It’s taken me three years, but I’ve finished the math and I’m ready to release my results to you -- the public of Richmond.
First, the equation: If the weather is perfect and every cyclist, motorist and pedestrian behaves 100per cent responsibly, does every cyclist have a 100per cent chance of getting home safely that day? The answer is, no, and the reason is that my equation is flawed. I’ve forgotten to include another big factor and that is the City of Richmond. You see, a cyclist can only be as safe as the streets they ride on.
Three years ago, November 2016, I was on the front page of the Richmond News. I’d sent a letter to Richmond’s Mayor Malcolm Brodie and all its city councillors. In it, I explained that the most dangerous stretch of road in Richmond was on Westminster Highway, just east of No. 9 road at the railroad tracks. I detailed how the road narrows, there is construction material all over the place, dirt and debris piles up and every cyclist must cross the railroad tracks within a three-foot piece of blacktop that immediately butts against the highway where all the 18-wheel trucks roar past.
It was a horrible place to have to cross.
The city knew we would be publishing the story, and then-city spokesperson Ted Townsend responded with, “That path is incomplete because the city is waiting on CN Rail to upgrade its crossing.”
That was three years ago. Today, crossing the railroad tracksat that spot has gotten even worse. Someone installed orange pylons on it some time ago, and that small strip of pavement allotted for cyclists has been allowed to collect dirt and debris over the year. The only times it’s cleaned is when it rains.
Through the summer, it’s a disaster and an injury or death waiting to happen. At that time, signs were erected, right in front of the railway tracks indicating the speed limit is 60k/h to cross the tracks, almost as if they were trying to rub it in.
So, three years later, I again ask Mayor Brodie and the new city council: do you have the leadership ability to fix this, or should I just start writing my November 2022 column right now?
