Region studying impact of bicycle bollards on road safety

Work crews from the Region reinstalled bicycle bollards along Martindale Road in St. Catharines Wednesday as part of an ongoing pilot project to assess their effectiveness and improve road safety across all of Niagara.

The bollards are back in the same area of Martindale Road between Elderwood Drive and Grapeview Drive that was part of the same pilot project in 2022, a media release said.

The Region has also extended the test area by installing the bollards along Martindale Road between Erion Road and the South Service Road.

In July, the Region will install another section of bicycle bollards along Martindale Road from the QEW North Ramp to Main Street in Port Dalhousie. That extension will allow staff to assess their effectiveness in different traffic conditions.

The Region is also investigating product durability, methods of installation and a variety of bollard layouts.

In 2021, Regional staff looked at what other Ontario municipalities were doing to provide safe and efficient protection for cyclists and found that bicycle bollards were a primary measure used by a number of municipalities.

It’s all part of Niagara’s Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries resulting from vehicle collisions while improving road safety for all users.

The Vision Zero initiative also includes the installation of red-light cameras and automated speed enforcement after the Region made presentations at all 12 local municipalities and received unanimous approval.

Vision Zero was undertaken after a review of collision data from 2015 to 2019 by the public works department showed the total number of collisions was increasing on Niagara’s regional and municipal roads, with an average of 5,695 crashes per year over the five-year period.

Surprisingly, the review found that most collisions (74 per cent) occurred in dry surface conditions. Collisions on wet and snow/ice-covered roads were 15.2 per cent and 10 per cent.

The intersection at Dorchester Road and Lundy’s Lane in Niagara Falls experienced the highest frequency of fatal and injury collisions during the time period with 15.

The road section on Welland Avenue between Grantham Avenue and Export Avenue in St. Catharines had the most injury collisions with 13.

The review found 68 per cent of cyclist collisions resulted in an injury, with 0.2 per cent ending in a fatality. The highest frequency of cyclist collisions occurred in July. Of the collisions with cyclists, 68.4 per cent occurred at intersections.

The review calculated the average societal cost of collisions in Niagara from 2015 to 2019 was more than $350 million.