bostonbiker

Tag: Massachusetts

  • Boston Police tactics at the December 13, 2014 protest

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    jsallen
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    I express my appreciation to the Boston Police for crowd control without excessive force at December 13’s Black Lives Matter protest march. Anything less would have been very unfortunate, particularly in connection with a peaceful march protesting use of force and police immunity from prosecution. But there’s a different issue with police conduct at the…

  • People’s Pike or People’s Pillar to Post?

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    jsallen
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    How would I like to think of the People’s Pike? I want to see a bicycle path and an adjacent footpath which avoid crossing and turning conflicts, passing under the ramps to the Turnpike and to the proposed West Station, with connections up to the overpasses to get to West Station and beyond, to Packard’s…

  • Honked at again

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    jsallen
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    I was bicycling home from church on a Sunday afternoon recently. The church I attend, First Parish in Waltham, has a parking lot on either side, but also the public school parking lot across the street doesn’t get much use on a Sunday, and handles any overflow. As I rode home, I headed south on…

  • Commonwealth Avenue and the BU campus

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    jsallen
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    The Boston Cyclists Union and Livable Streets are promoting cycle tracks for Commonwealth Avenue. The bicycle industry’s Astroturf advocacy organization, Peoplefor Bikes, is asking people to sign a petition in support of them. Not a good idea. Cycle tracks on Commonwealth Avenue won’t prevent the most common car-bike crashes (crossing and turning collisions, doorings —…

  • I-90 Interchange project announcement

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    jsallen
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    Governor Deval Patrick announces commitment to a major expansion in the I-90 Interchange project, 2:40 PM, September 18, 2014, Beacon Yards, Allston section of Boston, Massachusetts. The abandoned rail yards are now a 22-acre wasteland in the middle of the City of Boston. Funding, 1/3 from the Commonwealth, 1/3 from Harvard University and 1/3 from…

  • Massachusetts low-speed motor vehicle law

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    jsallen
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    It is legal to operate a farm tractor, horsedrawn carriage, construction equipment, bicycle or motorized bicycle (moped) on any public way in the Commonwealth except for limited-access and express state highways. The rules for low-speed motor vehicles are far, far more restrictive, making these unusable for many trips even including short trips. The law is…

  • Separate but equal

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    jsallen
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    3:15 PM, Thursday, August 27, 2014: I’m riding home on the stretch of Western Avenue in Brighton a hundred yards or so short of Market Street. I’m riding outside the door zone of parked cars. This stretch is narrow enough that the City of Boston hasn’t even seen fit to install its usual door-zone bike…

  • Massachusetts Motorized Bicycle and “Motorized Scooter” Law — a Mess

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    jsallen
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    [Note — these comments have been rendered partially obsolete by legislation enacted in 2023. Laws for bicycles now apply to electric bicycles with a top assisted speed of 20 mph. Electric bicycles with a top speed of 28 mph (Class 3 as usually defined) are still defined as motorized scooters as of this writing in…

  • Window dressing

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    jsallen
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    I have already described the side skirts on Boston garbage trucks as window dressing. Maybe I should concede a little ground on that, as the cyclist in the most recent right-hook crash merely had severe injuries instead of being killed. [Update, December 2024: I take it back. See photo and explanation below.] To prevent right-hook…

  • A Discussion of Massachusetts Rules on Crosswalks

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    jsallen
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    This appeared on the BostonAreaCycling e-mail list. It deserves repeating. On Jun 29, 2014, at 10:13 PM, David Wean  wrote: Vehicle operators are required to stop once pedestrians enter the crosswalk (or when they are, IIRC, within 10 feet of the lane the vehicle is in). A concern I have is that treating cyclists the…