Biking in Boston

Agreed, trolling, no collective responsibility for idiots, etc.

Also (/however) its really time for big, unmissable signage marking no-go zones for bikes. This person presumably got onto the cantilevered section of the Zakim and continued onto the Uppah Deck. The little underpass in the North End should have been legible for most people as 'not for bikes' (assuming that's how he accessed the bridge, rather than hopping the fence at causeway street) but I can see how someone might think that on the Zakim itself the main span is the interstate part, while the part to the right of the barriers (the cantilever, outside the cables) is some kind of 'regular road'. Then you get across the bridge and there is nowhere to go but forward.

In any scenario, this guy was really boneheaded, but there are other places in town where its MUCH easier to get into trouble real fast (especially the older pre-interstate highways / parkways).

- Storrow / Soldiers field road
- The pike onramps in the backbay
- Mem drive (even as a VERY experienced Boston biker, I'd have a hard time explaining to an out of towner why this particular road wouldn't be an ok place to bike....but I definitely wouldn't try to occupy a lane there)
- The McGrath
- Fresh Pond Parkway
- The Jamaicaway
- Charlesgate overpass
- Morrisey Blvd
- etc, etc, etc.

Consider a tourist on a hubway - the instructions (and maybe experience at 'Home' in Europe or Japan) say share the road, occupy a lane, don't bike on the sidewalk, etc. etc. .... could you really blame an out of towner for finding themselves in a hairy situation on any of those roads (again, getting all the way to the Uppah Deck is a different story)....after all once you find yourself on a freeway / freeway-lite all the right instincts would tell you to keep going, as fast and straight as possible, until you find an offramp, epecially if there is no breakdown lane...

tl:dr - Time to paint very large 'no bikes' symbols at critical intersections and onramps, mostly because our road vocabulary here is so idiosyncratic

**EDIT: I see that the article says he got one at Lev. Circle....my broader points remain....
 
I agree 100%, but I do not think it applies to this idiot. I would bet he knows what he was doing and thought it was a "stunt" or "statement" or something of the sort.
 
CSTH said:
Time to paint very large 'no bikes' symbols at critical intersections and onramps, mostly because our road vocabulary here is so idiosyncratic

**EDIT: I see that the article says he got one at Lev. Circle....my broader points remain....
Click to expand...
Totally agree. ( Want to know where he *got off*)

Particularly the Model-T era parkways (ideosyncratic older/richer east coast cities like NY and BOS) are something that visitors/transplants from South-of-DC or West-of-the-Appalachians don't have a model for and half will wrongly think them "streets" instead of "bypassways" (Compounded that parkways themselves were tailor-built to cars were all the size of a Honda Fit, but half the weight, and had a typical speed of 25mph and top speed of 40mph)

I saw a clueless cyclist on this stretch of Alewife Brook Parkway where the sidewalk suddenly gets deleted for a block. Either we put a "boardwalk" sidewalk, or more forcefully get this guy on the "wrong side" bike path.

The fix for Parkways that are too narrow and too fast to be shared is all get parallel bikeways.
 
Also, I think it would be a great (albeit hokey) idea to mark roads like ski trails for cyclists. There are many roads that are okay for experienced cyclists who can keep up with the flow of traffic, but absolutely unacceptable for a kid or a first-time Hubway user. I actually started creating a map like this, being both an avid skier and cyclist:

  • Green Circle - Easy. No experience necessary. Fine for beginners learning how to ride a bike as well as for the experienced cyclist passing through the neighborhood. Think: Any side street in Somerville.
  • Blue Square - Medium. Required to follow the rules of the road. Must signal. No children should be biking. Think: Somerville Ave.
  • Black Diamond. Difficult. Experienced Cyclists only. Must be able to respond very well to tricky situations and keep up with the flow of traffic. Think: Mass Ave, Boston.
  • Double Black Diamond. Very difficult. Legal to bike, but should be avoided. I would support a ban of cyclists from these roads. Think: Route 9 in Newton.
  • Limited-access. Cyclists banned.

I was compelled to do this because Google Maps and inexperienced cyclists both think bike lane = the most desired route. We all know this is untrue, though.
 
bigeman312 said:
Also, I think it would be a great (albeit hokey) idea to mark roads like ski trails for cyclists. There are many roads that are okay for experienced cyclists who can keep up with the flow of traffic, but absolutely unacceptable for a kid or a first-time Hubway user. I actually started creating a map like this, being both an avid skier and cyclist:

  • Green Circle - Easy. No experience necessary. Fine for beginners learning how to ride a bike as well as for the experienced cyclist passing through the neighborhood. Think: Any side street in Somerville.
  • Blue Square - Medium. Required to follow the rules of the road. Must signal. No children should be biking. Think: Somerville Ave.
  • Black Diamond. Difficult. Experienced Cyclists only. Must be able to respond very well to tricky situations and keep up with the flow of traffic. Think: Mass Ave, Boston.
  • Double Black Diamond. Very difficult. Legal to bike, but should be avoided. I would support a ban of cyclists from these roads. Think: Route 9 in Newton.
  • Limited-access. Cyclists banned.

I was compelled to do this because Google Maps and inexperienced cyclists both think bike lane = the most desired route. We all know this is untrue, though.
Click to expand...

This is a great idea. I am pretty experienced as a cyclist, but have still gotten in trouble over unfamiliar routes "recommended' by Google because someone painted a (useless/ignored) bike lane marker.
 
The Boston Bikes map has a rating system: beginner, intermediate, advanced. They could put up signs, I suppose.
 
Matthew said:
The Boston Bikes map has a rating system: beginner, intermediate, advanced. They could put up signs, I suppose.
Click to expand...

I think signage is an absolute must. Imagine if a ski area had the trail map with difficulty-markings posted online, but no trail maps available on site, no trail maps on the mountain, and no posted signs of difficulty. Well, you would have a situation much like we have with cycling: inexperienced cyclists/skiers taking routes that they should not travel.
 
Matthew said:
The Boston Bikes map has a rating system: beginner, intermediate, advanced. They could put up signs, I suppose.
Click to expand...

I am not a total fan of their ratings. And the online map is too low resolution to be very useful.

Example 1: I simply do not believe that Washington Street from Forest Hills to Roslindale Center is a more advanced ride (red) than Blue Hills Ave through Mattapan (blue). I won't even drive the route thru Mattapan!

Example 2: The bike path along Melina Cass Blvd. is "separated", but is always strewn with broken glass and other trash/obstacles. Definitely not a "green".
 
Hmm, well the Mattapan route is usually double parked, while the Washington Street route is extremely bumpy. They both require good awareness of the door zone.

I don't dispute that the ratings are probably more aspirational than anything. Melnea Cass is a good example.
 
They've removed all the temporary fencing from the SCP's Lowell St extension. Obviously that stretch has been functionally open for months now, but the ramp at the Lowell St end now connects. It looks like they still have a little work to do on the stairs.
 
Tragic. UHub has some pre-crash images up this morning. From the look of it, the rear wheels of the turning trailer may even have caught her from behind while she was stopped, pretty far forward towards the intersection.

(I don't want to get in a conversation about who is responsible or at fault, because none of us has any idea at all. Its just tragic.)
 
For those of us lucky to be alive, the CommuteOrlando site has a good article on safety around trucks.

Commit this to memory:
nozonerev2.jpg


And my cousin the triathlete trainer who lives/trains in Orlando can confirm that Orlando has a brutal bike-truck-car mixing. They speak from grim experience.

(We've already looked at the "highway" version of the truck-danger zones, but it is worth repeating too)
nozone2.jpg


I violate this with box trucks way more often than I should. Learn and Live and Learn.
 
Arlington said:
Cyclist killed in collision with tractor-flatbed this AM in Back Bay.

We'll know more when surveillance images are available.

Be careful around big vehicles (including trains).
Click to expand...

I believe that the surveillance image that the BPD published shows the cyclist just before the collision - look just below the passenger side mirror: https://twitter.com/bostonpolice/status/629643482701934592/photo/1

It's just too damn easy to be confused by a tractor trailer signaling and then moving in the opposite direction, I've been there myself. And if they don't signal how can anyone outguess them?
Time for mandatory ped and cyclist detections systems to be used on every large truck making deliveries in urban areas.
 
Your diagrams assume that the rider comes up from behind the truck. The trouble is that you can be stopped and waiting at the light when a truck pulls up next to you and does that to you. If you see it happening, that's a good time to move out in front, in full view of the cab. Or just advance through the intersection when it's clear.

Good example of when waiting at the red light "doing the right thing" is actually much more lethal than "breaking the law".
 
Randomgear said:
I believe that the surveillance image that the BPD published shows the cyclist just before the collision - look just below the passenger side mirror: https://twitter.com/bostonpolice/status/629643482701934592/photo/1
Click to expand...
That would make it the kind of Right Hook warned against in the animation linked above and the rule-of-thumb "don't pass trucks on right" which I'm certainly going to adopt.
Randomgear said:
It's just too damn easy to be confused by a tractor trailer signaling and then moving in the opposite direction, I've been there myself. And if they don't signal how can anyone outguess them?
Time for mandatory ped and cyclist detections systems to be used on every large truck making deliveries in urban areas.
Click to expand...
On a rush hour street corner, wouldn't they just be a source of additional "noise" and driver distraction?

What might have helped in this case was more extensive mandatory fenders on trucks
side-guard_Volpe-Photo.png

particularly if all the "core" municipalities (or state) requires them on all trucks. Fenders like this, according to our own Volpe Labs, reduced cyclist fatalities 61% when adopted in the UK.

Also, trailer skirts are becoming more popular (they save $$$).
semitruck-aerodynamics.jpg

and even ones between wheels (these are the easiest way to meet new fuel economy standards for big trucks that are coming into force soon, as seen in this concept):
walmart-advanced-vehicle-experience-truck-concept-photo-579055-s-1280x782.jpg


I don't know how these aerodynamic skirts are at fending people away from the rearmost wheels, but it seems like they'd be helpful in fending exactly where fending is needed. Like a highway guardrail, they needn't be a solid 6' from ground to shoulders in order to successfully do their "fending" job.
 
What a horrible tragedy.

Matthew said:
Your diagrams assume that the rider comes up from behind the truck. The trouble is that you can be stopped and waiting at the light when a truck pulls up next to you and does that to you. If you see it happening, that's a good time to move out in front, in full view of the cab. Or just advance through the intersection when it's clear.
Click to expand...

Seems like bike boxes at the stop line would be a first step to help avoid this kind of right hook in the future.

1292433696FRDQ.jpg

(Image cribbed from Streetsblog.org)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top