Biking in Boston

[datadyne007]

Breaking: Cyclist killed in accident near BU campus this morning. Second fatality in the area in one month.

Comes just hours before City is scheduled to meet to discuss safer streets for cyclists— http://tinyurl.com/bgpo296

 

[davem]

Uhub says the truck was making a wide turn from the left lane, as trucks have to do. This happens to cars all the time, in that situation its the cars fault I believe.

 

[dshoost88]

In light of the cyclist death this morning on Comm Ave., I decided to attend the city council's bike safety meeting at city hall today. What a timely coincidence it was that an open panel hearing on bicycle safety and infrastructure improvements was scheduled just hours after the fifth cyclist fatality in the city this year.

Anyway, the meeting was very informative. It was extremely refreshing to hear council members and panel experts across all fields discuss the issues seriously and acknowledge the long list of solutions the city could implement to improve safety throughout the city. As you could imagine, the meeting was heavily attended by many from the bike community like myself who chimed in with their testimonies regarding bike safety. The meeting went on for more than three hours.

The biggest takeaway from the hearing was that cycle-ways and complete streets are the way to go. On a cost-benefit scale, it seems pretty obvious that they're the most realistic solution to improve safety for cyclists of all types.

 

[jass]

Uhub says the truck was making a wide turn from the left lane, as trucks have to do. This happens to cars all the time, in that situation its the cars fault I believe.

I would say its the manufacturer of the trucks fault, if theyve designed something that cannot safely be used.

And yes, the driver of the truck too. If you cant see shit, move at 1mph.

Too frequently, trucks make their wide, wild turns at high speeds.

 

[kmp1284]

They're perfectly safe provided people around them exhibit some modicum of situational awareness.

 

[kmp1284]

It's not as if this kid was just standing there in the bike lane and was crushed. It's pretty clear that he was riding and either didn't see the truck crossing ahead of him or couldn't stop and t-boned the trailer.

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

They're perfectly safe provided people around them exhibit some modicum of situational awareness.

Yes. Tough to blame the truck (or the driver without knowing more facts). It's not as if articulated tractor trailers are some newfangled contraption.

 

[mass88]

In light of the cyclist death this morning on Comm Ave., I decided to attend the city council's bike safety meeting at city hall today. What a timely coincidence it was that an open panel hearing on bicycle safety and infrastructure improvements was scheduled just hours after the fifth cyclist fatality in the city this year.

Anyway, the meeting was very informative. It was extremely refreshing to hear council members and panel experts across all fields discuss the issues seriously and acknowledge the long list of solutions the city could implement to improve safety throughout the city. As you could imagine, the meeting was heavily attended by many from the bike community like myself who chimed in with their testimonies regarding bike safety. The meeting went on for more than three hours.

The biggest takeaway from the hearing was that cycle-ways and complete streets are the way to go. On a cost-benefit scale, it seems pretty obvious that they're the most realistic solution to improve safety for cyclists of all types.

Cyclists also need to play ball too. By that I mean they need to exhibit proper road knowledge and follow traffic rules. All the time I see people on bikes running stop signs, make right turns on red when they're no supposed to, going the wrong way down a one way street, making a turn where turns are not supposed to be made, weaving in and out of cars at lights, no signaling when they're making turns, the list goes on. I had my side mirror ripped off by a cyclist riding between cars at a stop light, the person rode off after I yelled out at him.

I am sorry that people have been killed an injured, that's sad and unfortunate. I know if I road a bike. I would always assume a car does not see me and ride very defensively.

I am all in favor of making the city as bike friendly as possible.

 

[jass]

They're perfectly safe provided people around them exhibit some modicum of situational awareness.

Perfectly safe?

Not in cities. They play a huge role in urban manslaughter.

If the truck was unable to turn from the rightmost lane (the bike lane) then it shouldnt have turned there.

Just because a little plaque on the truck says it will swing left doesnt make it legal.

 

[mass88]

Drivers also need to play ball. By that I mean they need to exhibit proper road knowledge and follow traffic rules. All the time I see people in cars running stop signs, make right turns on red when they're no supposed to, going the wrong way down a one way street, making a turn where turns are not supposed to be made, weaving back and forth between lanes, no signaling when they're making turns, the list goes on. I was almost hit yesterday on St Paul (near the accident) by a motorist who ran through a stop sign. The person drove off after I yelled out at her.

I saw that you're all for better infrastructure, but this type of finger pointing never ends and is totally useless. Plus, this: affect heuristic.

Try not to jump to conclusions. Never said drivers were free of guilt.

 

[kmp1284]

Perfectly safe?

Not in cities. They play a huge role in urban manslaughter.

If the truck was unable to turn from the rightmost lane (the bike lane) then it shouldnt have turned there.

Just because a little plaque on the truck says it will swing left doesnt make it legal.

Talk about laying it on thick.

 

[Lurker]

This is the third fatality where a tractor trailer making a wide turn has killed a cyclist. Two stationary at lights, one of which was in a bike lane, and now this poor kid moving in a dedicated lane.

Trucks that large should be limited to certain hours for deliveries and be required to make a complete stop before turning. I'm also highly in favor of side skirts or ram bars under the trailer body to prevent travel underneath, much like the bars were added to the rear of trailers to prevent decapitations in rear end collisions.

I've nearly had my Mini (and when I had a Subaru Outback) totaled on a few occasions by trucks deciding to make a turn, without signaling, while I've presumably been in a blind spot. In that situation, particularly if someone has boxed in behind, there isn't much one can do beyond laying on a horn and ducking.

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

If the truck was unable to turn from the rightmost lane (the bike lane) then it shouldnt have turned there.

Then we'll need to close down the Port of Boston. Because all the trailers turning from East First Street onto Summer Street make a wide turn from halfway across the yellow line (EVERY truck that leaves Conley goes down E.First and turns right onto Summer).
As someone who drives this route most days, I know this will happen and don't move to the right of the truck. When I bike (admittedly rarely) I'm aware of same.
This accident occurred either because the truck driver didn't check his right side-view (where a bicyclist was waiting), or the bicyclist didn't pay attention to the truck turning and drove into the side of it.
In either case it's operator error.

 

[jass]

Then we'll need to close down the Port of Boston. Because all the trailers turning from East First Street onto Summer Street make a wide turn from halfway across the yellow line (EVERY truck that leaves Conley goes down E.First and turns right onto Summer).
As someone who drives this route most days, I know this will happen and don't move to the right of the truck. When I bike (admittedly rarely) I'm aware of same.
This accident occurred either because the truck driver didn't check his right side-view (where a bicyclist was waiting), or the bicyclist didn't pay attention to the truck turning and drove into the side of it.
In either case it's operator error.

Im sorry, was this collision at the port of Boston, or in a residential area swarming with college students and bike commuters?

 

[massmotorist]

[...] this type of finger pointing never ends and is totally useless. Plus, this: affect heuristic.

I never concluded that you believed drivers are guilt free. I suggested that the incessant finger-pointing, and focus on the outliers of a given population is not generally constructive.

This. x100000. Everyone needs to read those posts until they sink in.

People demonize groups that they aren't members of based on outliers, and take mental shortcuts to problem solving.

A truck driver hits a bicyclist. Trucks play a huge role in urban manslaughter. They should be banned from roads during the day.

A bicyclist hits your mirror. Bicyclists are reckless. They should give them more tickets.

A driver goes careening off the road into a group of pedestrians going 60 mph. Drivers are dangerous. Lower the speed limit from 30 to 25 and ticket people.

A pedestrian crosses the road outside the walk signal. Pedestrians in Boston are all jaywalkers. They need to start strictly enforcing the law.

A green line operator zones out and crashes into another train at 10 mph. T workers are lazy, overpaid hacks protected by the union. We should bust it up.

All of these things have the same thing in common: they're stupid. Stupid conclusions, stupid solutions. In all of these groups, the vast, vast majority of people are law-abiding, courteous, regular people. The few who aren't should be punished. But there will always be assholes, and even if there weren't, we're all human, even the best of us have our days, and "shit happens" is a fact of life. You can engineer ways to mitigate this, and we do, and that's why fatality rates have been steadily declining for decades, but you can't stop it entirely.

You need to look at hard data and analyze it rigorously if you want to seriously solve problems. The fact is that the number of annual traffic deaths in the city of Boston in 2009 was 16, and in 2010 it was 18. 2011 data is not yet available. So let's analyze the 2010 data.

- 7 pedestrian deaths. Four of these were found to involve no improper driving, and driving straight ahead. One involves a left hand turn and was found to be caused by glare. The other involves turning left and does not have a cause code. In two of these the pedestrian was in the roadway (not a crosswalk).
- 3 bicyclist deaths. Two of these were found to involve no improper driving, and driving straight ahead. One has no cause code, and is missing much of its data.
- The other crashes with deaths resulted in collisions with parked cars (1), other vehicles (4), median barriers (1), curb (1), unknown (1), and many of these had contributing causes from the driver (various MV law violations).

This data does not seem to suggest any particular group is to blame. And in a city of 600,000 plus visitors, office workers, etc., I think it's a pretty good record.

 

[jass]

Actually, the data is not golden.

"No improper driving". If you follow how the police handle these cases, you have to be doing 100mph while drunk to be considered driving improperly.

Speeding and texting? Well, the cops wont check your phone record, and they cant check your speed so....no improper driving.

Doesnt help that the most impartial witness is dead.

 

[jass]

Bike share delayed for the third time in NYC. This time, they're blaming Sandy.

Also reducing system launch size by almost 50%.

----

Meanwhile, DC says they wanted to install an additional 54 stations this fall but Public Bike System (the manufacturer) was unable to make them.

I'm sure both are unrelated.

No way in hell Chicago, SF and Portland will launch in 2013, as Alta/Bixi can in no way provide what theyve agreed to.

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

Im sorry, was this collision at the port of Boston, or in a residential area swarming with college students and bike commuters?

I wasn't talking about within Conley Terminal. East First St is a dense residential area. The turn I referenced is a half mile from the Port.
You start limiting trucks in the city to where they can make clean, easy turns and thing are gonna get real messy when you've got trucks double parked on major roads and delivery guys hustling down secondary and tertiary streets on foot. It sucks, but it's kind of a way of life in Boston, no?

 

[jass]

I wasn't talking about within Conley Terminal. East First St is a dense residential area. The turn I referenced is a half mile from the Port.
You start limiting trucks in the city to where they can make clean, easy turns and thing are gonna get real messy when you've got trucks double parked on major roads and delivery guys hustling down secondary and tertiary streets on foot. It sucks, but it's kind of a way of life in Boston, no?

Not necessarily.

Tractor trailers most certainly have their place in society, but not on narrow residential streets.

If you need to make local deliveries, your vehicle should be no larger than this.

 

[massmotorist]

Actually, the data is not golden.

"No improper driving". If you follow how the police handle these cases, you have to be doing 100mph while drunk to be considered driving improperly.

Speeding and texting? Well, the cops wont check your phone record, and they cant check your speed so....no improper driving.

Doesnt help that the most impartial witness is dead.

Even if you prove either of those things, both of which are very difficult to prove in the context of a criminal case even with a radar reading or a phone record, you have to prove causation, and you have to further prove that the action rises to criminal negligence. If the police don't check, that's why. But that's neither here nor there.

The point is, even if the data is wrong, it still shows a situation where pedestrian deaths are a minority of overall deaths, and overall, traffic fatalities are vanishingly low in Boston. You're never going to get to zero, but we're doing pretty good.