LINKS

STATS

Hamilton:

• has the second highest car fuel use per person among 10 Canadian cities, at 1,242 litres, only slightly lower than Oshawa at 1,248 but well ahead of Ottawa (1,088), Toronto (1,117) and Kitchener-Waterloo (1,053).
• ranks 4th lowest in transit use
• has 7.1 meters of expressway lanes or arterial lanes per person (Toronto 3.0, K-W: 3.7) but feels the need to destroy a major city greenspace to build yet another expressway.
• "A recent study reviewed pedestrian motor vehicle injuries to children up to 14 years of age in the City of Hamilton from 1978 to 1994. The child pedestrian injury rate was 2.5 times higher on one-way streets than on two-way streets (46 vs.20 per 1000,000 children per 100 km of street per year). Children living in the poorest Hamilton neighbourhoods were three times more likely to be injured than those living in the wealthiest neighbourhoods (33 vs. 12 per 100,000 per 100 km of street per year)."

Health Issues Report 2000, prepared by the Social & Public Health Services Division of the City of Hamilton & Region of Hamilton-Wentworth.
• In Hamilton Wentworth, reported collisions involving pedestrian and vehicles in average 289 a year. In the downtown core about 42 pedestrians are hit by cars yearly.
• The 1998 Hamilton Wentworth Collision Report reveals one out of every 22 H/W residents was involved in a motor vehicle collision.
• In H/W in 1998 there were 286 pedestrians injured in collisions, and 5 killed. Cyclists reported 197 collisions, with 177 injured and 4 killed.
• Between 1986 and 1998, 22 cyclists and 98 pedestrians have been killed and 2,412 cyclists and 4,348 pedestrians injured in the region.
• Each day more than 17,000 car trips roll through Hamilton's core, over half of which are through trips.
• Transportation is one of the primary sources of air pollution contributing to the estimated 90 to 321 premature deaths and 300 hospital admissions linked to poor air quality in the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth every year. The pollutant with the greatest effect on health is the sulphur component of inhalable particulates. (Hamilton Wentworth Air Quality Improvement Committee)
• There are currently no safe, direct bike routes (marked bike lanes) on downtown Hamilton streets (King and Main)
• More than 40 pedestrians have died in traffic accidents in Hamilton in the past six years. Last year alone, 470 people were hit by cars. (Hamilton Spectator, March 15, 2001).
• Between 1990 and 1998, a total of 289 people were killed in motor-vehicle crashers, 77 of whom were pedestrians or cyclists. (Spectator, March 26th, 2001).
• Between 1986 and 1998, 6760 pedestrians and cyclists were injured by cars. (Spectator, Jan 30th, 2001).
return to top of page

Ontario

• Go Trains alone carry four times as many people in peak hours as do the Queen Elizabeth Way and Don Valley Parkway combined.(CUTA)
• According to the Canadian Automobile Association, there are now more than 2.78 million vehicles on highways per day in the Hamilton and Toronto areas.
• 849 people died in traffic accidents in Ontario in the year 2000 - the lowest number of fatalities since 1950 and a decrease (of 19) from the 868 fatalities in 1999
• Since 1995, the Ontario government has invested more than $6.5 billion in provincial highways (2000?)
• Ontario had 8.1 million drivers and 9.2 million registered vehicles, including 1.2 million commercial vehicles, in 2000.
source: Government of Ontario
return to top of page

Canada

• Spending $10 million on public transit can create 314 jobs, increase business sales by $30 million and save $15 million in transportation costs, producing an overall cost-benefit ratio as high as 9-to-1.(CUTA)
• Federal and provincial aid covers less than five per cent of operating costs for Canadian transit systems. The U.S. figure is 24 per cent. The gap on capital costs is even greater.(CUTA)
• 2,936 people died on Canada's roads in 2002
• In 2002, 227,768 people were injured in motor vehicle accidents
source: Transport Canada: Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics: 2002
return to top of page

Global

• Worldwide, 265,000 people die on the roads every year—10 million are estimated to be injured. ( Figures presented to the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, Nov 1989)
• Cars are the largest single source of carbon dioxide (CO2), by far the most prevalent global warming gas. Cars and light trucks make up the single largest source of Canadian CO2 emissions. ["New campaign to stop cars from fueling global warming" - Earth Words Vol.2 No 4 Nov. 1990]
• The average North American car pumps its own weight in CO2 into the atmosphere each year.
• Cars are the leading killer of children under 14 years of age in North America.
• Henry Bliss was struck down in New York City as he stepped off a streetcar at 74th and Central Park West, September 13, 1899. The vehicle that stuck him was an electric taxi. Bliss was the first pedestrian known to be killed by an automobile in North America.
• Vehicles are the number one source of smog producing pollutants in North America (Ontario Ministry of Transportation.)
• A single bus can take up to 40 vehicles off the road, save as much as 70,000 litres of fuel and keep 9 tonnes of air pollutants out of the air per year (Pollution Probe).
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average person who cycles instead of driving alone saves (per mile) at least 24 pounds of smog-causing pollutants and 1.1 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• In Denmark, 20% of all trips are by bike. One third of all trips are made by bike in the Netherlands.
• Buenos Aires has a complete ban on private vehicles in the downtown district on weekdays.
• Bordeaux, France will shortly have 50% of its streets reserved for pedestrians and cyclists (Steve Nadis and James Mackenzie, “Car Trouble” 1993).
• Driving downtown in Oslo, Norway, costs $2 per trip (Environment Views p. 12 spring 1993)