AT-Network July 2012

at-network@lists.umanitoba.ca

6 participants
26 discussions

by Mike Tutthill

July 8, 2012 It’s healthy to walk to school By Ben KnightMetro World Walking to school is simple, healthy and fun. And a large number of Canadian kids never do it. “Unlike other countries, Canada hasn’t paid much attention to the issues that people have when they travel on foot,” says Jacky Kennedy, director of Canada Walks. “At some point in our day, everybody does it, but it’s the most under-represented, ignored mode of transportation.” Canada Walks — part of the umbrella organization Green Communities Canada — is trying to raise awareness of the benefits of active transportation — walking, cycling and rollerblading. They’re trying to reach the parents of the 41 per cent of children who are routinely driven to school. “Pretty much what our society has done, over the last 30 years, is we’ve engineered physical activity out of our children’s lives,” Kennedy explains. “Our program targets the 68 per cent of Canadian children who live within a reasonable walking distance of their schools — about one-and-a-half kilometres. Only about 30 per cent of those currently use active travel to get to and from school.” There are a lot of reasons why this is. Parents worry about the safety of their kids, and there’s a compelling level of convenience to just dropping your children off at school, and driving on to the rest of your day. Kennedy counters that this caution and ease has its consequences. “Children need a minimum of 90 minutes of physical activity a day, and we know that many children aren’t getting that. If they walk to school, there isn’t a problem with burning off their excess energy.” Canada Walks does detailed assessments of the community surrounding a school. Are the walking and biking routes safe? If so, they organize programs like the Walking School Bus, where groups of children walk home together, accompanied by adults. Another program is Walk on Wednesday, where as many children as possible are asked to walk to school on the same day. With repetition, parents begin to see the health benefits — and it’s hard not to notice a substantial drop in car traffic around their school. “Parents and kids who are using active transportation some of the time are happier, they’re less stressed, they feel healthier and the kids are doing better in school,” Kennedy notes. For more info, visit saferoutestoschool.ca. http://metronews.ca/health/290147/its-healthy-to-walk-to-school/ -- Mike Tutthill Planning & Community Engagement Consultant HEALTH in COMMON 200 - 141 Bannatyne Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3B 0R3 tel: 204.946.1888 ext. 4 1.800.731.1792 fax: 204.284.2404 email: mtutthill(a)healthincommon.ca web: www.healthincommon.ca +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ *Health in Common on Facebook*< http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-in-Common/120069149875> ü Please consider the environment before printing this email.

11 years, 9 months

Lordy, lordy, let’s drop it to 40

by Mike Tutthill

>From the Metro: July 8, 2012 By Colin Fast <http://metronews.ca/author/cfast/>Metro Winnipeg This month, city council is discussing lowering school zone speed limits to 30 km/h. If approved, it would take about five years and $1 million to install hundreds of new speed limit signs throughout the city. While the goal of the plan is definitely worthwhile — improving road safety for children — there’s a couple of problems with the suggested approach. First, it’s unnecessarily confusing. The lower limits would only be in effect from September to June, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. No word yet on what happens during holidays or in-service days, so you’d be advised to keep a copy of the local school calendar pinned to your dashboard. Second, while there’s a concentration of kids around schools, they’re not the only places where children deal with traffic. Just getting to school usually involves walking or biking outside the school zone boundaries. Kids also use school playgrounds and gyms in the evening, they play at neighbourhood parks, and they run around in front of their own houses. All of which has me wondering if there’s an alternative that could be a lot simpler, safer, and much quicker to implement. What if we just lowered the residential speed limit in general? Now I can already hear howls from drivers if I suggested a 30 km/h limit across the city, so 40 km/h might be a good compromise. And offset that by actually increasing speeds on some regional streets that are currently posted artificially low (Grant Avenue and Kenaston Boulevard, I’m looking at you). Given the condition of many of our residential streets, 40 km/h is probably the limit for a car’s suspension anyway, but it also significantly increases safety. According to transportation experts, a pedestrian or cyclist hit at 50 km/h is two to three times more likely to die as one hit at 40 km/h. One could logically assume that injuries and property damage are also greatly reduced at the lower speed. Edmonton recently experimented with 40 km/h speed limits in several residential neighbourhoods, and saw a 25 per cent drop in severe collisions. Councillors in Ottawa are now talking about a 40 km/h limit, several cities in Australia have adopted them, and in the U.K. there’s a thriving campaign based around the idea of lowering residential limits to 20 mph (about 32 km/h). By lowering the residential limit to 40 km/h, we’d not only make our streets safer for kids, but for every pedestrian, cyclist and driver for that matter. We’d reduce collisions, save money on insurance premiums, and cut back on gas consumption. We’d prevent driver confusion from having a patchwork of different speed limits, and avoid the visual pollution of adding hundreds of new signs to the streets. And at what cost? It might take the average driver one or two more minutes to get where they’re going. That’s a trade-off I’d be more than willing to make. -- Mike Tutthill Planning & Community Engagement Consultant HEALTH in COMMON 200 - 141 Bannatyne Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3B 0R3 tel: 204.946.1888 ext. 4 1.800.731.1792 fax: 204.284.2404 email: mtutthill(a)healthincommon.ca web: www.healthincommon.ca +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ *Health in Common on Facebook*< http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-in-Common/120069149875> ü Please consider the environment before printing this email.

11 years, 9 months

MPI launches new bicycle safety campaign

by Anders Swanson

[read this in the Metro, text pasted below - Anders] Manitoba Public Insurance is launching a new program to educate motorists and cyclists about road safety and the obligation to share the road safely. Active Transportation (AT) Plan is a three-year program focused on safety for cyclists and pedestrians and raises cycling awareness for drivers. The ‘Cycling Champion’ program, under the AT Plan, aims to enhance cycling safety programs geared towards children and adults. All materials to do a presentation are provided at no charge by MPI. For more information or to register for a workshop, people can call Manitoba Public Insurance Road Safety at 204-985-8737. link to the original article: http://metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/288905/mpi-launches-new-bicycle-safety-ca…

11 years, 9 months

Fwd: 4 Publications - Traffic Calming and Road Safety, Air Quality, Noise and Active Transportation (Summary)

by Mike Tutthill

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: NCCHPP <marianne.jacques(a)inspq.qc.ca> Date: Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 3:07 PM Subject: 4 Publications - Traffic Calming and Road Safety, Air Quality, Noise and Active Transportation (Summary) To: "mtutthill(a)healthincommon.ca" <mtutthill(a)healthincommon.ca> ** *Our apologies for cross-posting.* Hello, The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) has published four summaries based on *Urban Traffic Calming and Health: A Literature Review.* These documents briefly present the effects of traffic-calming measures on road safety, air quality, environmental noise and active transportation. Each of these documents presents the mechanisms of action underlying traffic-calming strategies, the results of evaluative studies and their implications for public health actors. They are available in English and in French at: *-Urban Traffic Calming and Road Safety: Effects and Implications for Practice *http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/publications.ccnpps?id_article=719<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=984433&idcampagne=2399&url=http%3…> ** *-Urban Traffic Calming and Air Quality: Effects and Implications for Practice *http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/Publications.ccnpps?id_article=751<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=984433&idcampagne=2399&url=http%3…> *-Urban Traffic Calming and Environmental Noise: Effects and Implications for Practice* http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/Publications.ccnpps?id_article=753<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=984433&idcampagne=2399&url=http%3…> *-Urban Traffic Calming and Active Transportation: Effects and Implications for Practice *http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/Publications.ccnpps?id_article=794<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=984433&idcampagne=2399&url=http%3…> The literature review is also available in English and in French at: http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/Publications.ccnpps?id_article=686<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=984433&idcampagne=2399&url=http%3…> You can also find other traffic calming resources at: http://www.ncchpp.ca/174/news.ccnpps<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=984433&idcampagne=2399&url=http%3…> If you have questions or feedback, please contact Olivier Bellefleur at: olivier.bellefleur(a)inspq.qc.ca<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=984433&idcampagne=2399&url=mailto…> . Best regards, Marianne Jacques Network Development Officer National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) 190 Crémazie Est, Montréal, Québec Phone : 514-864-1600, ext. 3613 Email : marianne.jacques(a)inspq.qc.ca Click here if you want to be removed from this list. <http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/unsubscribe.aspx?email=mtutthill@healthincommon.ca…> -- Mike Tutthill Planning & Community Engagement Consultant HEALTH in COMMON 200 - 141 Bannatyne Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3B 0R3 tel: 204.946.1888 ext. 4 1.800.731.1792 fax: 204.284.2404 email: mtutthill(a)healthincommon.ca web: www.healthincommon.ca +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ *Health in Common on Facebook*< http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-in-Common/120069149875> ü Please consider the environment before printing this email.

11 years, 9 months

4 Publications - Traffic Calming and Road Safety, Air Quality, Noise and Active Transportation (Summary)

by Marianne.Jacques＠inspq.qc.ca

Our apologies for cross-posting. The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) has published four summaries based on Urban Traffic Calming and Health: A Literature Review. These documents briefly present the effects of traffic-calming measures on road safety, air quality, environmental noise and active transportation. Each of these documents presents the mechanisms of action underlying traffic-calming strategies, the results of evaluative studies and their implications for public health actors. They are available in English and in French at: -Urban Traffic Calming and Road Safety: Effects and Implications for Practice. http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/publications.ccnpps?id_article=719 -Urban Traffic Calming and Air Quality: Effects and Implications for Practice http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/Publications.ccnpps?id_article=751 -Urban Traffic Calming and Environmental Noise: Effects and Implications for Practice http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/Publications.ccnpps?id_article=753 -Urban Traffic Calming and Active Transportation: Effects and Implications for Practice http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/Publications.ccnpps?id_article=794 The literature review is also available in English and in French at: http://www.ncchpp.ca/175/Publications.ccnpps?id_article=686 You can also find other traffic calming resources at: http://www.ncchpp.ca/174/news.ccnpps If you have questions or feedback, please contact Olivier Bellefleur at: olivier.bellefleur(a)inspq.qc.ca. Best regards, Marianne Jacques Network Development Officer National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) 190 Crémazie Est, Montréal, Québec Phone : 514-864-1600, ext. 3613 Email : marianne.jacques(a)inspq.qc.ca

11 years, 9 months

Floodway Trail Announcement - Tuesday, July 3, 2012 at 1:15 pm

by Janice Lukes

It brings me huge joy to be able to send this - please share with others who may be interested. WHAT: Official Opening of the new Red River Floodway trail and PTH 59 Pedestrian Overpass Bridge WHEN: 1:15 pm July 3, 2012 DETAILS : See attachment Some of us have worked on this since 2004 - pre 'Bike to the Future' - pre my involvement with 'Winnipeg Trails Association' The newsletters reveal an interesting overview of this project since inception - never the 'full story' but a good one none the less: http://www.floodwayauthority.mb.ca/newsletter.html This was the most recent posting on the floodway trail: Pg 3: http://www.floodwayauthority.mb.ca/pdf/floodway_nwsltr_eng_2011.pdf When the Manitoba Floodway Authority announced they would be overseeing the 'floodway expansion' - Robert (Bob) Roehle - founder of the Farmers' Market in St. Norbert, Lorna Hendrickson - Executive Director of Rivers West at the time, and I met to discuss what we could do related to GREENWAYS / TRAILS / the floodway and St. Norbert back in 2004 - Rivers West aligned to focus on this legacy project - from workshops, to tons of meetings of MLA's / MP's / etc - to taking a bus load of politicians / mayors / reeves to see the 'recreation' on Grand Fork's floodway protection system - the process / pathway to ensuring recreation was incorporated into the floodway expansion has been like no other. There have been various media stories over the years - but tomorrow is the 'official announcement' - opening. Maybe you can attend! The Premier will be speaking - reps from Conservation / MIT / Wolseley / Ft. Rouge / St. Norbert & Rossmere have been invited by the Manitoba Floodway Authority. WOW - Janice Lukes Past Co-Chair, Red River Floodway Trails Coalition

11 years, 9 months

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AT-Network July 2012