Biking in Boston

Let's get some answers *and* change some behaviors with a little "push polling": next time you're stopped near a stealth mode cyclist, ask them in as sweet and innocent tone as you can muster,

Why no headlight?

I figure that's about the nicest way of "presenting" a serious communal problem to somebody. The second best I've come up with (and feel free to suggest better) has been a simple:

You deserve a brighter headlight.

Which, unless you're dealing with a confirmed self-hater, you're going to get agreement on.

In asking the question at stop lights (usually at Porter Sq), So far, I've gotten:
- The batteries died...but I'm going to get new batteries
- It burnt out

To the fellow with the first answer, I judged from his openness that he was ready for my follow up: "There's a fine epitaph: 'He was going to get batteries'", and he was fine, responding with, "I'll do it tomorrow" and I said, "Good. You deserve it." The "it burnt out" lady was apparently annoyed, so I didn't follow up, though I feel like a cheery "Adios" would have been OK.

Gentle, targeted peer pressure is about the only thing I can see working.

Boston is famous for both its dark clothes (so's NYC) and its bad drivers, so there are a lot of causes. Boston drivers are bad at signalling and bad at turning on their headlights "soon enough"--there's a habit of
- I can see, so I don't need my headlights on
- I see an open slot in the flow of traffic, so I don't need to signal

This behavior is mirrored in the cyclists. I also sense that at least some of the stealth cyclists are midwestern innocents doing their post-doc who went to some large, flat (bike-friendly) nice university in a Great Lakes or Plains state that dominated the city and protected its cyclists from reality, dumping them here with no bike light.
 
I've tried "hey, you forgot to turn on your headlight" without much luck.
 
Matthew said:
I've tried "hey, you forgot to turn on your headlight" without much luck.
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Anytime I see a bike with no headlights, tail lights and the person is wearing all black at night I always roll up next to them in my car and tell them "either get reflectors or get on the sidewalk". Its just not safe or smart. Also I think we can all agree that a law should be made that if your wind shield wipers are in use your headlights should be on.
 
It is technically illegal. Cyclists are required by law to have a headlight and taillight on from 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise. This is the issue cyclists should be getting ticketed for most. It's unsafe.

EDIT: Also, I will add that pedestrians should be legally required to have a light if they are on a bike path at night. Every night this week, I've come across multiple people on the Fitchburg Cutoff Bikepath (Cambridge and Belmont) who can NOT be seen. There are no lights and it is not a sidewalk. There is an assumption that traffic is moving moderately fast (i.e. 15 mph). If I plowed into a pedestrian, they/me/my bike would be damaged and if I ran over their unseen puppy in the pitch black, they would surely blame me for their dog's death (it is amazing more dogs don't die when people decide it is good idea to walk them on a pitch-black bike path with no lights and no leash).
 
matredsoxfan said:
Anytime I see a bike with no headlights, tail lights and the person is wearing all black at night I always roll up next to them in my car and tell them "either get reflectors or get on the sidewalk".
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I prefer the way I say it ;-) Technically, for you, it'd be better to say: "either get a headlight or walk it home." (I also don't think angry words work.)
matredsoxfan said:
Also I think we can all agree that a law should be made that if your wind shield wipers are in use your headlights should be on.
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I'm all in favor of the wipers-on, lights-on rule.

Actually, our cars should have daytime running lights, particularly in the city where they make "in play" cars stand out from parked cars. (they're not super effective but seem associated with a 5% accident reduction. I have a small rear-view mirror on my bike (convex, so things are a bit small), and really appreciate headlights' ability to tell the moving bikes and cars from the parked ones.

In Mass, the law is the same for cars and bikes: you must have a white headlight on from 30 mins after sunset to 30 mins before sunrise.
 
paperless paul, London is by far the exception.

Netherlands, Denmark, Japan...nobody dresses like that. Frankly, they look like tools.

and many here seem to like black as a color for tops, jackets, backpacks
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Have you been to a store recently? Try finding winter-wear that isnt black.

I 100% agree that lights are EXTREMELY important, and the PD should issue fix-it tickets.

Clothes? That's a losing battle. You're essentially proposing a government-mandated uniform for adults.
 
jass said:
Clothes? That's a losing battle. You're essentially proposing a government-mandated uniform for adults.
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I don't think anyone was proposing a government mandate on the clothing front. (Paperless Paul didn't, that I saw)

More like what do we have to do to make "bright" the fashionable color to break the chicken and egg problem that as long as only black is fashionable, fashions will only come in black.

(I think I noted that upthread that at Amazon my neon orange-with-reflective-piping Canari cycling shell was 40% cheaper than the stylish colors...probably because stylish people were busy buying other colors despite Canari's best efforts)
 
Thanks for everyone's comments.

I am not sure that London companies' bike facilities are that much better than here. I think it's more the result of a build-up of a biking culture over time. And they have maybe 5 or 10 years on us.

I agree that Europe is generally different. But they also have lots more segregated paths in those places, and/or more integrated biking culture where drivers are more careful around bikers. I actually don't think fluorescent jackets make a biker look like a tool. But I would not wear one into L'Espalier either.

The aggravation of carrying around a helmet, clothes change, rain, carrying bags etc are reasons I generally take public transit rather than bike when I am going to dinner, work etc. Mostly the bike is for more personal trips, rec, and 'tourism', shopping. So I understand your concerns. But a lightweight fluorescent jacket is not too much of a bother to have around I think.

I also generally much more rarely bike at night here than in London. There I generally use a Barclaybike, like from the Barbican which has terrible public transport. But I think riding at night in London feels a lot safer than here, better drivers, generally slower roads, possibly better street lighting.

I also think fluorescent tops (or reflectors I guess) are almost as important as lights which are not always easy to see from certain directions. Like tons of stop sign style intersections with parked cars in Cambridge. Or in urban traffic directly adjacent to a car you would not see the lights but would see a jacket. They are also good for low light poor contrast rural roads like Rte 127 Cape Ann where high speed, no shoulder and sharp curves mean that a driver might see me a few seconds earlier if I have something high contrast.

I am not proposing legislation for clothing. I simply think it's a question of why would you not want to be visible? But I do think the lights at night issue is a rare point where bikers should get actual citations. It is simply too dangerous for everyone to not be seen.
 
Busy Allston street set for bike lanes

By Nicole Dungca | GLOBE STAFF NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Cambridge Street in Allston soon will get some new road stripes and long-anticipated bike lanes near Soldiers Field Road that should help allay community concerns about cyclist and pedestrian safety on the corridor.

Boston Department of Transportation officials say they have plans to restripe the street in the coming month, adding bike lanes near the Cambridge Street overpass on both sides that will take away a car lane in each direction.

The new lanes come just a few months after Allston residents rallied for a safer Cambridge Street, pointing out pedestrian and cyclist deaths that have occurred on the busy stretch near the Interstate 90 onramp.

The new bike lanes are part of a plan to remake the Cambridge Street overpass, a two-year, $10 million project that is slated to include a new crosswalk and signal to improve pedestrian safety.

Harry Mattison, an Allston resident who lives about 50 yards from Cambridge Street, praised the city’s transportation department and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for making the bike lanes a priority.

“There’s a huge pent-up demand for people that want to and should be able to walk and jog and cycle safely through this important corridor,” Mattison said.

Officials say the removal of car lanes should help slow down traffic, which Mattison said is crucial to making the street safer.

“People drive on that road like they’re already on the Mass. Pike and they’re not,” he said. “They’re on a neighborhood street.”

Officials will be tracking use of the bike lanes, which will run from Soldiers Field Road to Brighton Avenue.

Some areas of the bike lane have already been put down closer to Union Square, and officials hope to replace the lanes with a cycle track in the spring.
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Boston Globe
 
This is great news! Finally, a more reasonable, direct way to bike between the Central Square/Riverside area and Allston Village/Union Square than going around onto Western Ave.
 
Medford Mayor to talk bike paths (as part of larger press conference today)
Monday/Nov 17th at 1 PM in the Mayor’s Office. Topics to be discussed include... the addition of bicycle lanes to streets in Medford
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As Somerville's northern flank, Medford (my town) has a symbiotic role in connecting Somerville to/from radial routes (Boston Ave, College Ave, Medford St-Main St) across the Mystic, and circumferential (around/along the Mystic River). Medford has few bike lanes today, and choppy pavement on a lot of arterials. Here's hoping we're going to fix that.
 
bigeman312 said:
This is great news! Finally, a more reasonable, direct way to bike between the Central Square/Riverside area and Allston Village/Union Square than going around onto Western Ave.
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It'll be the beginning of the improvement but there's still more to be done.

For one thing, the River Street bridge intersection -- a giant clusterfuck that everyone hates -- will not be touched. Because it's DCR. And DCR doesn't give a shit, as we all know.

They'll be sticking to mainly paint-based interventions this winter and I think will revisit the issue next year. And that means that they'll only paint sharrows going westbound near the River Street bridge, right where the I-90 off-ramps let off. That area will basically still suck horribly for anyone not in a car (or in a car, for that matter). But I guess you can say that people can still use Western Ave for westbound bicycle traffic, just like cars. Going east will be better, though.

Since it's paint-based, it won't be as much help for pedestrians as we'd like. They won't be implementing a crosswalk this winter at the I-90 on-ramp that killed someone in July. I think they want to install one of those rapid-flash beacons and that will have to wait until warmer weather.
 
Connect Historic Boston plans are out.
New cycle tracks along:
The shoulder of Commercial Street.
The median of Causeway Street.
The shoulder of Constitution Road.
 
AmericanFolkLegend said:
Connect Historic Boston plans are out.
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Link?
AmericanFolkLegend said:
The shoulder of Commercial Street.
The median of Causeway Street.
The shoulder of Constitution Road.
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Sounds like a great network when combined with the new N. Washington St Bridge.

Causeway & Commercial collect/distribute on the Boston side and
Constitution Road does so on the Charlestown side.

I think it'll really encourage commuting on Rutherford Ave, and Hubway use by tourists (which is where Hubway is designed to make its profits).
 
Does anyone have any experience with median cycle tracks? It makes me uneasy. I really hate the "wrong side" bike lanes on Comm Ave. They are fine while you are in them, but getting in and out is always awkward and uncomfortable.
 
fattony said:
Does anyone have any experience with median cycle tracks? It makes me uneasy. I really hate the "wrong side" bike lanes on Comm Ave. They are fine while you are in them, but getting in and out is always awkward and uncomfortable.
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I loved them in DC, until you get to the end. There was signage reading something like "cyclists use sidewalk", so I believe if you want to turn from the median bike lane you are supposed to stop, dismount, and then wait for a pedestrian signal.

RE Comm Ave it looks like it was resurfaced recently, last time I was on it there was nice black pavement but no paint on the segments closer to the Public Garden.
 
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