15 March 2010 / le 15 mars 2010
Submitted by/Soumis par: Nancy Schepers,
Deputy City Manager/Directrice municipale adjointe,
Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability/Services
d’infrastructure et Viabilité des collectivités
Contact/Personne
ressource: Vivi
Chi, Manager/Gestionnaire, Transportation Planning/Planification des
transports, Planning and Growth Management/Urbanisme et Gestion de la
croissance
(613)
580-2424 x 21877, Vivi.Chi@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
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OBJET :
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PROGRAMME D'ÉVALUATION DE LA SÉCURITÉ À BICYCLETTE - CADRE
DE RÉFÉRENCE |
That the Transportation Committee approve the Terms of Reference for
the development of a Cycling Safety Evaluation Program as outlined in Document
1.
Que le Comité des
transports approuve le cadre de référence pour l’élaboration d’un programme
d’évaluation de la sécurité à bicyclette énoncé dans le document 1.
While Ottawa has an extensive and well-used
cycling network consisting of both on and off-road facilities, the City
continues to strive to improve both the safety of these facilities and the
levels of comfort experienced by its users. The awareness of the continuing
need for such efforts was highlighted by the early morning July 2009 incident
in which five cyclists were struck from behind by a motor vehicle while riding
in single file in a marked on-road bicycle lane on March Road.
The fact that the March Road collision
occurred in a marked but non-separated bicycle lane also triggered heightened
interest in the potential for new types of segregated bike lanes. However, the review of collisions records
involving cyclists between 2006 and 2008 indicated that approximately 65 per
cent of the locations, having more than one collision, are intersections where
segregation is not possible.
Therefore, staff
is proposing to develop a Safety Evaluation Program that allows an
ongoing and consistent annual assessment and prioritization for improvements of
the existing and expanding cycling network in Ottawa. At high-priority locations, a specialized In
Service Safety Review is proposed to be undertaken to examine broader
cycling safety improvement initiatives.
The Terms of Reference for the development of this program is attached
(Document 1).
As part of the review, the study will research and address the issue of the relative safety performance of, and develop application criteria for, various types of on-road and off-road cycling facilities, including the use of segregated bike lanes.
The Terms of Reference (Document 1), in recognizing the intent of Council to improve cycling safety on a citywide basis, goes beyond addressing solely the locations identified through collision records and suggests the development of techniques that would allow an ongoing and consistent annual assessment and prioritization for improvements of the existing and expanding cycling network in Ottawa.
Historically, Transportation Safety Audits and Studies were based heavily on identification and mitigation of hazards through analysis of collision records. However, in the case of cycling safety, relying solely on collision records is not reliable due to statistically insignificant numbers of reported collisions. Therefore staff are proposing to develop technical tools that would consider relevant operating and collision data, field audit, and user-perceived safety.
The proposed Cycling Safety Evaluation Program, once developed, will be used to evaluate a variety of tools, conditions and cycling facility types and recommend cycling safety improvement initiatives. Segregated cycling facilities are going to be examined as a possible tool to remediate cycling safety concerns along with other measures. First phase of implementing proposed safety initiatives at high-risk locations will be identified for inclusion in the 2011 draft capital budget.
The Program will be designed to address cycling safety throughout the City's current and future cycling network as per the Ottawa Cycling Plan and this network includes all rural areas of Ottawa.
Public consultation is not required for the development of this report. Consultation will be a major component in the development of the Cycling Safety Evaluation Program.
N/A
If implemented, it is expected that the outcome of this program will be a reduction in liability and legal risk to the City.
Improving the safety of cycling conforms to a number of strategic directions contained in the City's Strategic Plan such as supporting a healthy and active community, supporting environmentally-friendly ways to move around and reducing the ecological footprint.
N/A
The estimated cost of developing the Cycling Safety Evaluation Program is $125,000. Funds are available to undertake this work in account 905411 (Transportation Demand Management).
Document 1 Terms of Reference for the Cycling Safety Evaluation Program
Transportation Planning Branch in collaboration with Traffic Investigations/Surveys group of Public Works will proceed with this project upon receipt of approval by Transportation Committee of the Terms of Reference (Document 1).
TERMS OF REFERENCE – CYCLING EVALUATION PROGRAM DOCUMENT 1
Development of a Cycling Safety Evaluation Program
Terms of Reference
Cycling is one of the oldest forms of
human transportation. However, while the development of major North American
transportation networks after the Second World War led to the deployment of
sophisticated rural and urban road networks, these were largely designed to
accommodate cars and trucks. Unlike many European countries, which have a
long-standing tradition of cycling as an important component of the urban
mobility picture, it was not until the 1980s and 1990s that cycling began to
emerge as a viable and sustainable mode of travel and an alternative for motor
vehicle trips on this continent. Since that time, and particularly in the first
decade of the second millennium, this emerging awareness has blossomed into
substantive policy commitments by many Canadian municipalities including the
City of Ottawa to elevate the priority of cycling as a mode that must be
accommodated within the urban mobility fabric.
These commitments have resulted in the
development of cycling plans and both on-road and off-road facilities that
encourage the use of active transportation. However, while there are
well-established health benefits that result from the promotion of cycling as a
viable transport mode, it is also a fact – as New Zealand Transport Agency
researchers pointed out in a 2009 report on cycling safety[1] - that
the risk of having a crash while cycling is typically higher than while
travelling as a driver or passenger in a motor vehicle. This is of concern to
cyclists, potential cyclists, and organizations and agencies involved in road
safety. Offsetting this concern however, is the growing body of new knowledge
that is helping to quantify the safety implications of accommodating cycling
both on and off the roadway right-of-way. With this improved understanding, new
planning, design, and safety audit approaches are being developed that can help
improve both existing and planned cycling facilities and properly set
priorities for future investments in these important sustainable transport
alternatives.
While Ottawa has an extensive and
well-used cycling network consisting of both on and off-road facilities, as
well an active cycling community that promotes the benefits and use of this
network, the City continues to strive to improve both the safety of these
facilities and the levels of comfort experienced by its users. The awareness of
the continuing need for such efforts was highlighted by the early morning July
2009 incident in which five cyclists were struck from behind by a motor vehicle
while riding in single file in a marked on-road bicycle lane on March Road.
City collision statistics report
indicates that in 2008 there were 292 collisions in Ottawa involving cyclists,
of which 262 resulted in injuries. This statistic in particular highlights the
significant vulnerability of bicycle users in such encounters, particularly
when higher speeds are involved. The fact that the July 2009 March Road
collision also occurred in a marked but non-separated bicycle lane also
triggered heightened interest in the potential for new types of segregated bike
lanes.
A further investigation by staff into
cyclist collisions between 2006 and 2008 has led to the identification of 28
specific locations at which cyclist fatalities or three or more collisions
occurred. These locations involved both mid-block road segments and
intersections and some of them had already been identified as priority
candidates for cycling safety improvements.
As part of Planning and Growth
Management and Public Work comments of Councillor Doucet’s report, staff
recommended to Council that a specialized In Service Safety Review be
undertaken with a particular focus on cycling safety at each of the identified
sites. The objective of this review would be to assess conditions and develop
and prioritize cycling safety improvement initiatives for these locations.
However, after further research and
investigation it became clear that while such an initiative would bring
substantive one-time benefits to the City’s cycling network, it could also be
used as an opportunity to develop specialized techniques that would allow an
ongoing and consistent annual assessment and prioritization for improvements of
the existing and expanding cycling network in Ottawa. A similar recent
initiative is currently been finalized by the City to develop and implement a
specialized approach to the annual programming of pedestrian safety
improvements at intersections.
This document sets out the Terms of
Reference for the development of a Cycling Safety Evaluation Program that would
be used for the initial evaluation of the previously identified 28 collision
locations and/or locations as determined at project initiation to account for
new collision data. It would also provide the foundation for an ongoing annual
program of monitoring and network screening of the Ottawa Cycle Network.
The primary objective of this work is to
respond to Council’s desire to prioritize critical cycling facility safety
improvement needs on the Ottawa Cycle Network. More specifically, the study
will:
1.
Develop a consistent, technically
sound, and defensible technical framework for the assessment of safety
conditions on the City’s cycling facility network. The framework will include
reviews of all relevant operating data (traffic, speed, volume, historical
collision patterns, infrastructure characteristics etc), as well as a field
audit component of existing conditions from the standpoint of both road safety
and user-perceived comfort and convenience;
2.
Provide suitable technical tools
to allow the identification and selection of recommended road safety
countermeasures to address the issues identified on both mid-block segments and
intersections associated with both on-road and off-road cycling facilities;
3.
Develop a cost-effectiveness or
benefit/cost based analysis framework to prioritize recommended cycle network
safety improvements for budgeting and capital and maintenance programming
purposes;
4.
Apply the Cycling Safety
Evaluation Program to the top-candidate sites already identified and/or
locations as determined at project initiation and prepare a separate report
detailing the findings and recommendations for improvements;
5.
Provide a detailed cost estimate
and road map, implementation, and resource requirement plan for the start-up
and deployment of the Cycling Safety Evaluation Program on an ongoing annual
basis within the operating infrastructure of the City;
6.
Provide appropriate documentation
for all aspects of the study and in particular, provide training materials and
an initial training component for City staff in the use and ongoing management
of the Cycling Safety Evaluation Program;
7.
Ensure that the Cycling Safety
Evaluation Program embodies a realistic and practical component of active
collaboration between staff and the cycling and neighbourhood communities as
part of its overall evaluation methodology;
8.
Specifically research and address
the issue of the relative safety performance of, and develop application
criteria for, various types of on-road and off-road cycling facilities,
including the use of segregated bike lanes.
There is a growing recognition that road
and cycling facility design must increasingly take into account the perceptual
and cognitive needs of their users. The science that supports such efforts is
called Human Factors, and it plays a particularly important role in helping
understand the driver/cyclist interactions that take place on both road
segments and in intersections. Consideration of these interactions has an
important impact on safety outcomes and the design approaches that can be most
successfully applied in various different situations. The techniques and
framework developed in this study must explicitly account for the need for a
human-centered approach to the work.
The type of users that may be expected
to use a cycle facility is an important consideration when reviewing cyclist
safety. In general, cyclists are grouped into three or four main skill levels.
A typical three-level categorization would include:
·
Child
or novice
·
Basic
competence
·
Experienced
Each of these groups uses their bicycles
for different purposes, and the type of facility that is most suitable for each
group will also differ. More advanced users can cope with more complex
situations. Early, novice, or young users under about 10 years of age will
require facilities that are generally separated from traffic to a significant
degree except on low-volume, low-speed residential streets. The study approach
to the work must explicitly recognize this important linkage between the likely
skill levels of cyclists expected to be using a facility, and the preferred
characteristics of the facility that should be provided – particularly in any
aspects of the work aimed at developing criteria or warrants for specific types
of facilities.
In any road safety review process, the
collision history is one of the key indicators of site safety performance.
However, when dealing with bicycle safety issues, typically the frequency of
bicycle-related collisions is sparse. This can lead to three problems:
·
A
site with only one or two collisions may be ranked with an abnormally high
priority (as other sites may not have any collision history);
·
Due
to the known randomness of collision frequencies, a high-risk site may have
several years of no bicycle-related collision events at all, leading to a site
with an abnormally low priority;
·
When
compared to motor vehicle crash reporting, cycling collisions are generally
under-reported leading to potential for statistical inaccuracies.
This does not suggest that cycling
safety practitioners should ignore the collision history information that is
available at a site since such data can sometimes provide useful diagnostic
information and assist in the selection of appropriate countermeasures.
However, attempting to apply sparse collision data as the sole index for
prioritizing investments may result in a serious misallocation of funding. The
techniques and analysis framework to be developed in the course of this work
must consider this important reality.
The Cycling Safety Evaluation Program
shall be applicable to all of Ottawa’s current and potential future Cycle
Network. The initial application of the Program in this study will focus on the
top-candidate locations to be identified using most recent collision data.
The estimated cost to carry out the work
is expected to be $125,000 (exclusive of all applicable taxes).
The study is to be completed in six
months from the initial start date of the work.
[1] NZ Transport Agency. “Cycle Safety: Reducing the Crash Risk”. NZ Transport Agency Research Report 389. October 2009. p.7