The number of accidents at the intersection of Burrard and Pacific spiked in the year after the separated bike lane was installed on the Burrard Street Bridge, but cycling advocates suggest the data isn’t as stark as it seems. Instead, they say it points to the need for education programs for all road users.

Mike Lombardi, a Vision trustee with the Vancouver School Board, wrote ICBC Wednesday urging the provincial insurance provider to develop a road safety program for cyclists. “It’s in everybody’s interest to have a good comprehensive cycle safety program so everybody feels safe on the road,” he told the Courier.

In a letter addressed to Nancy McKinstry, the chairperson of ICBC’s board of directors, Lombardi outlined his view for a program which addresses the need to inform pedestrians and motorists as well as cyclists about the rules of the road.

“The purpose of a cycling safety education and awareness program is to increase cycling safety by improving the ability to ride with traffic as well as to heighten motorist awareness,” he wrote in the letter, which he first drafted as a column online at the Vancouver Observer. “I believe that ICBC has the responsibility to take the lead role in bringing together appropriate organizations such as the Vancouver Police Department, cycling organizations, educational institutions, community and civic organizations, employers, local businesses and other interested agencies,” he wrote.

“I also believe that the program should be funded through the education and safety division of ICBC.”

According to data released by ICBC, the number of accidents at the north end of the Burrard Street Bridge spiked dramatically in the summer months after the separated bike lane was installed. Nearly an accident a day occurred in July and August 2009, with 60 crashes occurring in those two summer months. This is a six-fold increase over the previous summer when 10 crashes were recorded in July and August. In the same period for 2007, there were 35 crashes.

In the following 12 months after the lane was installed in July 2009, ICBC reported 220 crashes, a term which the insurance corporation does not define in the document.

Through the same 12 months in 2008, ICBC recorded 135 crashes.

The data was released following a request from Vancouverite Maciek Kon who also videos cyclists breaking the rules of the road and posts the footage on YouTube.

Keith Ippel, the executive director of the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition, points to traffic pattern changes as a likely cause for the sudden growth in the number of collisions. “I think the big reason for the increase is a lack of awareness and education and signage,” he said. “When people are driving, so much of it is instinct that is based on a historical pattern. At Burrard and Pacific, people come down there and suddenly there is a change in traffic flow.”

According to the data, approximately 880 accidents were recorded at that interaction between January 2005 and June 2010. (Numbers each month were rounded to the nearest increment of five, meaning three crashes in one month would be recorded in the data as five crashes.) However, in that same period only 15 of those nearly 900 accidents involved a cyclist.

The cycling coalition began offering cycling courses about a decade ago and this year began offering its Streetwise training to families and novices who have never pedalled a bike.

Ippel said interest in the courses is rising. Last spring the course was taught in three Vancouver high schools.

mstewart@vancourier.com