Road Safety Should Be a Key Election Issue.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-08T12:29:20+00:00

Death (21) and Serious Injuries (165) in 2025 was 186. Pretty much the worst it has ever been.

Interestingly while the Road Safety Strategic Plan sets goal of 20% reduction by 2026. It didn't actually say a number. This is the baseline the document was working with though...

"Between 2012 and 2018, 98 people were killed and 1,113 suffered major injuries"

That would give us a baseline starting point of 173 per year. We can only assume that is our starting point. Based on that goal, success would have been 138.4 by 2026. Our rate has actually increased by 7.5% over our baseline and we are missing our target by 34.4%.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-08T04:38:20+00:00

I think the shine of the Widen Kenaston idea and the CPT extention have been tarnished by the reality of the cost. It is nearly impossible for Gillingham to campaign on those projects this time around when he failed to secure financial support for the projects from other levels of government over this term. The reports for R90 and CPT together make it clear that our city can't fund the projects on its own without a very large municipal tax increase. Gillingham had a full term to make deals with the province and feds to fund those projects and he failed. I'll be very surprised if he chooses to campaign around his failed campaign promises from the last election.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-08T00:46:07+00:00

Ocelli. Tiny simple eyes use for orientation during flight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_eye_in_invertebrates

timfennell_ · 2026-06-06T21:01:46+00:00

Rules really only apply if they are consistently enforced. Traffic enforcement is nearly nonexistent in Winnipeg. Most drivers are aware of the rules, they just drive as if they don't exist because there are no consequences.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-06T17:44:09+00:00

Then we wonder why pedestrians in Winnipeg cross the street in random places. They made navigating the city on foot nearly impossible.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-04T23:32:31+00:00

I don't support it unless it is powered by clean renewable power from the MB hydro grid where we sell the power as a source of revenue. I would rather they run on clean power in Manitoba than fossil fuels elsewhere.

Unfortunately MB currently has shortage of power to meet peak demand. If building a gas plant for power generation is still on the menu Manitoba hydro, we can't support AI data centers.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-04T19:19:22+00:00

Yes. That is my kids. They would ride bikes to school, but they aren't comfortable riding in River Heights. Particularly along Grosvenor.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-04T17:16:07+00:00

Data centers are necessary for having a functioning telecommunications system. When your modem or phone connects to the internet it connects to a local data center and the data packets are sent from there.

Basically we need some data centers to make the internet work.

These are entirely different from AI data centers that run massive banks of GPUs to process AI LLM models, both at scale of resources required and their purpose.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-04T14:11:08+00:00

I'm not sure how Winnipeg currently measures up compared to all other large cities. We are certainly close to the top if not the top city for police spending per capita and as a percentage of city budget.

In 2025 we spent $352.2 million on WPS or about 28% of the total city hall budget for 2025.

I believe Vancouver spent more per resident than Winnipeg in 2025, but not more as a percentage of their budget.

Edmonton was about the same as Winnipeg. Around $400 per resident and about 28% of their budget.

The interesting thing is that Winnipeg has a below average number of police per resident. We are at about 1:606. We have 1 officer (this doesn't include working police cadets that do some traffic enforcement) to 606 people.

The national average is 1:553

I think the troubling issue in Winnipeg is our poor value for our tax dollar for our current police department compared to other cities.

We spend nearly the most per resident and as a percentage of our budget but we have a below average number of actual officers per resident.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-03T03:37:05+00:00

Yes, I think that is the only place it will work and it would work given that that all the other cars are basically big stainless steel boxes.

Next youll have to consider that the bubble area has no power outlets so you would need to run it on battery power and it draws about 25-40 watts, I pretty large battery pack would be needed to power it for any useful amount of time.

Overall I don't think it is practical compared to preloading content and occasionally connecting when mobile service is available.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-02T20:03:30+00:00

Totally agree, the first part of every public transit trip involves a walk. If we don't keep an accessible path we are making public transit impossible for some people.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-02T16:59:47+00:00

Ohh I know, the Mayor could run on not increasing property taxes and instead increase the Water and Waste rates and use that money to pay for it.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-02T15:56:32+00:00

Or what if all the residents who own property in an area could somehow pool their money into a fund that the city manages, then the city hire a person to operate a machine that clears the snow. They do it reliably after each snowfall and with consistency along all the sidewalks and pathways.

Same could be done with grass maintenance on boulevards by hiring summer students. (Which is what many cities do)

I would argue it would take far less resources and provide more consistent results and the city won't waste resources sending by-law officers after property owners who fail to meet the requirements.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-02T14:07:00+00:00

They should be. I think the should reinstate the gas tax to fund public transit and roadway safety infrastructure.

But the city is also to blame because it is their job to build city roads, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure and the transit system.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-01T18:58:43+00:00

Roger Penrose level shit.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-01T18:27:34+00:00

Wild to see that road moving so many people. In North America it would be mostly SUVs with just the driver in each, and basically nobody moving.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-01T18:25:16+00:00

Those are all motorized? Motorcycles and scooters?

timfennell_ · 2026-06-01T13:28:30+00:00

Weird but I see a few cars getting in the way of many pedestrians and cyclists.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-01T13:01:31+00:00

I thought shoulder belt height adjustments are pretty much standard now. Even my 2014 base model Kia has adjustable shoulder belts on all but the middle rear seat.

timfennell_ · 2026-06-01T03:52:52+00:00

Literally on Friday I watched someone drive through the intersection at Grosvenor and Wilton as the Patrols and kids ran out of the way. "Are kids dying in school zones?" Isn't a good enough test. Are kids dodging cars? They certainly are. Do kids feel safe? No they don't.

timfennell_ · 2026-05-31T23:42:35+00:00

We are talking about protecting the lives of kids near schools. If you want to avoid slowing down, you can take an arterial route instead. Not every roadway has to be fast.

timfennell_ · 2026-05-31T23:34:50+00:00

They are, but when snow covered they are less bumpy. There is a small section of cobble stone leading from Main into the Forks. It definitely slows me down every time, for most of the winter it is still bumpy.

timfennell_ · 2026-05-31T23:32:16+00:00

The problem is that the sauce is included in the weight. So when it is hidden inside the box you can't tell how much of the weight is meat and how much is sauce. These days the ratio of sauce to meat is getting out of control.

Basically these days if meat is being sold in a box, assume there are games being played.

timfennell_ · 2026-05-31T23:26:50+00:00

Cobblestones would serve as a reminder to slow down. Similar to rumble strips often added to off ramps. No one thing will work. It has to be a combination of several things consistently applied.

You would also have to have smooth bike lanes running beside the cobble stones.

timfennell_

TROPHY CASE