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<\/a>Since bikemaps.org is such a useful tool\u2014when it launched, it was the only way to record near misses\u2014it\u2019s no surprise that Saanich senior transportation technologist Troy McKay says that the district decided to work with the website as part of its 30-year Active Transportation Plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a UVic-based organization,\u201d says McKay of the website, \u201cand they collect ICBC-, police-, and user-reported accident data and near-miss data for cyclists. They gave us a map, which shows some of the 20 worst locations in Saanich. We got that about a year ago, and we\u2019re already in the process of fixing three of those worst 20 right now. And the Lansdowne corridor was one of those that was on the map. The rest of them will be worked into priorities in future years as we work down the list.\u201d<\/p>\n
One particularly sketchy road for students cycling to Camosun is Shelbourne; there are 15 recorded incidents with cyclists on Shelbourne between Hillside Avenue and Cedar Hill Cross Road alone. Camosun first-year Practical Nursing student Kasey Chou says that Shelbourne is a really scary place to be during rush hour. Some drivers are aware of cyclists, but some aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of traffic there,\u201d says Chou. \u201cLike, quite a lot. And, especially during rush hour, there are a lot of bigger trucks as well, and they\u2019re not always so kind to cyclists. I\u2019ve been honked at. I mean, I keep to my right side of the road, but there are still people who will just barely scrape past me, and that\u2019s scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meagan Hogg, a graduate of Camosun\u2019s Hotel and Restaurant Management program, says that drivers could do more shoulder-checking instead of relying on their mirrors.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook before you put yourself into another lane if you\u2019re driving a vehicle, because if I make a mistake on a bike, I kill myself,\u201d says Hogg. \u201cSomeone driving a vehicle is gonna be upset. But when you\u2019re driving a vehicle, it\u2019s not your life that\u2019s on the line, it\u2019s the lives of pedestrians and cyclists around you. So double check.\u201d<\/p>\n
CYCLISTS BEWARE<\/b><\/p>\n
Bikemaps.org\u00a0has 21 recorded incidents happening between Tillicum Road and McKenzie Avenue\u2014the area where I first really understood the danger that cyclists had been placed in by a construction zone during my above-documented incident.<\/p>\n
On a typical ride to school, Camosun students pass through a lot of hazards; <\/b>Hogg says that some of these hazards include construction sites and other users of the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the construction sites could use better signage for their abrupt lane ends,\u201d <\/b>she says. \u201cThat would be great, especially on Pandora right now: it\u2019s one lane, two lanes to go through an intersection, and then, on the other side of the intersection, it\u2019s one lane again. And there are a lot of potholes right now. It\u2019s not too bad if you know where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re biking downtown, you might have to add needles to the list of things to watch out for. Hogg says that there are many hazards to biking around the city, including potholes and broken glass.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Needles are] an unfortunate reality of going down Pandora [Avenue],\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s usually pretty good, but, occasionally, there are needles in the road, which is kind of gross. I just let the city know, and they\u2019re usually pretty good about getting them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Closer to Camosun, sections of the road and sidewalk in front of the Lansdowne campus have recently been pulled up and turned into road base paths. Unpacked road base is composed of grey stones that sink easily under weight. Hogg says that a hazard around construction sites is this gravel, as well as debris on the road, steel plates, and\u2014unexpectedly, for Victoria\u2014snow.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiking from straight, nice pavement into gravel, similar to a vehicle, you just lose control really easily,\u201d she says. \u201cThose big metal sheets that they put over top are super great for covering the big construction holes in the middle of the lanes, but super slippery in the wet, and, if it\u2019s close to freezing at all, sketchy. This year there was a lot of snow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition president Edward Pullman says that approximately half of the recorded cycling-related accidents in Victoria take place in intersections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe say something\u2019s an \u2018accident,\u2019 but 90 percent of the time it\u2019s preventable,\u201d says Pullman. \u201cSo is it really an accident? If a light pole falls on you, that\u2019s pretty much accidental. Intersections are a huge challenge and a huge concern.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pullman says that one of the things that the City of Victoria is currently spending time considering is how to protect cyclists in intersections.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve always got the concern of vehicles that are turning off,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, how you can restrict turns for vehicles, such that they reduce the risk of a cyclist being hit by an errant vehicle turning into a cyclist? Intersections are a huge issue, and they\u2019re very often an issue that gets neglected. They\u2019re like, \u2018We\u2019ll put a bike lane in, but then when we get to an intersection, we\u2019ll just expect that they\u2019ll be fine.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
If a cyclist decides to stay off the roads and take the Galloping Goose Trail to Interurban, the road conditions might not be any better. Pullman says the quality of roads\u2014and trails\u2014is an issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got the Colquitz River Trail, which might be a nice route to take as a cyclist,\u201d he says. \u201cBut given its rocky nature\u2014it\u2019s not paved\u2014that certainly makes it a less desirable route to take.\u201d<\/p>\n
Add in confusion over the new bike lane\/sidewalk convergence on the northwest corner of Lansdowne and Richmond, where no one really knows where to stand or cycle, and it\u2019s easy to see how these are trying times for Camosun cyclists.<\/p>\n
THE CAR\/CYCLIST DIVIDE<\/b><\/p>\n
As a driver, one of my biggest fears when I was learning to drive was the cyclist. I\u2019d heard much about this unpredictable commuter\u2014the slow-moving target that would be difficult to see due to inappropriate clothing choices, such as dark colours. No one wants to be responsible for injuring another person.<\/p>\n
Pullman says the government\u2019s Motor Vehicle Act\u2014last updated in 1997\u2014remains unclear on when a cyclist can take a lane. Pullman sent me a video of an incident at UVic\u2014asking me not to contact the cyclist\u2014where a cyclist was forced off the road by a vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s travelling along Finnerty Road, between the bus stop and the Student Union Building, and a car essentially comes up behind him and forces him out of the way,\u201d says Pullman, \u201cdespite the fact that there\u2019s very clearly bicycle markings on the road indicating a cyclist can take the lane. He contacted Saanich police, and Saanich police essentially told him, \u2018You\u2019re in the wrong for not allowing enough space to pass,\u2019 because the Motor Vehicle Act technically says you\u2019re allowed to pass, essentially, when it\u2019s safe to do so, but it doesn\u2019t clarify exactly when. So, really, in the laws we need a minimum passing distance. Ontario recently beefed up its pedestrian cycling safety laws, and one of the things they said there was that there must be one metre to pass, and you can clearly see that there isn\u2019t one metre to pass in that video.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pullman says that the challenge is that we have a legal system that is not really geared toward cyclists, in terms of making cyclists feel safe on the roads and also recognizing what Pullman says is the cyclist\u2019s vulnerable status as a road user.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we don\u2019t feel that that\u2019s currently reflected in both infrastructure and the law,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not going to tell you what the law is, because the law is the law. We happen to not agree with a lot of the laws out there, because they treat cyclists the same as they treat motor vehicles and don\u2019t really recognize the fact that cyclists are vulnerable road users. The whole concept of \u2018same road, same rules\u2019 is inherently flawed, without question. The road is the same, yes, but a cyclist\u2019s ability to afflict harm is extremely limited. Cars can kill. Cars can kill and do inflict extreme amounts of property damage when used improperly. Cycling, not so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the new bike path construction on Lansdowne takes cyclists off the road and onto the sidewalk. Camosun College Student Society sustainability director Shauna Nedelec says it looks good out there so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of being directly next to the curb, kind of by Lansdowne Middle School, they have a new patch where it\u2019s kind of elevated off,\u201d says Nedelec. \u201cSo, basically, the bike path is on the sidewalk, which I think is good because it can get busy. I think it\u2019s actually a good construction that they did there. I\u2019ve seen that in other cities, where instead of it being directly next to cars, you have a bike path that\u2019s next to the pedestrians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since students tend to mill on the cyclist-designated stretch of sidewalk, cyclist\/pedestrian collisions might become more frequent, and Hogg says it\u2019s unsafe to have cyclists\u2014who can travel at vehicular speeds\u2014on the sidewalk. Hogg says her top recorded speed is around 55 kilometres per hour, but she can regularly hit speeds of 35 to 38 during her commute.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gonna basically turn my commute into walking speed if I\u2019m stuck behind people taking the scenic route,\u201d says Hogg. \u201cWhich is great\u2014I don\u2019t want to deride them from having their own cycling experience\u2014but I also anticipate there being a lot of aggression directed toward cyclists that are still in the traffic, which will be, unfortunately, an interesting thing to look at. It\u2019s challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKay says that the Lansdowne project is a good example of what the district of Saanich can do to help give cyclists their own space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a bunch of features built into that, with tighter radiuses of the intersections, to shorten crossing distances, [and] specific crosswalks that are assigned for cyclists and pedestrians, to give cyclists some extra space to ride across those intersections,\u201d says McKay. \u201cAnd then along the college front itself, there\u2019s a two-way multi-use trail that\u2019s designed to take cyclists right out of vehicle traffic and give them their own space where they can ride. There are a lot of people trying to access into the college, so that\u2019s why it was put on that side.\u201d<\/p>\n
SAANICH HAS A PLAN<\/b><\/p>\n
Camosun manager of transportation and parking Jonathan Siqueira says he hasn\u2019t received any complaints from cyclists finding the construction around Lansdowne overly treacherous.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know with the weather recently, I imagine that there is a fair amount of debris on the roads wherever you go,\u201d says Siqueira. \u201cAnd I think that, at Interurban especially, it\u2019s a bit of an issue for people cycling there, because I guess that tends to get a little bit dirtier than around here, although that may be far-fetched, considering the weather.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saanich has said that some current cycling-related projects include Lansdowne Road from Shelbourne to Richmond; the Wilkinson Bridge\/Colquitz River Trail; the Galloping Goose\u2013Carey Road connection; and McKenzie Avenue from Cedar Hill to Shelbourne. McKay says that Saanich wants to build a community that cyclists can feel safe in.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaanich\u2019s official community plan has some guidance that we want to build a walkable, bikeable community where walking and riding bikes are an alternative and people feel safe doing that,\u201d says McKay. \u201cSo that\u2019s kind of the overarching guidance. And then, what we\u2019re looking at is what does the network look like, where are the routes, and what kind of infrastructure do we have on those routes? And then what is the priority area for building those? We only have so much money\u2014and 700 kilometres of road to work on\u2014and infrastructure is quite expensive, so [we need] to be strategic about where we spend that money.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKay stresses that this is a community-based plan, with lots of community input in regard to where the routes are and what people\u2019s priorities are.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just finished the first phase, which is asking people lots of questions about what do they see is the future of walking and biking in Saanich, and then we\u2019ll start to develop a draft network, and that will be out next fall to say, \u2018This is what we\u2019ve come up with; what do you think?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not a moment too soon: bikemaps.org has high-accident areas reported around Camosun\u2019s Lansdowne campus, UVic, and one of the Google-Map-suggested routes to Interurban. It\u2019s obvious that students seeking more active forms of transportation aren\u2019t always protected.<\/p>\n
CHANGE IS POSSIBLE<\/b><\/p>\n
Some Interurban cyclists, like Elsie Gilchrist\u2014a second-year Psychology student\u2014say that it really isn\u2019t that bad of a commute. But she does point toward Richmond Road, by Lansdowne, and its lack of a bike lane.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice that the construction\u2019s over, at least where it affected me,\u201d says Gilchrist. \u201cBut one thing I will say is, when you go to the front of the school over there [Richmond Road] and you\u2019re turning right, there\u2019s the sidewalk, and then there\u2019s the actual road\u2014there\u2019s no bike lane right there. You have to go around the sidewalk, into the lane of traffic, and then over. So I think that it feels like a little bit of a blind spot, in terms of biking, because you know that there\u2019s a bike lane, but then there\u2019s that weird area, where there\u2019s nothing right there. Other than that, though, it\u2019s good. I like the improvements they made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some cyclists are insisting that the laws need to change. Pullman says the government doesn\u2019t seem to have much of an interest in improving things for cyclists even though they have no problems increasing speed limits, which does not make for safer roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat may change in the future,\u201d says Pullman. \u201cThese issues have been out there for a long time, and we haven\u2019t seen really much in the way of improvements. Certainly, there\u2019s a lot of discussion about it. There are a lot of organizations that support changing the law, but, again, it\u2019s been many years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I was driving home from school one day, I hurriedly pulled out of rush-hour traffic onto the shoulder of the Trans-Canada Highway to try to help a stalled motorist, who had been backing up traffic for blocks. As a regularly harried, sometimes-self-absorbed commuter\u2014intent on getting to Sooke\u2014I saw a cyclist approaching but wasn\u2019t completely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-march-29-2017"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13848,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13846\/revisions\/13848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}