Hamilton continues push for bike safety

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This article was published 12/09/2022 (1141 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Grant Hamilton’s mission to improve local bike safety continued over the weekend, when he invited residents and city council candidates to take a closer look at gaps in Brandon’s cycling infrastructure.

The feat was accomplished in a 16-kilometre group bike ride that began at city hall Sunday afternoon and involved stops at some of the city’s multi-use recreational paths.

Talking to his group of a dozen or so riders before they departed, Hamilton said he wanted to use this “Bike 4 Brandon” tour to showcase how the city’s roadways could better accommodate cyclists and other pedestrians instead of just motorized vehicles.

“We spent 50, 60, 70 years building a city that’s great to drive in,” he said. “But we have maybe 50 years ahead of us to turn this into a city where other transportation options are equally possible.”

Hamilton, Brandon University’s marketing and communications director, has a very personal stake in making the city a safer place for cyclists.

On the night of June 27, Hamilton was cycling home from a family gathering when he was struck by a vehicle turning onto Park Street, resulting in a separated shoulder, a torn meniscus in his knee and the loss of the pinky finger on his left hand.

While Hamilton has mostly recovered from the injuries, except the lost finger, he’s using the traumatic event as a springboard to call for greater attention to bike and pedestrian safety in Brandon, which would require some key changes to the local recreational path system.

“Where it fails is how difficult it is to get to key locations,” he wrote in an email after Sunday’s ride. “Unless you’re interested in a perimeter tour of the city, there are very few good north-south or east-west connections for cyclists.”

Moving forward, through continued activism, Hamilton is hoping to convince city council candidates to prioritize certain improvement strategies if they get elected to office.

These improvements include extending the multi-use trail system and establishing a connected network of safe, separated bike lanes throughout the city.

“These aren’t intended to be hard asks, but a set of shared priorities to make biking in Brandon easier and safer for all,” Hamilton wrote in an email.

“Brandon is a beautiful city, largely flat, and well-connected with a grid of roadways. We can and should have a great city to cycle in! Biking is a fun, healthy, social, and environmentally friendly transportation option that also increases local economic development.”

Hamilton said he is still hoping to connect with the city council candidates who were not available to attend Sunday’s bike tour.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson