Responding to the Death of a Cyclist

Lately, as many of us have, I have been formulating my thoughts surrounding the recent tragedy that occurred on November 6, 2016 along River Road in Richmond. According to reports, a motorist pulled into the oncoming lane and drove into a group of six cyclists, killing one and seriously injuring two others. I do not want to get into the details of the crash (click to read about that from CBC or Richmond News). I want to talk about how the City of Richmond is responding to this tragedy.

Now let me be clear, I am basing this entirely on what is publicly available in the news. I have not interviewed anyone, nor do I intend to. And I fully accept that some media sources have a tendency to make stories more dramatic than they really are.

However, accord to this Richmond News article, the City of Richmond was considering banning cyclists from River Road altogether. Here are a couple of letters to the editor condemning this consideration: November 16 from Graham Taylor, November 17 from George Muenz. I was truly shocked that the City of Richmond would even consider this as a possible solution.

I was relieved this morning to read this November 17 letter to the editor from Coun. Ken Johnston in which he clarifies that he had no intention of banning cyclists and that the use of the word may have been inappropriate and misleading. Ken Johnston writes the following:

"My intent was to have staff investigate all options for cyclists, including  use of a safer alternative route, if one exists. My request was intended to generate more information on cycling use of River Road. In retrospect, my use of the word “banning” in the motion was ill advised, as it has detracted from the important direction of the committee’s motion. But at no time did I say I wanted cyclists banned from River Road." 

With that in mind, that the City does not in fact intend to ban cyclists from River Road, I still want to state my position on this topic.

First, whether a city is or is not invested in building safe infrastructure for bicycles, are rural farm roads not precisely the place that the city would want cyclists to be riding? River Road, for example, is a non-arterial, quiet, residential street that runs along the river. It is outside of the city core and, therefore, out of the way. It bends and curves so most vehicular traffic should be at a moderate speed anyway. Further, aside from the few businesses in the area, most vehicular traffic is local residents. The only exception here is the odd speedy motorist looking to skip heavy traffic along Westminster Hwy or Highway 91.

So banning bicycles from the road altogether seems counter-intuitive to me. How about installing rolling speed bumps to limit speeders, similar to the ones along 0 Ave? Or how about adding more bollards to keep impatient motorists in their own lanes? Or, even better, how about adding a mixed-use (pedestrian and bicycle) trail along the mostly unused waterfront?

Just for arguments sake, let's have this same discussion about vehicles but replace the word vehicle with samurai sword. This may sound like a ridiculous analogy, but allow me to start things off:

In Richmond, we have a lot of people that depend on their samurai swords. However, we also have a growing number of people that have decided to leave their samurai swords at home and go without one. This growing number of people believe that life is better without a samurai sword. Some just for recreation, others as a way of life, and others yet are simply not able to carry a samurai sword any more.

Most people are very responsible with their samurai swords. But some are not. Inevitably, every once in a while, someone gets reckless or careless with their samurai sword and someone dies as a result.

But we always consider it an accident, of course. Sometimes it is an "out of control samurai sword," and other times people die as a result of a "mechanical malfunction" with the samurai sword. 

In order to prevent more deaths, to prevent more people from dying by samurai swords, we will ban the individuals that leave home without a samurai sword. Everyone must now have a samurai sword. That is how we will prevent more people from dying by a samurai sword.

If any municipality or city actually considers banning cyclists from a stretch of road to prevent tragedies, then I strongly believe that they have their priorities backwards. Earlier in the year I wrote about changes needed to Richmond's bicycle infrastructure (click here to read that post). Along with changes to infrastructure, Richmond also needs to prioritize vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicycle riders, etc.) in all areas of our city. Motorists also need to be held accountable for their actions (as far as I am aware, no charges have been laid against the driver in the November 6th tragedy). We need to stop calling these tragedies accidents. And the media needs to stop using language that removes the blame from the motorists and places it on the vehicle or the victim.

Richmond Bike Lanes Still Have a Long Way to Go!

Over the years, the City of Richmond has made great progress building bike lanes. Compared to most of the Metro Vancouver area, Richmond could be considered "ahead of the pack." However, in recent years, progress has stalled dramatically (or even halted altogether). With other cities like North Vancouver building their bicycle infrastructure at a rapid pace, Richmond is at risk of falling far behind.

In my opinion, this is a shame because ridership in Richmond seems to be on the rise. While I do not have any hard data to back this up, I do have my own perception that I see a lot more people riding their bikes than I used to. Mostly, I see a lot more older people and families out for an everyday leisure ride or ride to the store. Rather than cyclists (roadies in Lycra), I see a lot more everyday bicycle riders in the bike lanes.

Every day I see more and more bicycle riders out there - some on sidewalks, some in bike lanes, all of them riding where they feel safe. I see both teenage kids riding to and from school and elderly folks riding to and from their activities or the store. In addition, there is still a growing number of road cyclists. It may be true that a road bike is the new cure for a mid-life crisis. And regardless of why any of them are riding, we need to welcome anyone and everyone who chooses to pedal along on two wheels. The more bicycles there are on the roads,, the safer we all are.

In general, Richmond's bike lanes are great for recreational use, But in order for Richmond to truly embrace bicycle culture and sustainable infrastructure, they need to do more. I always think the perfect gauge on bicycle lane safety is how often I see children or parents riding with young kids. For example, along the Granville Ave bike lanes, you rarely see young kids. The traffic is simply too close and too fast to risk a young kid swerving on a bicycle. The dyke and the Railway Greenway, in comparison, are full of kids riding with their parents, along with couples on dates, and other travelers walking, riding, or running. We need more like this, please. Lots more!

When you consider Richmond's bicycle infrastructure, in the simplest of terms, there is the dyke, two east-west routes: Granville and Williams, and two (or one and a half really) north-south routes: Railway and Garden City.

The dyke is a great place to go for a weekend ride with the family. But if you have a particular destination in mind that isn't Garry Point Park, the Olympic Oval, or Steveston, the dyke won't get you very close. If you want to go for a ride on the dyke, then the dyke is a great place to ride on the dyke. The views are incredible and it is definitely safe from vehicle traffic. But for most bicycle commuters and everyday bicycle riders, the dyke won't get you anywhere near where you want to go.

Consider riding from west Richmond to Richmond Centre. The Granville Ave bike lane gets you to Minoru, which also has bike lanes. But what if you live north of Westminster Hwy? Detouring all the way south to Granville Ave is significant. The dyke runs out past Gilbert Road, but that's as close as it will get you.

In addition, there are plenty of disconnected or incomplete routes. Coming south off the No. 2 Road Bridge, once you get to Westminster Hwy, the bike lane completely fades away. To continue on a bike route, you have to cross three lanes of busy Westminster Hwy traffic to make the left turn lane at Lynas Lane. Then there are the areas around No. 3 Road and Sea Island Way, Garden City between Granville and Francis, and Garden City crossing Sea Island Way and Bridgeport. Each of these areas are part of marked bike routes. The southbound No. 3 Road bike lane runs for 100m between Bridgeport and Sea Island Way then ends, starts again at Alderbridge and ends abruptly at Cook Road rather than connecting to the Granville bike lanes. Awfully disconnected for a major route. I can't determine whether the city is trying to attract bicycle riders or scare them away.

In response to gaps like these, HUB (formerly the Vancouver-area Cycling Coalition) has launched their UnGaptheMap initiative to bring awareness to these gaps in the bicycle network and to work with city planners to remove them.

Another way to evaluate Richmond's bike lanes is to compare them to Vancouver's. In general, bike lanes throughout Richmond tend to be along major arterial roads with a speed limit of 50-60 km/h. The bike lanes are not physically separated but are merely painted lanes on the right-side of the road. In contrast, the City of Vancouver has designed its bike routes through traffic-calmed residential corridors with speed limits around 30 km/h. The result is a far more relaxing ride where one feels much safer. I would take my kids on bike routes in Vancouver, but not in Richmond (the dyke and the Railway Greenway exempt of course).

Overall, Richmond's bike lanes are a great start, but they're not enough. A lot more needs to be done. I hope that the City of Richmond keeps progressing and building more lanes - either physically separated bike lanes on arterial roads or marked routes through traffic-calmed residential routes. Even more so, I hope the City of Richmond takes a more proactive role in the years to come rather than relying solely on developers to build piece-meal sections of bike lanes.

Route: Railway Greenway (Richmond, BC)

The Railway Greenway was completed in 2014 along what was formerly the Richmond-Steveston tram line. For many years (at least as long as I've been on this earth), the abandoned rail line sat idle. It was largely overgrown and unkempt and consumed a large track of land that ran right through the city. Turning that land into a multi-use trail was the perfect solution.

The Railway Greenway runs alongside Railway Avenue from the Britannia Heritage Shipyard at the south end to the Middle Arm Dyke Trail at the north end. Overall, the trail is approximately 5 km long. Further, unlike the on-street bike lanes along Railway, the Railway Greenway is physically separated from the street by a ditch, ,trees in many places, and about 20 metres. Thus, it is an incredibly safe route for walking, running, bicycling, or any other method a human-powered transportation.

The trail is well marked and has some really unique signs. One of my favourites is the direction markers on the trail itself. 

One of the drawbacks is that the trail crosses several major roads. While there are designated pedestrian crossing signals, and bright green paint on the road to highlight the crosswalk, motorists still tend to try to fly through without waiting for a pedestrian to cross. Not a problem exclusive to the Railway Greenway of course, but definitely one that impacts it.

Every time I run, walk, or ride my bike down this trail, it looks a bit better too. The trees that line the trail are getting more mature (fuller and taller). The trail itself looks settled in now too.

The other great thing about the Railway Greenway is that it connects to several other trails (bike, walk, or run routes). Most notably, there's the South Dyke out of Britannia Heritage Shipyard, the bike routes along Williams Road, bike routes along Granville Road, and the Middle Arm Dyke at the top. So not only is the Railway Greenway excellent for leisure activities, it's also incredibly functional as a commuter route.

If you haven't checked it out already, you really should. I only wish there were more routes like this in Richmond. While the dyke system provides a fantastic trail system, it me
rely circles the perimeter. I love that the Railway Greenway goes through the city. I'd love to see more like it.

Route: West Dyke Trail (Richmond, BC)

One of my favourite places to run or ride my bike is along the West Dyke Trail in Richmond.  This trail runs along the west edge of Richmond from the north-west corner at Terra Nova Rural Park down to Garry Point Park in Steveston (see the West Dyke Trail map graphic to the right, taken from the City of Richmond's website).

For those unfamiliar, Richmond is a city at or below sea-level and, as such, is surrounded by a system of dykes and pump stations.  The nice perk to these dykes is that Richmond, which is an island called Lulu Island, has almost a complete pedestrian and bike path around the entire city.  There are three main sections of the dyke/trail: the West Dyke Trail, the South Dyke Trail (which connects to the south end of the West Dyke Trail), and the Middle Arm Trail (which connects to the north end of the West Dyke Trail).

I love running along the trail.  Yesterday, I passed by several Great Blue Herons, one Bald Eagle, and multitudes of people out walking, running, riding their bikes, walking their dogs, or otherwise enjoying the fresh air.  There are a couple of bathrooms along the way, plenty of benches for enjoying the scenery, and several access points (basically, one at each major road).

Given that the West Dyke Trail connects to the other trails at the north and south, there's plenty of opportunity for extending a bike ride or run as long as one would like.

Here are a couple of my recent photos taken along the trail.