A Close Encounter on Washington Street

It seems appropriate for me to post this as the City of Boston bicycle program gears up for its annual update presentation Monday night. You do best to click on the “vimeo” icon (lower right in frame below) and run the video full-screen.

A Close Encounter on Washington Street from John Allen on Vimeo.

About jsallen

John S. Allen is the author or co-author of numerous publications about bicycling including Bicycling Street Smarts, which has been adopted as the bicycle driver's manual in several US states. He has been active with the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition since 1978 and served as a member of the board of Directors of the League of American Bicyclists from 2003 through 2009.
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6 Responses to A Close Encounter on Washington Street

  1. brad powell says:

    I was “cloths-lined” by a black wire at neck height 40 years ago. It was at dusk as I rode my bike one evening between Foxboro raceway and the new Football stadium. Two metal poles had been put up to prevent cars from either parking lot from exiting into each other.

    I don’t believe the wire in Foxboro had anything to do with an attempt to keep cyclists from crossing but I can attest that at night even traveling at 5 mph that wire was virtually invisible and the results could have broken my neck had I been traveling at 10mph or more.

    I would suggest to Nicole Freedman that she consult with cities lawyers before any more ridiculous chained metal poles go up and before any cyclists are injured or killed and the city ends up with a needless lawsuit.

  2. Jean-François says:

    Geez, how hard is it to put some high-vis flags on that chain? Or just put an actual solid barrier that you can see?

  3. Andrew J. Besold, LCI says:

    Wow John! I just crashed into a chain just last week in Boise and still have the bruises on my forearms from it (chain was at chest height). There were barriers in place to prevent motor vehicles from traveling onto a closed section of roadway but there is space between the barriers to allow a bicycle through. I come off the roadway at relatively high speed (14mph) and expect to slip between the barriers only to see a chain at the very last moment strung between the barriers. I am only able to grab the front brake but can’t stop in time and crash into the chain and plan for the worst. Lucky for me the barriers were rather light and they all moved with me and I came to a forceful but metered stop. Going to contact the Ada County Highway Department about this right now!

  4. Andrew J. Besold, LCI says:

    Oh this happened at the old junction of Eckert Road and Warm Springs Road. Would have Google linked with a Streets View it but the new Google Maps isn’t all that intuitive.

  5. Michael Stiefel says:

    Once, when riding my bicycle, I asked a police office stationed in that pedestrian zone if it was legal to ride my bicycle there. He said “yes you are” most emphatically.

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