data from last year. "We're concerned about the fact that pedestrians are being hit," Turner said. "It is common. We've known for a number of years that a significant proportion of the fatalities we're going to experience every year are going to be pedestrians." Turner said he's seen cases where drivers do not see the pedestrian, including an instance on Portage Avenue where a bus driver did not see someone crossing. He also said he sees people every day who dart across the street after taking a quick look at the traffic and "just run for their lives." A number of pedestrian fatalities in the city's core area have involved intoxicated people, he said. Unlike other cities, jaywalking is not illegal in Winnipeg so police do not hand out fines or tickets. "Unfortunately, the only accountability is when they get smacked by a car and they're killed or severely injured," Turner said. "The result is that a driver who, a lot of the time is not at fault, suffers the trauma of knowing they've hit a pedestrian they really couldn't control." Swanson, co-ordinator of One Green City, a volunteer project to create a network of safe cycling routes, said part of the problem is that the current road system was designed with cars in mind, not people, and it will take time and money to make streets safer. Last year, the city spent $24 million on bike-and-pedestrian upgrades to 35 routes. The overhaul was part of an infrastructure-stimulus program funded by all three levels of government. Swanson said it's a good starting point, but there's still a long way to go. "Since the car has caught on, we've invested almost exclusively on automobile infrastructure for decades. It's going to take a big investment to make things safer," he said. High-volume intersections such as Portage and Main are designed to take pedestrians out of the mix, and the city keeps tabs on problem areas that may need a pedestrian crossing. City road engineer Stephen Chapman said the city examines 10 years of collision data when concerns are raised about pedestrian safety. The city looks at the volume of cars, the number of pedestrians and factors in any reported collisions to determine if engineering improvements could make the road safer. While new roads are built with safety in mind, Chapman said Winnipeg has a lot of older areas that still need to be brought up to modern standards. Sometimes, he said, the city will put in a guard rail, widen a sidewalk, raise curbs and move a light stand back to address safety concerns. "When you have a road that was designed years and years ago, it's older and may not meet certain standards," he said. "We try to bring it to those standards." Chapman said in recent years the intersections prone to the highest number of pedestrian crashes -- including Portage Avenue and Langside Street and Osborne Street and Wardlaw Avenue-- have had lights replaced by half-signals facing just one, not both, of the roadways. Often, he said, the width of the road can make it more difficult for pedestrians to cross and the city needs to make it clear who has the right of way. Widening the streets to make it safer for pedestrians is tricky in older areas of the city. Winnipeg has narrow, old roads and dated bridges that make seriation safety upgrades difficult. "We're always working toward improving the pedestrian crossings in the city and concentrating our efforts on areas that are most problematic for collisions," he said. But those upgrades have to be done within a limited budget. This year, the traffic engineering improvement program -- which is responsible for intersection and road design improvements and pedestrian corridors -- will spend a total of $1.95 million. Chapman said the branch prioritizes projects according to need, and works within their annual budget to get things done and move other projects up the list. While Chapman said the good news is the city is in the midst of major road upgrades -- including the Chief Peguis Trail extension -- due to partnerships with other levels of government, the city's infrastructure deficit is a daunting $3.8 billion. Earlier this year, staff and parents from École River Heights asked council's public works committee for a pedestrian crossing at Elm Street, where students get off the bus. In the last eight years, five students have been taken to the hospital after a vehicle struck them. The committee agreed to move the existing pedestrian corridor from Oak Street to Elm Street, but decided against overhead flashing lights to alert drivers a student is crossing. Parent council chairman Rod Miller said the city told him the crossing doesn't meet the criteria to have flashing lights and 88 per cent of similarly requested projects are ahead on the city's list. Miller said he doesn't understand why the city will not take the extra step and eliminate any potential risk to students. "It's frustrating from where I sit," he said. "If between now and the time the thing is done a kid gets hit and breaks a leg, what's the cost? $100,000, $200,000 minimum, versus a $32,000 installation. Where's the money better spent?" Swanson said he would like to see citizens say "enough is enough" and demand Winnipeg strive for zero road fatalities. He said every Winnipegger needs to take responsibility and decide that people have the right to get from point A to point B safely. "In an urban environment, I don't see any reason for people to die unnecessarily," Swanson said. jen.skerritt(a)freepress.mb.ca *The numbers* *2011: four deaths, (as of Aug. 2, 2011)* April 3: Redwood Avenue and Powers Street April 13: Henderson Highway and Leighton Avenue June 13: Main Street and Higgins Avenue June 29: Pembina Highway and Dalhousie Drive (cyclist) *2010: 12 pedestrian deaths and two cyclist deaths* March 18: Taylor Avenue and Waverley Street March 27: Main Street and Atlantic Avenue April 11: Main Street and Machray Avenue April 15: 1145 Dakota St. June 17: Main Street and Jarvis Avenue (cyclist) June 25: Manitoba Avenue and Charles Street (cyclist) July 15: McPhillips Street and Templeton Avenue Aug. 11: Portage Avenue and Raglan Road Aug. 21: 1670 Portage Ave. Oct. 25: Mountain Avenue and McGregor Street Dec. 19: 446 Young St. Dec. 20: Portage Avenue and Sherbrook Street Dec. 23: McPhillips Street and Pacific Avenue Dec. 24: Fife Street and Inkster Boulevard 2009: 1 cyclist death July 4: Jefferson Avenue and Airlies Street (cyclist) *2008: six pedestrian deaths* Feb. 1: Kenaston Boulevard and Boulton Bay Feb. 11: Grant Avenue and Lilac Street June 7: Selkirk Avenue and Andrews Street June 25: Donald Street and St. Mary Avenue Sept. 26: Notre Dame Avenue and Spruce Street Dec. 29: Isabel Street and Ross Avenue *2007: six pedestrians and three cyclists* March 23: Mountain Avenue and Kildarroch Street May 23: McPhillips Street and Leila Avenue July 24 - Burrows Avenue and McGregor Street (cyclist) Sept. 14: St. Mary's Road and Oakleigh Place Sept. 28: Redonda Street and Gunn Road (cyclist) Oct. 31 - Warsaw Avenue and Harrow Street (cyclist) Nov. 6: Inkster Boulevard and Sinclair Street Nov. 13: 1395 Grant Ave. Dec. 6: Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway -- Source: Winnipeg Police Service

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Webinar reminder: Wed, Aug 17, 2-3 pm, Designing Bridges for Active Transportation
by Beth McKechnie 15 Aug '11

15 Aug '11

Bike to the Future and Green Action Centre invite you to join us for this webinar being presented by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP): * *Location:* EcoCentre boardroom (303 Portage Ave, 3rd floor)* * * ** ** *Designing and Retrofitting Bridges for Active Transportation* *Wednesday, August 17 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Central Time *** Bridges are highly visible and symbolic pieces of infrastructure; they act as gateways and when done right can showcase a city's commitment to creating great places for bicycling and walking. With national attention on the USA's degrading and deficient infrastructure, bridge repair and rehabilitation will be a major engineering focus in coming years. This represents a historic opportunity to incorporate bicycle and pedestrian facilities in bridge design for future generations. Engineers, planners, advocates, and agency staff at all levels of government should attend this webinar to get up to speed on the policy, planning and design issues specific to building bridges that meet goals for supporting and increasing active transportation. Attendees will learn: • to identify the role of bridges in bicycle and pedestrian networks as critical links for accessibility between trip generators and popular destinations; • to define bicycle and pedestrian issues that arise during bridge rehabilitation in order to increase bicycling and walking mode share and safety; • to identify facility designs that safely manage transitions from different facility types, as well as how to select the appropriate cross section (i.e. how to divide space among different roadway users); • to recognize that bridge rehabilitations often involve multiple jurisdictions, and to discuss the complexities and lessons learned from working with numerous agencies and stakeholders. Examples will be taken from Massachusetts' accelerated bridge retrofit program in the Charles River Basin. Click on this link<http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=jessie@greenactioncentre.ca&job=426763&ymlin…>to learn the background about LivableStreets Alliance's Charles River Better Bridges Campaign. Click here<http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=jessie@greenactioncentre.ca&job=426763&ymlin…>to read the League of American Bicyclists' policy report, *Bridging the Gaps in Bicycling Networks: An advocate's guide to getting bikes on bridges*. Presenters are Jacqueline Douglas, Director, LivableStreets Alliance, and Nick Jackson, the Regional Office Director for Toole Design Group in Boston. -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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Some bike news from Treehugger
by Stacy Matwick 11 Aug '11

11 Aug '11

More Bike News: David Suzuki on Bike Lanes, The Guardian On Toronto's War on Bikes by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.11.11 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/08/more-bike-news-david-suzuki.php Stacy Matwick Information Centre International Institute for Sustainable Development 161 Portage Ave. E., 6th floor Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 0Y4 Voice: (204)958-7755 Fax: (204)958-7710 Email: smatwick(a)iisd.ca<mailto:smatwick@iisd.ca> IISD Research Library web page: http://www.iisd.org/ic SD-Cite: IISD Research Library database: http://sd-cite.iisd.org<http://sd-cite.iisd.org/> GENERata web-magazine: http://www.iisd.org/generata/ "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read" Groucho Marx

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It's time to make cycling safer: Ontario's doctors
by Beth McKechnie 11 Aug '11

11 Aug '11

It’s Time to Make Cycling Safer: Ontario’s Doctors*Toronto, August 10, 2011*- The most recent report on cycling injuries revealed that in 2009, there were 26,000 emergency department visits and over 1,300 hospitalizations in Ontario. With increasing interest in cycling across the province, Ontario’s doctors are urging the provincial government to make cyclists’ safety a priority. Dr. Stewart Kennedy, President of the Ontario Medical Association, released a comprehensive and in-depth report, “Enhancing Cycling Safety in Ontario<https://www.oma.org/Resources/Documents/OMACyclingPaper09-08-2011.pdf>,” before he cycled through downtown Toronto to raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Big Bike event. The report included a number recommendations aimed at increasing cyclists’ safety. Among the recommendations, Ontario’s doctors are calling for: - The provincial government to develop policy and programs, including funding, to facilitate safe cycling, and for municipal governments to redouble their efforts to build much-needed cycling infrastructure; - Connected networks of roads with paved shoulders in rural settings, to allow for the much needed separation between cyclists and fast-travelling vehicles on rural roads; - The Ontario Drivers’ Manual to be revised to include a comprehensive section on vehicle-bicycle interaction, and furthermore that the Ontario’s Drive Test include this in the examination of new drivers; - Ongoing delivery of bicycle safety education for young children through such programs as Can-Bike, and that such training be mandatory for all Ontario primary school students; and - Education material for both drivers and cyclists that emphasizes intersection-specific dangers. A safer environment for cycling is crucial to creating a healthier population. Ontario’s doctors want to make sure that Ontarians feel safe when riding their bicycles. For the complete list of recommendations from “Enhancing Cycling Safety in Ontario” please visit www.oma.org * Quotes *“Two-thirds of Canadians are inactive, putting them at greater risk of chronic disease. Cycling is a great a way to stay fit and a way for people of all ages to add essential physical activity to their daily lives and improve their health.” *Stewart Kennedy, MD, President of the Ontario Medical Association *“The debate about bicycle infrastructure is so often politically driven, but should really be about the health of the population and safety of those who choose to cycle. Ontario’s doctors are committed to working with the province and municipalities to create a safer Ontario for our cyclists.” *Stewart Kennedy, MD, President of the Ontario Medical Association Quick Facts * - Annually more than 2,000 cyclists are injured in vehicle-bicycle collisions alone; - 68 per cent of car-bike collisions happen at intersections and these most frequently involve children riding off of the sidewalk; and - In the past five years cycling fatalities from these collisions have averaged 20 per year. For more information please contact: OMA Media Relations at (416) 340-2862 or toll-free at 1-800-268-7215 ext. 2862 www.oma.org @Ontariosdoctors <http://twitter.com/#%21/OntariosDoctors>

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I like this Mayor's stance on parking in bike lanes
by Erik Dickson 10 Aug '11

10 Aug '11

If only... http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/mayor-lithuania-crushes-car-tank- parking-bike-lane-204422571.html Regards, Erik Dickson WE'VE MOVED Suite 1120 201 Portage Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3B 3K6 ph: (204) 927-3444 ext. 242 fax: (204) 927-3443 web: www.scatliff.ca blog: http://scatliff.tumblr.com Please consider our environment before printing this message.

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Bicyclist harassment outlawed by LA City Council
by Beth McKechnie 08 Aug '11

08 Aug '11

Bicyclist harassment outlawed by Los Angeles City Council New law makes it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bicycle-law-20110721,0,3219222.story By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times July 21, 2011 The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday passed a pioneering new law intended to protect bicyclists from harassment by motorists. The ordinance, which backers described as the toughest of its kind in the nation, makes it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically, and allows victims of harassment to sue in civil court without waiting for the city to press criminal charges. Its passage comes one day after a 63-year-old bicyclist was struck and killed by a car on a downtown street — an incident that bicycle advocates say underscores the dangers cyclists face. The new law is the latest bicycle-friendly measure to hit L.A., where an increasingly vocal community of activists has been calling for more protections. Several of them showed up at City Hall on Wednesday to share stories of harassment; they described motorists who threw objects, shouted insults and tried to run them off the road. As the number of cyclists on L.A. streets has swelled — local census data from 2008 show that about 13,000 commute to work on bikes, a 48% increase over the last eight years — so too have conflicts between motorists and bicyclists. Some motorists have accused cyclists of flouting traffic laws, while cyclists have complained that they are treated like second-class citizens. The new law allows cyclists to sue in civil court and collect up to three times their damages, plus attorney's fees. Ross Hirsch, a lawyer who helped craft the law, said the potential for high compensation will make attorneys more likely to take on cyclists as clients. Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, said no other city offers bicyclists an equivalent civil recourse. "It's a groundbreaking move," he said. L.A. lawmakers have garnered national attention with several bike-friendly measures in the last two years. In 2011, the Los Angeles Police Department<http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/police/los-angeles-police-de…>convened a bicycle task force and launched new training that acquaints officers with laws that protect cyclists, including traffic codes that relate to bicycle lanes and rights of way. And earlier this year, the city passed an ambitious new bicycle master plan<http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2010/10-2385-S2_MISC_07-11-2011.pdf>that calls for the paving of more than 200 miles of new bicycle routes every five years. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/bill-rosendahl-PEPLT007508.topic>, who championed that plan and wrote the new anti-harassment law, said, "It's about time cyclists have rights." He became an advocate for the community in 2008 after two cyclists pedaling on a curvy road in his Brentwood district were seriously injured when a driver slammed on his brakes in front of them. The motorist, physician Christopher Thompson, was convicted of numerous charges, including assault with a deadly weapon. At the state level, legislators are considering a law that would require drivers to give cyclists at least 3 feet of space while passing. Senate Bill 910 is cosponsored by the city of Los Angeles, and it has won the support of local politicians, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/antonio-villaraigosa-PEPLT007500.topic>, who recently launched a "Give Me Three!" safety campaign. Villaraigosa knows how dangerous riding a bicycle can be. Last summer, he bruised his head and shattered his elbow when he was jolted off his bike by a turning taxicab. *kate.linthicum(a)latimes.com* Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times <http://www.latimes.com/>

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Feel Good Story: Winnipeg Bike Valet
by Anders Swanson 08 Aug '11

08 Aug '11

I though you would be interested in seeing a picture of people in Bombers' jerseys holding their bikes and waiting in line at a bike valet: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Relax-car-culture-its-gonna-b… I spoke to David on Saturday and he told me that his numbers of bikes parked at Bomber's games have doubled since starting up just a year ago. Only 120 or so, but he keeps having to bring more racks and steal more space to make room at the site. (Although 120 may seem like an insignificant # compared to overall attendance, the # is growing rapidly....and 120 bikes represents alot of parking spaces, no matter what way you look at it. (Using the standard size on wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_space>, it seems to works out to 21,600 sq. ft. (or half an acre) of asphalt saved.) ..now if we can just find a way to weld tailgates on all bikes, we'd be set. Regards, Anders For more info, or to volunteer, please visit: http://www.bicyclevaletwinnipeg.ca/

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Mark your calendar! Aug 17 webinar: Designing Bridges for Active Transportation
by Beth McKechnie 04 Aug '11

04 Aug '11

Bike to the Future and Green Action Centre invite you to join us for this webinar being presented by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP): * *Location:* EcoCentre boardroom (303 Portage Ave, 3rd floor)* * * ** ** *Designing and Retrofitting Bridges for Active Transportation* *Wednesday, August 17 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Central Time *** Bridges are highly visible and symbolic pieces of infrastructure; they act as gateways and when done right can showcase a city's commitment to creating great places for bicycling and walking. With national attention on the USA's degrading and deficient infrastructure, bridge repair and rehabilitation will be a major engineering focus in coming years. This represents a historic opportunity to incorporate bicycle and pedestrian facilities in bridge design for future generations. Engineers, planners, advocates, and agency staff at all levels of government should attend this webinar to get up to speed on the policy, planning and design issues specific to building bridges that meet goals for supporting and increasing active transportation. Attendees will learn: • to identify the role of bridges in bicycle and pedestrian networks as critical links for accessibility between trip generators and popular destinations; • to define bicycle and pedestrian issues that arise during bridge rehabilitation in order to increase bicycling and walking mode share and safety; • to identify facility designs that safely manage transitions from different facility types, as well as how to select the appropriate cross section (i.e. how to divide space among different roadway users); • to recognize that bridge rehabilitations often involve multiple jurisdictions, and to discuss the complexities and lessons learned from working with numerous agencies and stakeholders. Examples will be taken from Massachusetts' accelerated bridge retrofit program in the Charles River Basin. Click on this link<http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=jessie@greenactioncentre.ca&job=426763&ymlin…>to learn the background about LivableStreets Alliance's Charles River Better Bridges Campaign. Click here<http://www.apbp.org/link.asp?e=jessie@greenactioncentre.ca&job=426763&ymlin…>to read the League of American Bicyclists' policy report, *Bridging the Gaps in Bicycling Networks: An advocate's guide to getting bikes on bridges*. Presenters are Jacqueline Douglas, Director, LivableStreets Alliance, and Nick Jackson, the Regional Office Director for Toole Design Group in Boston. -- *Beth McKechnie* | Workplace Commuter Options <http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca/> <http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> 3rd floor, 303 Portage Ave | (204) 925-3772 | Find us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/> Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living. Support our work by becoming a member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>

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Bikeshare makes for a nice ride in Minneapolis
by Beth McKechnie 03 Aug '11

03 Aug '11

Bikeshares are popping up across North America, with Montreal's Bixi<https://montreal.bixi.com/>being the first. Here's a short video on the success of Minneapolis's system called Nice Ride <https://www.niceridemn.org/> (purchased from Bixi), which is now one year old. One thing to keep in mind is that bikeshares work best in cities with significant amounts of bike infrastructure (bike lanes, separated on-road bike paths, pathways, etc). http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-08-01-bikeshare-makes-for-a-nice-ride-in-m… cheers, Beth

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NYC Spring Bike Counts Show Steady Growth of 14 Percent
by Beth McKechnie 02 Aug '11

02 Aug '11

Spring Bike Counts Show Steady Growth of 14 Percent by Noah Kazis <http://www.streetsblog.org/author/noah-kazis/> on July 28, 2011 http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/07/28/spring-bike-counts-show-steady-growth… *The growth of cycling in New York City shows no signs of letting up.* The Department of Transportation’s latest count of cyclists entering the center of the city posted a 14 percent increase this spring<http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c7…>compared to last spring. If the trend holds up for the rest of 2011, it will mark the fifth consecutive year<http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/commuter_cycling_indicator_and_da…>of double digit growth. “More and more New Yorkers are choosing to get around town by bicycle, and by creating more bike lanes, we’re giving New Yorkers the option to safely choose to bike,” said Mayor Bloomberg in a statement. “It’s the City’s responsibility to adjust to trends in commuting and ensure our streets are safe for everyone on the road, and by improving our street network and strengthening enforcement of traffic laws, we’ve made our streets safer than ever – for everyone.” As noted by Andrea Bernstein at Transportation Nation<http://transportationnation.org/2011/07/28/breaking-new-york-city-biking-is…>, the new numbers were released by the mayor’s office, not the Department of Transportation. That, along with Bloomberg’s statement, is an encouraging sign that the mayor is embracing the increase in cycling as a major achievement — perhaps in recognition of the broad public support for expanding the bike network<http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/07/28/bike-lanes-more-popular-than-god/> . According to the DOT count, the number of commuter cyclists this spring rose 62 percent compared to the spring of 2008. Since 2000, the number has increased by 262 percent. Until now the city has released the annual screenline counts all at once each fall. DOT says they will now release the counts more frequently. One thing to look for in the next release: How the Manhattan Bridge bike detour<http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/07/18/wanted-better-protection-for-thousand…>, which includes several harrowing blocks on the Bowery, is affecting bike commuting over that bridge and the nearby Brooklyn Bridge. The screenline count, which the city has been collecting for decades, has its advantages and disadvantages. By counting the number of cyclists crossing the East River bridges, on the Hudson River Greenway at 50th Street, and at the Staten Island Ferry, the city captures a certain set of trips that doesn’t necessarily reflect the full citywide picture<http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/04/27/how-many-new-yorkers-bike-each-day/> . Census data actually showed cycling decreasing<http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/10/01/did-nyc-bike-commuting-decrease-in-20…>citywide in 2008 and 2009, but the Census has its own flaws. It only tracks people’s primary commuting mode, hiding non-work trips and people who commute by bike less than half the time. The numbers DOT announced today, in contrast, count actual, observed bike trips.

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Transportation and social justice: The sentence is in on the Raquel Nelson case
by Beth McKechnie 02 Aug '11

02 Aug '11

Transportation and social justice: The sentence is in on the Raquel Nelson case by Sarah Goodyear <http://www.grist.org/people/Sarah+Goodyear> 26 Jul 2011 1:13 PM http://www.grist.org/transportation/2011-07-26-the-raquel-nelson-case-and-t… Could the Raquel Nelson case be a turning point in the way pedestrian rights are seen in this country? I write this shortly after the sentencing in Nelson's case. In case you haven't heard of her, Nelson is the Atlanta-area single mother who was convicted of vehicular homicide after her 4-year-old son was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver who later admitted to drinking and being on painkillers. Nelson and her three children, ages 9, 4, and 2, were trying to get from a bus stop to their apartment complex directly across a busy road, and there was no crosswalk or pedestrian signal to protect them. It was a shocking, and fatal, case of bad street design<http://www.grist.org/infrastructure/2011-07-20-when-design-kills-the-crimin…>. Such autocentric design is only too common around the country<http://www.grist.org/sprawl/2011-07-21-pedestrians-and-transit-riders-theyr…>; in this case, it was compounded by a mystifyingly aggressive prosecution. Today, in Cobb County State Court, Nelson was sentenced to 12 months probation and 40 hours community service<http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/mom-gets-choice-in-1042791.html>. Crucially, the judge also offered her an alternative: A new trial that would clear her of wrongdoing in the heartbreaking case. I'm waiting for word on which course she chooses. No matter what, the sentence is far better than the three years in prison she could have gotten. But why was Nelson in that courtroom to begin with? Nelson's conviction earlier this month on the vehicular homicide charge<http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/pedestrian-convicted-of-vehicular-1014879.html>, and the relatively light sentence received by the driver in the case (he got off with just hit-and-run charges, resulting in six months served and probation) attracted outrage from around the country. Advocacy groups like Transportation for America (T4A) took up the cause immediately. T4A's David Goldberg wrote a powerful blog post on the case<http://t4america.org/blog/2011/07/18/prosecuting-the-victim-absolving-the-p…>, following up on reporting by Tanya Snyder at Streetsblog Capitol Hill<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/07/14/mother-convicted-of-vehicular-homicide…> . Over at Change.org, Eliza Harris of Orlando, Fla<http://twitter.com/#%21/@myurbangen>., started a petition in support of Nelson<http://www.change.org/petitions/cobb-county-ga-release-grieving-mother-of-h…>that also called for a crosswalk in the place where her son, A.J., was killed. Yesterday morning, the petition had about 58,000 signatures. By the time the sentencing happened, that number had jumped to about 140,000. That big boost in the last 24 hours before Nelson's sentencing is probably due in large part to her appearance on the *Today *show<http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-07-25-mother-facing-jail-in-sons-jaywalkin…>. And this is what gives me hope: that a mainstream outlet like the *Today*show, with its mass audience and its incredible reach, even saw this as a story. Could it be that this country might finally be waking up to the idea that access to affordable, reliable, safe transportation is a serious public concern -- a matter of civil rights and full enfranchisement in our society? Today, Wired's Autopia blog ran a piece entitled "Transportation as a Civil Rights Issue<http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/07/transportation-as-a-civil-rights-issue/>." It follows up on a report from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights <http://www.civilrights.org/transportation/> about transportation equity as a central issue of social justice: The way the Conference sees it, access to transportation is key to connecting the poor, seniors and those with disabilities to jobs, schools, health care and other resources. It is essential to widening opportunities for all. Many of us take our mobility for granted, but getting around can be a real challenge for millions of Americans. This is a key issue as Congress considers the surface transportation reauthorization bill, which essentially maps out federal transportation spending and priorities for the next six years. "Smart and equitable transportation systems connect us to jobs, schools, housing, health care services -- and even to grocery stores and nutritious food," Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Conference, said in testimony presented to the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee<http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2011/04/1198-transportation-equity.html>. "But millions of low-income and working-class people, people of color and people with disabilities live in communities where quality transportation options are unaffordable, unreliable, or nonexistent." Transportation systems, and streets, need to be not only smart and equitable They also need to be safe. According to the Leadership Conference's report, Hispanic pedestrians suffer a death rate 62 percent higher, and African Americans almost 70 percent higher, than non-Hispanic whites. Several months ago, I spoke to Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink<http://www.grist.org/article/2010-10-29-angela-glover-blackwell-talks-about…>about the connection between transportation and social justice. When I ran into her recently at the Ford Foundation forum on "The Just City<http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-07-15-building-better-cities-so-people-can…>," I told her how often I have had occasion to reference our conversation. Here's what she told me then: [M]ost of the civil rights struggle in this country has centered around transportation, in one way or another, starting with *Plessy v. Ferguson *[in 1896]*.* That had to do with access to train cars. Then we have Rosa Parks sitting down on a bus. We had the Freedom Riders trying to do something to show that black people ought to be able to ride a bus across jurisdictions, they ought to be able to ride through the South on a bus without having to go to the back of the bus. The whole urban renewal, which people often call "black removal," because that's what happens, in the 60s, was a fight around highways coming in, going right through communities that had been vibrant, often destroying the financial district in an African-American community. So if you go all the way from *Plessy v. Ferguson* right up to the urban renewal, you will see that the fights have often been around transportation, and how transportation decisions have been made. It seems to me that the Raquel Nelson case has taken a place, however small, in this historic tradition. Maybe that's too optimistic. But at least it's a beginning. Sarah Goodyear is Grist's cities editor. She's also on Twitter<http://twitter.com/buttermilk1> . Mother convicted in son’s street-crossing death speaks out on Today show [VIDEO] http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-07-25-mother-facing-jail-in-sons-jaywalkin…

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