New TIRF Project: TIRF and SPAR Lab have been granted funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada to develop and promote BikeMaps.org, a tool for safe and accessible bicycling

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) is pleased to announce that it has received project funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to conduct the BikeMaps.org project which aims to develop and promote a citizen web-mapping surveillance tool for safe and accessible bicycling and healthy living promotion. The BikeMaps.org project is being conducted in partnership with the Spatial Pattern Analysis and Research Laboratory (SPAR) at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. The founder of the SPAR Lab, Dr. Trisalyn Nelson, led the development of the BikeMaps.org technology to capture more and better data on cycling safety. This innovative spatial data collection and related dissemination tools are used to track crashes and near-misses to identify safer cycling routes and to promote healthy living. Thanks to funding from PHAC, the TIRF-SPAR team can now continue to develop and expand BikeMaps.org, and promote its use so that more Canadians can enjoy the health benefits of safe cycling.

The main objective of this project is to develop and use a technology to produce knowledge and data that can help make cycling safer for, and more accessible to, all Canadians. Cycling can help to prevent and manage many health issues that Canadians face, including childhood obesity and diabetes, and it has been positively associated with mental health. However, to increase the frequency of cycling and encourage more Canadians to cycle, this activity must be safe and accessible, and also be perceived as safe and accessible. To ensure the public and stakeholders as well as decision-makers are aware of the availability of this product, citizen and stakeholder engagement plans are being developed to help promote the product. The project will also focus on aspects of transferability of lessons learned to other fields, like walking and the development of walkability scores.

The anticipated completion date for the project is 2019.