For each 10 males over 65 years previous in Canada, there are practically 12 ladies over 65 years previous. For each 10 males over 85 years previous, there are roughly 20 ladies over 85 years previous. That is true of most international locations, kind of. Mixed with the truth that older individuals are likely to get shorter as they age, this implies (amongst different issues) that senior residents, and particularly older senior residents, are on common a lot shorter than youthful adults are. The common top of an grownup in Canada is 5″7 (5″10 for males and 5″4 for ladies); the common top of a Canadian over 85 years previous might be 5″2 or 5″3.
Seniors, and kids, additionally are typically way more weak to visitors than adults basically are. This consists of not simply auto visitors, but additionally a vulnerability to bikes in busy bike lanes, e-bikes, e-biking meals couriers, e-scooter-wielding youngsters and vacationers, and so on. and so on.
Seniors additionally are typically much less reckless on the street than youthful individuals, significantly youthful males. Males for instance are more likely to bike whereas drunk, and bike recklessly basically. Males are additionally heavier than ladies, so the affect they’ve after they do crash right into a fellow bike owner or pedestrian tends to be larger than can be for a lady, little one, or senior citizen.
Seniors and disabled cyclists additionally have a tendency to make use of recumbent or semi-recumbent tricycles extra usually than adults basically do. (Although due to SUVs and vehicles and street visitors basically, these recumbents are sadly not used very a lot on metropolis streets). These recumbent bikes are clearly a lot shorter in top than typical grownup bikes are too.
I believe you possibly can maybe see the place I’m going with this. If we’re going to flip our cities into way more bike-friendly locations than they’ve been to this point, and particularly if we’re going to construct higher-speed bike and e-bike expressways, then we additionally want methods of permitting probably the most weak populations to bike with out dealing with too many risks and discomforts, like they presently do in our car-dominated cities.
The best approach to do that is to create multi-lane bike paths, wherein the outer lanes will are likely to have decrease speeds than the interior lanes. A further function that would possibly be helpful, nonetheless, is archway-bridge underpasses, wherein the outer lanes of the underpass have decrease ceilings than the interior lanes:
If the outer lane had a ceiling that was, say, solely 7 toes tall, that may be brief sufficient to nudge taller riders into utilizing the extra spacious interior lanes of the bike path, and so unlock the outer lane to be used by youngsters, seniors, and recumbent bike or wheelchair customers.
If the outer lane ceiling was solely 5 toes tall, that would definitely do the trick, though it may also elevate the danger of a taller rider by accident utilizing that lane and bumping their head…
Bikeways with archway underpasses and children-friendly low-ceiling outer lanes may be significantly helpful within the creating world, the place there are nonetheless numerous youngsters, numerous bicycles and motorbikes, and, sadly, numerous street accidents, street visitors, and air and noise air pollution. But it surely may also be more and more helpful within the wealthy world, the place populations are getting older, bike and e-bike ridership is rising, and automotive dependence (and in North America, weight problems) is extraordinarily excessive.
