ON active transport news 2024-01

The goal is to aggregate some of the most interesting and important news related to active transportation in Ontario, Canada.

Happy New Years! Here is the wrap-up for January, a bit delayed.

Photo by Dmitrii Vaccinium on Unsplash

Ontario bike summit, April 3–5 in Waterloo

https://ontariobikesummit.ca/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cycle_WR/status/1734613674818523645

Why a smaller turn radius is important. Infographic shows multiple ways it is safer for pedestrians.

Still not convinced? Take a look at an example IRL:

https://twitter.com/StrongTowns/status/1735359493058220276

Five easy ways to reduce bike theft in your community (Shifter, 2023–05–20, 13m47)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bJjnsHif2EQ&si=zuJGgO0h6sAeCX73

Better bike rack locations, loaner locks, valet parking, education, etc…

How suburbia is subsidized.

Video: https://youtu.be/7Nw6qyyrTeI?si=3RpSJ4yp9-Ae-LF2

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1712690900864995398

Toronto builds a Dutch style intersection

Looking for a book over winter? Check out “Killed by a traffic engineer”.

Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion t...

https://twitter.com/EngineerDustin/status/1743135709370740920

Want more support for proper active transit infrastructure? Encourage e-bike and cargo bikes:

https://twitter.com/DavidZipper/status/1741451897200918903

It is far cheaper to get vehicles to fit the infrastructure you want than continue to build infrastructure to accommodate outdated vehicles. To build a walkable city, the waste really needs to be cut out in order to optimize for human scale.

Urban scale trucks: https://twitter.com/JasonThorne_RPP/status/1728744736130052528

Urban scale bus: https://twitter.com/m_druker/status/1663232786784829460

Netherlands tax rebate for cycling. Cyclists can claim 0.21 EUR/km, on average 450EUR/y.

https://twitter.com/Cycling_Embassy/status/1734136016657592574

Principles of cycling standards manual: “Ensure cyclists experience minimal nuisance (vibrations, extra exertion due to height difference, trouble from other traffic) and delay (stops)”

https://twitter.com/Cycling_Embassy/status/1734498497095753915

Stephanie Fritz @MsFritzzle

Any chance that the @RegionWaterloo might revisit the intersection design at King/Montgomery/Highway 8? It’s a 60m walk to cross King, or a 97m walk to cross both King and Montgomery. Slip lanes are dangerous for all road users, let’s start designing them out.

https://twitter.com/MsFritzzle/status/1737159958091661450

Photo by Tungsten Rising on Unsplash

In support of 30km/h limit for streets

1.) The Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP):

https://carsp.ca/en/presentations-and-papers/carsp-acpser-pri-virtual-conference-virtuelle-2021/why-30-km-h-municipal-speed-limits-are-the-right-thing-to-do-2/

2.) Interesting report from the European Transport Safety Council (November 2023), also recommends 30km/h with a particular focus on seniors

Summary with link to full report here:

https://etsc.eu/balancing-safety-and-independence-etsc-report-highlights-road-safety-challenges-faced-by-older-road-users/

And, finally, two news articles on this topic, one from Monday in The Guardian, the other one from March:

· https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2023/dec/18/bollards-and-superblocks-how-europes-cities-are-turning-on-the-car

· https://www.europeandatajournalism.eu/cp_data_news/none-of-the-european-cities-that-lowered-the-speed-limit-to-30-km-h-regrets-it/

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