TAC Conference - Getting you there Safely

This past few days I've been at the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) Conference on the other side of the country in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI). Interestingly, it is 4,193 km from my hometown in Scotland, and 4,386 km from my home in North Vancouver. Canada sure is a big place! PEI on the other hand is a pretty small place. The Province of PEI is limited to the Island itself and has a population of 140,204 people. Charlottetown itself has a population of 34,562. I was primarily there to present my Paper 'Travelling Safely into the Future' as well as attend some of the technical meetings, attend other presentations. I also took a little time to see some of the City. Read on for some thoughts on my paper and some images from around Charlottetown.

The paper that my presentation was based on can be downloaded from the TAC Conference website here. It started off with the intention of providing a planning perspective on the the theme of the Conference 'Getting you there Safely'.

As I started to get into it, and I started to think about things that could reduce fatalities going forward, there were other areas I wanted to address and the paper and subsequent presentation took on a more general flavour.

In summary, I think there are four main ways to reduce fatalities, we can drive less, drive with more care, make our roads safer or make our vehicles safer. If you're interested, take a look at the presentation below.

I was able to get away for a few hours and explore some of the downtown area of Charlottetown. It's a small City similar to many other small towns in BC, below are some images of various transportation features. First thing I noticed is the horizontal traffic signals (incidentally located in the roadway at this intersection, not the safest location for a signal pole). 

Crosswalks looks pretty much like every other marked crosswalk.

The main street is lined with angle parking (pay parking). There are a lot of interesting store fronts.

On-street dining is quite common, albeit its getting colder and is often quite windy.

Most streets have sidewalks, some protected by parking and boulevards, a few examples are provided below.

There are some interesting pieces of public art

There are some bike lanes, one where the drive around Victoria Park has been converted to one-way only, and the other direction converted to a separated bike lane.

There are some conventional bike lanes, albeit parts have been adopted as parking spaces it seems.

Some bike racks look like lobsters.

There is a wooden boardwalk trail around Victoria Park.

Lastly, some of the oldest forms of navigational aids still exist - lighthouses.