Green Action Centre and Bike Winnipeg invite you to join us for a local
viewing of this month's APBP <http://www.apbp.org/> webinar.
The webinar viewing takes place in the EcoCentre boardroom (3rd floor, 303
Portage Ave) and will be followed by group discussion of local
applications.
RSVPs appreciated but not necessary. Hope to see you then!
cheers,
Beth
* * * * *
*Transitions Between Bikeway FacilitiesWednesday, November 16 | 2:00 - 3:00
pm CST *
*Speaker:* Sarah Kraum, Multi-Modal Program Specialist, Space Coast TPO
Sarah will discuss various bicycle and pedestrian features and connections
that have been used and are planned along Brevard County’s regional trail
system. These features have made it possible for the trails to transition
through various environments, municipalities, and overcome “roadblocks.”
Coun. Janice Lukes put rubber to the road on a fast-tracked downtown bike
grid this week.
After a well-attended forum
<http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/10/13/winnipeg-forum-planned-for…>
proved
there's interest in speeding up the cycling network, Lukes drummed up a
pitch for a “downtown grid of adjustable bicycle lanes before the end of
2018.” She presented it to the Riel community committee on Monday.
The motion has been forwarded to the infrastructure renewal and public
works (IRPW) committee for further consideration at its Nov. 29 meeting.
*Read full article*:
http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/11/10/winnipeg-councillor-pushin…
Pedestrian safety requires a new VisionIn the bid to eliminate pedestrian
fatalities, Swedes have the right idea
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/pedestrian-safety-
requires-a-new-vision-399749531.html
I hadn’t planned to take you back down the same old road by writing yet
another column on traffic and saving little lives.
But then I received another personal and passionate email from a reader: my
big boss.
It was a fresh take on the subject from *Free Press* publisher Bob Cox that
pointed me beyond that well-travelled road to a model for safer streets
that we should consider.
I had already written about the Calgary model for keeping kids safer by
combining reduced-speed school zones with playgrounds, creating
child-safety zones that operate 365 days a year.
Bob is advocating a plan called Vision Zero, which has a goal of
eliminating fatal and serious traffic accidents. Hence, the "zero" in its
name.
It’s a strategy recently embraced by Edmonton — another Alberta city we
might learn from – although that’s not where Bob pointed for the best
example.
Instead, Bob referenced Sweden — the birthplace of both Vision Zero and,
not-so-coincidentally, his wife Lena.
He noted Vision Zero has been in place in that famously progressive country
for almost two decades and it’s working.
"It is a full program that looks at all aspects of roads," Bob explained,
"from the way they are constructed to who uses them to how fast you should
drive. It has produced a lot of study of what are appropriate speed limits
and the conclusion has been that the safe speed limit in built-up urban
areas is 30 km per hour."
That’s the same speed Winnipeg posts in reduced-speed school zones, but
only during the school year.
To put that speed in the context of safety, someone struck by a vehicle
going 30 km/h has a 95 per cent chance of survival, according to the U.S.
Department of Transportation, although I suspect a small child’s survival
rate might be less.
At 50 km/h, the chances of survival mirror that rate of speed; 50-50.
That’s why 30 km/h makes safety sense and, as Bob pointed out, in Sweden —
where, for example, almost all the residential streets of a big city such
as Gothenburg are posted at that reduced rate — the country has virtually
no cases of children being killed while crossing the street.
"Why does it work?" Bob asked, rhetorically.
"One of the main reasons is consistency. You’re not constantly changing
speed limits depending on whether you’re near a school or a playground or
whatever. It just is the speed limit. All the time."
But Vision Zero isn’t just about reducing road speeds.
As Bob suggested, it’s also about designing and building safer roads that
are more about keeping people safe than moving them in a huge hurry. It’s
about a country with a different mindset.
"Long before Vision Zero, my wife’s home town of Alingsas implemented a
system that allowed cars and people to almost never meet — bike and
pedestrian paths are separate from roadways," Bob explained.
"They don’t even have level crossings, only underpasses or overpasses. On
the residential street outside her parents’ home there is a sidewalk on
only one side of the street — that way it can be twice as wide as a normal
sidewalk, broad enough for both pedestrians and cyclists to use with no
need for either to be on the street with cars. Signs that warn motorists of
possible pedestrians depict a woman holding a child’s hand, a reminder of
what’s at stake."
So are we ready for 30 km/h zones on residential streets?
Are we ready for safer and more progressive approaches to designing and
building roads, sidewalks and bike paths?
We’ve been down this go-slower road before with city administration — as
recently has two years ago — and it has gone nowhere.
The problem is our own mindset. It, like the roads we’ve designed and built
in the past — and even those we’ve constructed in more recent years — seems
to be set in concrete.
It’s about what’s best for motor vehicles, not pedestrians and bicyclists.
It’s more about reducing infrastructure costs than about reducing deaths
and serious injuries.
All of that, alas, comes from a far different kind of vision zero.
gordon.sinclair(a)freepress.mb.ca
Manitoba Fatalities
Manitoba Public Insurance didn’t have readily available historic numbers
for traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries in Winnipeg, only
province-wide. But according to MPI, on average, 75 to 80 per cent of
fatalities occur in rural areas.
2016
92
2015
78
2014
68
2013
85
2012
96
2011
110
2010
87
2009
86
2008
92
2007
109
Source: MPI Get the data
Manitoba Serious Injuries
2015
415
2014
303
2013
307
2012
339
2011
337
2010
312
2009
384
2008
396
2007
426
WHAT’S THE HURRY?
Here is a breakdown of school-zone speeding tickets issued last month
compared with September of last year.
*September 2016*
Mobile enforcement in reduced speed 30 km/h school zones -- *8,704** **
Mobile enforcement in regular 50 km/h school zones – *3,129*
Total – 11,833
*September 2015*
Mobile enforcement in reduced-speed 30 km/h school zones -- *6,838*
Mobile enforcement in regular 50 or 60 km/h school zones – *2,717*
Total – *9,555=*
**Highest speed recorded - 75 km/h*
*** Average Speed - 47.8 km/h*
*Source: Winnipeg Police Service*
PAY UP
Fine for going 10 km/h over 30 km/h — $181.50
Fine for going 15 km/h or more over 30 km/h — $246.25