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09-21-09, 08:00 AM
An interesting story appeared in our local paper this morning:
http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/600835
Cycling summit part of personal crusade for Burlington woman
WATERLOO — Eleanor McMahon has travelled a long and difficult road since her husband was killed in a cycling accident in 2006.
But rather than wallow in bitterness and self-pity, she chose to embark on a healing journey of making the road safer for cyclists across Canada.
The 47-year-old Burlington woman has made great strides in that direction by founding the Share the Road Cycling Coalition, which is holding its first Ontario Bike Summit at the Waterloo Inn on Monday and Tuesday.
About 150 cyclists, advocates, politicians and experts are expected to attend the summit. The goal is twofold, says McMahon: to help municipalities in Ontario to develop cycling policies and strategies; and to encourage the province to develop an overall biking policy to guide funding for infrastructure, education, safety and the like.
“The politicians need our help,” McMahon said in an interview. “Cycling has become so polarized as an issue,” she noted, that politicians are afraid to act lest they alienate cyclists on the one hand, or drivers on the other.
McMahon and the coalition have lined up an impressive list of speakers and panellists for the two-day summit. Among them is the mayor Madison, Wisc., David Cieslewicz, who will explain how that city has become one of the most bicycle-friendly communities in the U.S.
McMahon, who visited Madison in August, said the city has “thousands of people on bikes in January and Madison gets as much snow as we do.”
Also on the agenda are Phillip Darnton, the chair of Cycling England, and Andy Clarke, chief executive officer of the League of American Cyclists in Washington. Under Clarke’s leadership, the league has come up with an audit on how communities in the U.S. are achieving the five E’s: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation.
The coalition had also lined up the “father of the modern-day bike movement” in the U.S., Congressman James Oberstar of Minnesota, but his busy schedule in Washington will not allow him to attend personally, McMahon said. Instead he will make a presentation via DVD. A longtime cycling advocate, Oberstar is chair of Congress’s transportation and infrastructure committee and recently introduced a bill that would provide $5 billion for cycling initiatives.
Other speakers include Ontario Transportation Minister Jim Bradley and Marc Panneton, bicycle co-ordinator with the province of Quebec. He will speak on Quebec’s 4,300 bike network, called the “Route Verte,” which has garnered international praise.
McMahon, who owns her own communications firm, has drawn on her considerable networking skills honed from years of being press secretary to Jean Chrétien before he became prime minister, as well as stints working for Herb Gray and John Turner. The Windsor native got into politics doing constituency work for Gray.
“I learned a great deal from that time in my life,” said McMahon. “But none of this (bicycling advocacy) happens unless you work hard.”
As for how the summit ended up in Waterloo, McMahon said she spoke of her desire to hold a bike summit at the Association of Municipalities Conference in Toronto in 2008. Afterwards, she was approached by Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran and Coun. Diane Freeman encouraging her to hold the summit here.
Her husband, Greg Stobbart, an OPP sergeant, was killed in an off-duty accident when a dump truck tried to pass him on a hill near Milton. When a car came over the hill in the opposite direction, the driver of the truck veered to the right, clipping Stobbart with his side mirror and knocking him off the road.
The driver, Michael Dougan, had been charged five times in the past for driving while his licence was suspended. The accident spurred McMahon to campaign for the passage of a provincial bill, called “Greg’s Law,” enforcing tougher penalties for suspended drivers such as having their vehicles impounded. McMahon said the law has been passed by the legislature and should receive royal assent this fall.
In an ironic twist, she said Dougan, who was sentenced to two years probation and lost his licence for a year, appealed and won a new trial because of errors made by the justice of the peace.
On the positive side, McMahon said the growing concern over greenhouse gases and obesity make it “a really good time to be a cycling advocate.”
There are more cyclists than ever on the road, she said, but at the same time more cars are on the road. “Cycling infrastructure has not kept up with car infrastructure.”
chowitt@therecord.com
I was very interested to observe McMahon's point that issues related to cycling has become so polarized and it is very interesting to note that her hushand was a sergeant in the OPP and she has served as a PR person to a former PM.
http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/600835
Cycling summit part of personal crusade for Burlington woman
WATERLOO — Eleanor McMahon has travelled a long and difficult road since her husband was killed in a cycling accident in 2006.
But rather than wallow in bitterness and self-pity, she chose to embark on a healing journey of making the road safer for cyclists across Canada.
The 47-year-old Burlington woman has made great strides in that direction by founding the Share the Road Cycling Coalition, which is holding its first Ontario Bike Summit at the Waterloo Inn on Monday and Tuesday.
About 150 cyclists, advocates, politicians and experts are expected to attend the summit. The goal is twofold, says McMahon: to help municipalities in Ontario to develop cycling policies and strategies; and to encourage the province to develop an overall biking policy to guide funding for infrastructure, education, safety and the like.
“The politicians need our help,” McMahon said in an interview. “Cycling has become so polarized as an issue,” she noted, that politicians are afraid to act lest they alienate cyclists on the one hand, or drivers on the other.
McMahon and the coalition have lined up an impressive list of speakers and panellists for the two-day summit. Among them is the mayor Madison, Wisc., David Cieslewicz, who will explain how that city has become one of the most bicycle-friendly communities in the U.S.
McMahon, who visited Madison in August, said the city has “thousands of people on bikes in January and Madison gets as much snow as we do.”
Also on the agenda are Phillip Darnton, the chair of Cycling England, and Andy Clarke, chief executive officer of the League of American Cyclists in Washington. Under Clarke’s leadership, the league has come up with an audit on how communities in the U.S. are achieving the five E’s: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation.
The coalition had also lined up the “father of the modern-day bike movement” in the U.S., Congressman James Oberstar of Minnesota, but his busy schedule in Washington will not allow him to attend personally, McMahon said. Instead he will make a presentation via DVD. A longtime cycling advocate, Oberstar is chair of Congress’s transportation and infrastructure committee and recently introduced a bill that would provide $5 billion for cycling initiatives.
Other speakers include Ontario Transportation Minister Jim Bradley and Marc Panneton, bicycle co-ordinator with the province of Quebec. He will speak on Quebec’s 4,300 bike network, called the “Route Verte,” which has garnered international praise.
McMahon, who owns her own communications firm, has drawn on her considerable networking skills honed from years of being press secretary to Jean Chrétien before he became prime minister, as well as stints working for Herb Gray and John Turner. The Windsor native got into politics doing constituency work for Gray.
“I learned a great deal from that time in my life,” said McMahon. “But none of this (bicycling advocacy) happens unless you work hard.”
As for how the summit ended up in Waterloo, McMahon said she spoke of her desire to hold a bike summit at the Association of Municipalities Conference in Toronto in 2008. Afterwards, she was approached by Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran and Coun. Diane Freeman encouraging her to hold the summit here.
Her husband, Greg Stobbart, an OPP sergeant, was killed in an off-duty accident when a dump truck tried to pass him on a hill near Milton. When a car came over the hill in the opposite direction, the driver of the truck veered to the right, clipping Stobbart with his side mirror and knocking him off the road.
The driver, Michael Dougan, had been charged five times in the past for driving while his licence was suspended. The accident spurred McMahon to campaign for the passage of a provincial bill, called “Greg’s Law,” enforcing tougher penalties for suspended drivers such as having their vehicles impounded. McMahon said the law has been passed by the legislature and should receive royal assent this fall.
In an ironic twist, she said Dougan, who was sentenced to two years probation and lost his licence for a year, appealed and won a new trial because of errors made by the justice of the peace.
On the positive side, McMahon said the growing concern over greenhouse gases and obesity make it “a really good time to be a cycling advocate.”
There are more cyclists than ever on the road, she said, but at the same time more cars are on the road. “Cycling infrastructure has not kept up with car infrastructure.”
chowitt@therecord.com
I was very interested to observe McMahon's point that issues related to cycling has become so polarized and it is very interesting to note that her hushand was a sergeant in the OPP and she has served as a PR person to a former PM.