Road rash, concussions, dislocated shoulders and torn ligaments. Broken fingers, wrists, arms and legs. A pelvis broken in three places, requiring 4.5 hours of surgery and 12 days in hospital.
So in part reads the result of incidents involving cyclists and bollards along cycling trails in Greater Victoria, some of which occurred in Saanich directly.
Compiled by Coun. Judy Brownoff through her role on the parks committee of the Capital Regional District, the 25 reports dating as far back as 1998 make readers cringe and have inspired Saanich council to investigate alternative measures. The action follows a recommendation from Saanich’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility Advisory Committee chaired by Coun. Vic Derman, who called the findings Brownoff complied “quite shocking” in light of the serious injuries that they revealed.
Derman can speak from first-hand experience when it comes to making contact with a bollard, striking one while riding the Lochside Trail.
“I was not particularly speeding,” he said. “I was approaching the bollard and there was a lady with a small dog. Just as I got near the bollard, the dog got free from her and dashed out in front of me. I certainly did not want to hit the dog, so I swerved, missed, tried to swerve back and cut the bollard and away I went.”
Derman counts himself lucky. Aside from a “lot of road rash,” he did not suffer any serious injury, he said.
“But there have been quite a number of hard injuries and they [bollards] are a problematic device,” he said. “They are particularly problematic for inexperienced cyclists, who perhaps don’t have yet as much control of their [bicycles] as with more experienced cyclists.”
They also have caused problems for some people with scooters, Derman said.
Staff will now look into this issue following an unanimous motion by council to investigate alternatives to bollards.
“We don’t anticipate this being a lot of work for Saanich, because as has already been mentioned, Saanich does not have a lot of bollards,” he said. “I think it is valuable [though] to send it to staff, primarily so staff is aware of the nature of injuries and other concerns as they develop their policy.”
Other jurisdictions in Europe and the United States have already managed to eliminate them, he said. “There seem to be lots of alternatives to handle access to trails and notify people that didn’t involve that kind of dangerous device,” he said.
Brownoff agreed, noting that it is time to look into the issue in light of the number and severity of injuries involving bollards.
While no agency tracks the number of such incidents, Brownoff believes they are under-reported because affected cyclists might be embarrassed to report them, while blaming themselves.
Brownoff also challenged the claim that people could avoid such incidents by slowing down.
“The injuries were severe and they weren’t caused by speeding,” she said.
Coun. Dean Murdock praised the work of Derman and Brownoff for bringing the issue forward.
“I’m also pleased to see this going to the CRD,” he said. However, he is not sure whether the CRD will pay attention to the part of the motion that asks the CRD to make the reduction or elimination of bollards a priority.
“It might be a reach for us to say, ‘let us make this a priority,’” he said. “But I agree with the comments about the hazard they represent to cyclists.”