bostonbiker

Author: jsallen

  • Nasty law covers electrically-assisted bicycles

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    jsallen
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    Electrically-assisted bicycles are becoming increasingly popular. Please see my post about them on my personal blog for more detail about this phenomenon. [And a later post on this blog] This definition in Chapter 90, section 1 of the Massachusetts General Laws appears to cover electrically-assisted bicycles: [Updated in 2023 to define electrically-assisted bicycles with a…

  • Menino proposes to increase fines…

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    jsallen
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    My son brought home a copy of the Metro newspaper on Monday, January 26. He picked it up on the T, and the front-page headline was that Mayor Menino has introduced a bill to raise the fine for for bicyclists’ traffic infractions from $20 to $150. There was a spirited rejoinder by Massbike Executive Director…

  • Doug Mink’s Boston Harbor Ride 2010

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    jsallen
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    I have posted my photos of Doug Mink’s Boston Harbor ride. Doug {now Jessica] has posted many more photos, from this ride and from rides in previous years. I had been hoping to take Doug’s ride for years but usually was on vacation when it happened. I wasn’t disappointed this year when I finally had…

  • Boston Red Light Flub, Watertown Win!

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    jsallen
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    Boston has been installing traffic-signal actuator loops that don’t work for bicyclists, and sometimes not even for motorists. Installing the right kind of loops doesn’t cost any more — it’s merely a question of cutting a different set of slots in the pavement and laying a different pattern of wires in those slots. Traffic signal…

  • Fatality in Brighton

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    jsallen
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    Regarding the recent fatal crash in Brighton: I understand that the cyclist was traveling down a rather steep hill on an arterial, Commonwealth Avenue, at speed, ran a red light and collided with a vehicle that was crossing on the green. Last I heard, it was unknown whether the cyclist ran the light intentionally, or…

  • Bicyclist falls under bus on Huntington Avenue, dies

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    jsallen
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    Tragic occurrence. Unfortunately, neither article gives enough detail to say why this happened. But according to several commenter eyewitnesses on the Herald blog, the bicyclist got a wheel caught in the trolley tracks in the street. The bicyclist and bus were eastbound according to the Globe. I got an e-mail passing along information from the…

  • Comments on the River Street and Western Avenue bridges

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    jsallen
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    I ride the River Street and Western Avenue frequently on my way between Waltham and Cambridge. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation plans to reconstruct these bridges. The roadways need repair, and so do the sidewalks, which connect the paths on each side of the river. But also, there are many issues with connections…

  • Massbike, root of all of Boston’s problems?

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    jsallen
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    On an October 9, 2009 Dallas Observer newspaper Web posting of a news article about bicycling advocacy turmoil in Dallas [archived], Jason Eric Roberts, a Dallas-area bicycling activist, had posted a comment which attracted my attention. On Mon, Oct 12, 2009, I e-mailed him, quoting the comment: Jason had a rather jaundiced view of bicycling…

  • Metrowest report is online again.

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    jsallen
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    In 1993, I conducted a survey of the western suburbs of Boston under a contract from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management (now part of the Department of Conservation and Recreation) and the Cerntral Transportation Planning Staff.  The project report was posted for several years on the Web site of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, but…