Tag: safety
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Massachusetts low-speed motor vehicle law
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…
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A British study clarifies the problem with trucks
I thank Bob Shanteau, California traffic engineer and cyclist, for this link. The paper, from the U.K., puts numbers on the problem with bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities in collisions with large trucks. A quote: Lorries are involved in around 4,200 fatal accidents in Europe every year, according to the European Transport Safety Council. In Belgium,…
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Massachusetts Motorized Bicycle and “Motorized Scooter” Law — a Mess
[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…
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Window dressing
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…
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Is This Street Wide Enough?
I have posted a video of a group of avid recreational cyclists riding on Hampshire Street in Cambridge, in the middle of the day. You may view it in glorious full-screen high definition here. Is This Two-Lane Street Wide Enough? from John Allen on Vimeo. The cyclists in this video are riding on a stretch…
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Close Encounter on Washington Street
The City of Boston created a deadly hazard for bicyclists at the entrance to the Downtown Crossing pedestrian mall. Shortly after noticing it in time and avoiding a crash, I encountered a man responsible for the situation and got some pushback when I commented on it. Does Boston deserve its League of Amercian Bicyclists Bicycle…
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My Comments on the Cambridge Street Bridge project
My comment letter may be found at this URL. It is a PDF file. I agree with many of the suggestions made by other commenters, though not all, and I made some additional suggestions.
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My comments about Arlington Center
I’ve posted extensive comments about the proposed design for the Arlington Center gap in the Minuteman Commuter bikeway on my personal blog. In my opinion, the proposed design fails for bicyclists of all ages and levels of experience. I suggest designs which, in my opinion, would succeed. There will be a public meeting about the…
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About Bob Zeeb’s crash
Bob Zeeb was a teacher in the Newton Public Schools, a colleague of my wife’s. I feel compelled to set the record straight about his unfortunate death in a bicycle crash on November 10, 2009. From an e-mail message sent out today by Livable Streets: Bike4Life was founded by the Zeeb family in memory of…