Bigger heavier SUVs and pickups are harder to electrify. Their rising demand slows down the development of clean and efficient fleets. Unfortunately, these huge expensive vehicles are what manufactures are focusing on.

The electric Hummer, for example, on which Hannah Elliott says in Bloomberg:

The $112,595, more than 9,000-pound pickup is a gargantuan remake of the military vehicle that was tamed for civilians in the 1990s. It is 1,000 horsepower of muscled Americana with knobby tires and a ridiculous launch mode that will further inflate the diaphanous egos of those who engage it. It is as tall as a tank with a hood extending to my shoulder height. Nobody needs this truck.

Car companies are touting these acceleration rates as a selling point, which is ominous. Although supercharged pick-up speeds serve no practical purpose, they create real danger for other road users—especially those on foot or in a wheelchair who have scant time to get out of the way.

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Instead of making a path, intersection, or construction area safe for cycling, signed dismounts are being as an alternative with no evidence that dismounting is safer. In the rare cases where cycling is not possible, it is likely that the general over use of dismount signs results the majority of people cycling to ignore dismount signs when they really are needed.

Many people with disabilities use bicycles as a mobility aid. They often find walking more difficult than riding a bicycle making forced dismounts challenging.

Even if cycling is allowed on a path leading to an intersection, by default, the Motor Vehicle Act requires people cycling to dismount to cross a road unless the municipality passes a bylaw or posts a sign that enables cycling in the crosswalk. These non-intuative rules are confusing for people cycling, driving and those trying to enforce and educate people about the rules of the road.

With the exception of there being perhaps too little space to cycle by the barricade, the photo above shows a good way of ensuring cycling is safe and accessible through an event area.

Increased Risk of Falls

From the Single-bicycle crash types and characteristics study by P Schepers and K Klein Wolt, page 13

4.3 Cyclist related crash types The most frequent cyclist related crash type is losing control at low speed – when steering is needed for stability–, mostly while mounting or dismounting the bike. The likelihood is strongly increased among older cyclists, cyclists with physical problems and cyclists who cycle less than 1 day per week. This may be related to strength and skills needed for (dis)mounting, accelerating and braking. Research on walking falls has shown that reduced muscle strength, especially of the lower limbs, is the most important risk factor (Pijnappels et al., 2008). Similar research could be conducted for efficient prevention and identification of individuals at a high risk of bicycle falls.

It is surprising that older women run a markedly higher risk of crashes at low speed than older men, because men are often advised to change from a men’s to a women’s bicycle forsafe mounting and dismounting. The top tube of women's bicycles slants down (while it is parallel to the ground in men’s bicycles) to intersect the seat tube, typically about halfway down, making it easier for the rider to step over the frame. Men move their leg over the luggage carrier to (dis)mount. There are two hypotheses for women’s elevated risk in this crash type that could be tested in future research. A first hypothesis would be greater muscle strength in men than in women. However, it is not completely clear from the literature to what degree older men have greater muscle strength than women. Research by Lindle et al. (1997) shows that women tend to better preserve eccentric musclequality (strength per unit of muscle) that is needed to take off and accelerate (virtually no gender difference in muscle quality after around 60 years of age). On the contrary, according to research by Van Laarhoven (1984), female cyclists between 50 and 60 years of age have 80% of the strength that men have for cycling. A second hypothesis would be that contrary to what is commonly thought, the way men mount and dismount is safer than the way women generally seem to do it. It could be that mounting like men do is an easier way to take off, accelerate and profit from improved stability that comes along with increased speed. Alternatively stepping over the middle of the frame like women do for mounting and dismounting may require more flexibility.

Page 10

On-street parking is dangerous for people cycling, walking and driving. It reduces sightlines making it harder for people walking, driving and cycling to see each other. People cycling can be hit by car doors and vehicles accessing the parking.

Removing street parking will help make streets safer reducing injuries during the COVID 19 pandemic. The space can be then used to quickly give people walking more space during the pandemic or to create protected bike lanes helping people doing essential work get to their jobs safely. More on such emergency lanes here.

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Cruising and Crashing for Parking

A study by Donald C. Shoup of the University of California found between 8% and 74% of downtown traffic in cities was cruising for parking. This cruising not only increases congestion and pollution but most likely also results in more collisions with people walking, cycling and driving.

Walking

European priorities for pedestrian safety,European Transport Safety Council  

Invisibility Pedestrians can be difficult to see: They are small compared to a car, and can be hidden by one. At night the problem is more severe. A parked car is the most commonly cited source of obstruction.

From European Commission, Directorate-General Transport and Energy, page 13

Pedestrian crashes often occur when people are trying to cross the street on links outside pedestrian crossings or where no pedestrian crossings exist. One of the causes is the driver’s difficulty in perceiving pedestrians because of darkness and/or parked cars. In the United Kingdom, nearly 90% of the injuries to older pedestrians which are caused by motor vehicles happen under such conditions. In over 10% of cases, the driver cannot see pedestrians because of parked cars.