Safety in numbers: the more we ride, the safer it gets

Last week, the city posted its traffic accident and fatality stats for 2011. I'm not sure why it takes four years to get a report like that together, but we are promised a new filing with much more recent figures in it, later this year.

Judging from the numbers I see in the report (filed by the Engineering Department, posted in their section of the city's web site) I'll make a prediction for what the next report might tell us. In the years since 2011, even though traffic volumes have increased greatly in the city, I believe our safety record overall will have improved.

I can only give personal observations, but I see Red Deer drivers slowing down a bit as our main traffic arteries have gotten busier. Our commutes take a bit longer, but they have become more safe.

The number of incidents may well rise in the next report, but not as a proportion of the number of trips and commutes being made here. We'll see.

Dangerous intersections (mostly on 67^th Street) are clearly identified in the report. Understanding the problems are a major part of solving them, but I suspect we won't get a permanent solution to make that street more safe, until we get our new bridge and ring road on the north and east sides of the city.

That's about the motorized commutes in Red Deer. I'm more interested in the safety stats for cyclists, and how they play against the perception of the safety of our streets.

A world-renowned urban design firm once discovered that cities don't count what they don't value. When they decided to value — and count — bicycle commutes, they found that in cities around the world, the numbers of cyclists was far higher than perceived in the engineering and policy-making departments of those cities.

When planners and designers decided to include those more accurate numbers in their traffic plans, cycling numbers boomed as both the perception and the fact of safety improved.

The improvements to safety alone created real, hard cash savings that far exceeded the upfront costs of design and construction to separate the bikes from both pedestrians and motor vehicles.

I propose that even the slim stats in our own annual collision reports suggest the small steps we have taken here are already bearing fruit.

There is no formal count, but nobody can dispute that since 2009, there has been a large increase in the numbers of daily commutes being made by bike in Red Deer. We work with a figure of about one per cent of commutes, but really, no one can be sure of the proportion of bike trips people make in our city each day.

Nevertheless, even with the well-understood steady increase in cycling commutes in Red Deer since 2009, both the numbers of collisions and the numbers of injuries has dropped.

There have been zero fatalities for cyclists in Red Deer since 2009. From 2009-2011, you were more likely to be murdered or struck by lightning in Red Deer, than to be killed in a bike collision.

Even though the number of commutes obviously increased, injuries declined. Thirteen people were hurt in bike/vehicle collisions in 2011, down from 22 in 2009.

Since then, we don't know; there have been no new reports. But I will suggest that any increase in either collisions, injuries or deaths since 2001, will be in negative correspondence to the increase in bike traffic.

Perhaps it's a greater awareness of cyclists since all the bad (and largely errant) publicity surrounding the bike lanes pilot project of years ago, but both drivers and cyclists in Red Deer are learning to get along.

If we actually counted, and then planned for cyclist safety, I say there would be a huge increase in the numbers of bike commuters, and a corresponding decrease in motor traffic density on some of our more dangerous streets.

As luck would have it, I'm on a committee that will take families of new cyclists on a bike trip along that busy and dangerous 67^th Street. Our trip, from the G.H. Dawe Centre to Three Mile Bend and back, will cross 67^th Street twice, with two crossings of the dreaded 67^th Street and Gaetz Avenue.

On June 20, the Dawe Community Bike Fair will host a safety workshop, quickie bike tune-up station, skills training and a bike ride/scavenger hunt for families to Three Mile Bend and back. We will have volunteers at points along the ride to guide participants and to ensure safety regulations are followed.

If you would like to ride more, but fear it's not safe, come to the event. The aim is to improve skills, knowledge, and cyclist confidence for families and new riders. And to have fun.

Per hours of exposure, cycling is just a bit more than half as dangerous as being in a moving vehicle. Global experience shows that as cyclist numbers grow, so does overall safety — especially when planners decide to value, count and include them in city design. The cash savings to taxpayers from this are genuine and substantial.

I may be wrong, but that's what I'm looking for, when the next collision report is issued by the city.