Tag: safety
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Fatal crash of November 9, 2018 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
This morning’s fatal crash was reported by State Police as another in the string of tragic right-hook collisions which have become the largest cause of bicyclist fatalities in the Boston area. Once again, a bicyclist was crushed by a large truck which turned right.[ Update: the cyclist was Meng Jin, a male graduate student at…
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Riding Lexington Street, Waltham, July 4, 2015
It should be noted that bike lanes have been installed on much of the stretch of Lexington Street shown in the videos. Videos showing the new conditions are in preparation. Two videos, for now: A demonstration of lane control in a slow, uphill bicycle ride on a suburban speedway, with light, fast traffic. How controlling…
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Pushback on Cambridge bicycle plans
Cambridge Civic Journal blogger Robert Winters has posted a thoroughgoing critique of a proposal for a great expansion in the number and mileage of on-street, barrier-separated bikeways. City Councillor Craig Kelley also has raised questions on his blog (and sent out the same message to an e-mail subscription list).
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Gillooly’s presentation
Deputy Commissioner James Gillooly’s presentation about the planned separate bikeways on Commonwealth Avenue is online at the URL below. I have prespred a version synchronized to his talk about it at the 2015 Massachusetts Moving Together conference. Gillooly, J. (2015, 11 01). Commonwealth Avenue Phase 2A… Retrieved June 25, 2016, from http://www.movingtogetherma.org/Pdfs/2015presentations/Gillooly-Issued_Move%20Together%20-%20Session%202D.pdf — deleted by…
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What’s wrong with this picture?
As hunting seasons are introduced to control the deer population in Boston suburbs and nearby parklands, I’m reminded of an article which appeared in the alumni magazine of Middlebury College, one of my alma maters. The article told how Middlebury College sanctions students’ involvement in hunting, and described the usual controversy over hunting which occurs…
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The Globe Screws Up on Nighttime Safety
The Boston Globe has published an article titled “Survival Guide for Running and Biking in the Dark.” This picture appeared with the article: you need it to understand my comments. The article addresses issues of retroreflector placement and motion, while not discussing when retroreflectors can work, or cannot work at all. The bicyclists in the…
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Mass Ave, Arlington, and two approaches to bicycling
This article is about Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington, but at a deeper level, it is about two very different approaches to bicycling. I’ll start by recalling Massachusetts Avenue as it used to be. Massachusetts Avenue was striped with two lanes. They were very wide, because there once was a streetcar line down the middle. The…
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Commonwealth Avenue victory?
I submitted the following comments in response to a Boston Globe article reporting on proposed bikeways on Commonwealth Avenue. [archived] Real solutions to bicycle and pedestrian mobility in the Commonwealth Avenue corridor can be found by connecting parallel streets, an initiative which ties in well with the proposed Allston Turnpike Interchange Project. I have commented…
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Boston Police bicycle training
Are the Boston Police getting the training they need to be safe and effective on bicycles? I don’t think so. I don’t know how they train, but I have seen how they perform. In another post, I described how a participant in a protest march pushed a Boston bicycle patrol officer over — intentionally or…
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Commonwealth Avenue and the BU campus
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 —…