Fortunately, the cyclist was not badly injured. But, Horace James is not a friendly place for non-motorists.
More on Hammond Pond Parkway and Horace James to come ...
Via Universal Hub.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Car hits bike at Horace James Circle
To every rule, there is an exception -- angry driver edition
Okay, it's not just the inattentive who pose a risk to cyclists. An angry motorist drove through a Brookline park chasing after a cyclist before being stopped by the police.
Via Universal Hub.
The kids are all right
Friend of NS&S Andrea Downs has a neat article on boston.com about how four school kids got the town to set a $50 fine for blocking a bike lane. We suggest enforcement start on Beacon Street between Park Drive and St. Mary's Place.
Seems hard to imagine, though, that there wasn't any fine before the lads started lobbying.
Two types of drivers
One of the best t-shirts I've seen in years:
There are 10 types of people in the world.
Those who get this t-shirt and those who don't.
But, I digress.
From a cynical cyclist's perspective, there are two types of drivers:
- Those who hate us
- Those who are going to kill us
I had this insight the other day as a commercial van driver in the lane I was in honked at me. The people who get angry at bikes honk, which is tedious. But, the angry drivers are rarely -- in my experience -- the ones who are involved in close calls. Most people just aren't homicidal.
Almost to a person, the people who cut me off, are abjectly apologetic. "Sorry, I just didn't see you." That also seems to be the case in the recent car v. bike incidents where the cyclist was not at fault.
The notion, if generally true, that the inattentive driver, not the hostile driver, is the greater threat to cyclists has important implications for both the we've-just-got-to-get-along crowd and the same streets/same rules approach. The get-along advocates stress the need for mutual respect. But, a lack of respect doesn't make streets unsafe for cyclists, it's a lack of attention. And, there is no logical causal connection between bad cyclist behavior and inattentiveness. It just doesn't make sense that a driver, consciously or otherwise, is going to decide to be inattentive as a response, for instance, to seeing cyclists ride through red lights. ("Damn those two-wheeled scofflaws! Next right turn I take, I'm definitely not looking in my side-view mirror!")
The same streets/same rules advocates suggest that mutual respect for existing rules will make the roads safer and calmer. It's not clear that existing rules prevent conflicts. The driver who ran over a bicyclist on Comm. Ave., for instance, was not cited and the cyclist was blamed though he was engaged in perfectly legal conduct. And, any policy that relies on strict adherence to the laws of the road is bound to fail. Motorists and bicyclists routinely flout the law. (More on that in another post.)
The reality is that bikes and cars are radically different beasts and engage in radically different behaviors on shared roadways. To prevent incidents, we need to do what we can to separate bikes from cars. And, we need both motorists and bicyclists to understand and recognize the opportunities for potential bike v. car conflict and avoid them. The potential bike v. car conflicts are different than car v. car conflicts. The specifics of the rules are almost irrelevant, especially by focusing on the rules that are the same. Ultimately, the same/same philosophy masks or distracts from the need for motorists to engage the road differently than they have before. And, it falsely suggests that law-abiding is all that bicyclists need to do to stay safe.
You don't have to like me. Just don't kill me.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Pedestrian ahead!
Speed and proximity. They are the two factors that lead to both pedestrian anxiety about and actual bike v. pedestrian conflict. If you are walking and a bike whizzes right by your shoulder, it's disconcerting and unpleasant. A person on foot is highly maneuverable (no momentum) and may dart left or right or stop suddenly without warning. So, there is a high risk of a bad outcome.
People on bikes are bigger than pedestrians -- bike plus biker plus gear -- and less forgiving. And, bikes are faster. Keep in mind that the squared variable in mv2 is v, velocity. So, bikes have a special obligation to watch out for and take care of pedestrians when sharing the road (as in crosswalks) or shared paths.
I've been thinking about this a lot recently because, as previously noted, I've been riding the paths along the Charles River to accommodate camp drop-off for Princess NS&S. (I really did get stung, I didn't really give up the bucolic route!) I'm following two simple rules that I encourage others to follow:
- Give a wide berth when passing a pedestrian, particularly from behind
- If you can't give a wide berth, slow to just faster than the person you're passing
What's a wide berth? Depends on the speed, but at least three feet and ideally five feels right.
What about yelling "On the right/left"? If you need to warn the person you're passing that you're passing, you're going too fast or coming too close. Plus, in my experience, yelling something just heightens the risk that the person will do something unpredictable. (Does he want me to move left? Is he coming on my left?) And, it's just downright annoying.
When I'm riding in traffic and a driver honks just to warn me that he's behind me, it's aggravating. I'm in traffic. I know cars are going to pass, I don't need to be reminded. And, if it's a dangerous situation, slow down until you have room to pass slowly. I feel the same way as a pedestrian among bikers. Get by me safely ... and silently ... or cool your jets.
Finally, the anxiety and risk created by a high speed differential between bikers and pedestrians makes most shared paths a lousy place for faster riders. We should stick to the streets or just take our time.
Sharon Tramer
I was surprised and saddened to learn yesterday of the death on Monday of Sharon Tramer.
Sharon was a Bike/Ped Task Force stalwart and a regular at our monthly meetings. A lovely woman with a ready laugh, she cared deeply about making Newton better for bicyclists and pedestrians, especially children and the elderly. And, she was optimistic that through hard work and with good intentions we really can make a difference.
Sharon was also active in Newton Safe Routes to School and WalkBoston.
She'll be missed.
WalkBoston sent this e-mail, which includes visiting hour and memorial service information:
We are sorry to share the news of the death of Sharon Tramer, a long-time WalkBoston board member. Sharon passed away on Monday, August 9th, 2010. She was an active advocate, assisting in nearly all of our annual meetings, hosting walks and serving on the Newton Safe Routes to School Taskforce. We remember Sharon warmly as an enthusiastic and supportive contributor at our many events, especially in our early, formative years.
Visiting hours and a memorial service will be held on Friday, August 13 at the Faggas Funeral Home in Watertown at 551 Mt. Auburn Street. Visiting hours are from 1 - 3 and a memorial service from 3 - 5.
We extend our condolences to Sharon's friends and family, and we will miss her.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Irony of Same Roads, Same Rules
The Same Roads, Same Rules campaign was prompted in part by the fatal bicycle accident of Eric Michael Hunt last April 7.
Yet Eric's accident illustrates just why the roads are not the same: he apparently got his wheels caught in the trolley tracks.
The same physical road surface is experienced differently by bicyclists than it is by motorists.
The same track or pothole that is scarcely noticeable to a motorist may be fatal to a bicyclist.
Good outcome, wrong mechanism
So, according to Ted Hess-Mahan*, Land Use co-erced Pie into paying for custom bike racks as a condition of a special permit waiving the parking requirement for more seats:
For its special permit, Pie agreed to pay for custom bike racks in Newton Centre. Check out the fork, knife & spoon. http://bit.ly/conPfy
Good that Newton Centre is getting some more bike racks. The novelty bike racks are fun. There is a nice symmetry here: Pie gets seats not by providing car parking, but bike parking. In fact, it suggests a re-write to the ordinance. Allow the parking requirement to be filled with either car or bike parking.
But, in the end, it really is the city's obligation to provide bike racks. And, a decent outcome doesn't change the fact that the parking requirement is out-dated, counter-productive, and bad for our village centers. Using a bad regulation to coerce a small-business owner to donate a bike rack does not equal good government.
Where are they going to go? That's a narrow sidewalk. (If they could get Bank of America to put them on their property near the drive-thru exit, fabulous.)
*This Tweeter Twitter thing is pretty nifty!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Pie-prosal passes Land Use
Ted Hess-Mahan tweets:
It took longer than I thought it would, but Newton's Land Use Committee voted to recommend approval of special permits for Fiorella's & Pie.
Don't know what conditions they extracted from Pie, but another step in the direction of sane parking policy (if not actually sane rules).
For those counting at home, that's three parking waivers in Newton Centre in the last several months. The next step is to remove the requirement for a waiver.
Monday, August 9, 2010
The $40K man
Beyond the jaw-dropping fact that somebody would spend $40,000 in an effort to block bike lanes, there's not much to the Globe story about Eric Berger, the Arlington man who doesn't like that town's plans to make Mass. Ave. more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. He doesn't think the plans are a good idea. He's spent all that money trying -- unsuccessfully -- to stop them.
Some irony in Berger's claim that the nearby (and parallel) Minuteman trail is so well-established that on-street accommodations on Mass. Ave. are not necessary.
San Francisco adopts demand-based meter pricing
San Francisco's meter prices will vary based on location and time of day to reflect demand for the spaces. Appears to be the largest-scale implementation of a Donald Shoup's fundamentally simple proposition: too low meter prices lead to sub-optimal use of parking spaces.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Car-free Crystal Lake -- tomorrow from 1 to 4
Thanks to the good efforts of Alderman John Rice -- and sponsored by the Bike/Ped Task Force, Bike Newton, and the Newtonville Neighborhood Council -- Lake Avenue will be closed to cars and trucks from 1 to 4 tomorrow. (The sign is waiting to fulfill its destiny closing off the street.)
This is the first of a series of street closings John's organizing. Such car-free events are known globally as cyclovia and locally as NewtonStreets (we're flattered!).
So, tomorrow, go out and enjoy Crystal Lake in a whole new way!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Battered Biker Syndrome
A driver chatting on a cellphone almost hit Jonathan Simmons, the Globe's On Biking columnist. When confronted, she told him he had no business on the road. His response? He wrote a column wondering how biker behavior has contributed to the "road rage" and proposing a 10-point share-the-road pledge, six of which points apply exclusively to bikes and one of which applies only to pedestrians.
Let's break this down. Biker nearly gets killed. Biker promises to make drivers less angry.
These are classic symptoms of someone in an abusive relationship. You harm me or threaten to harm me. It must be something I'm doing. I'll be a better person. Promise.
Suggesting that there is some causal relationship between cyclists' behavior and the woman's potentially fatal actions is just wrong. Let's be clear. There is absolutely no behavior on the part of a cyclist that excuses or explains a motorist putting a cyclist in jeopardy. There is nothing that cyclists do that excuses or explains a motorist being ignorant of cyclists' right to the road.
Nothing.
Certainly, there are cyclists out there doing things that are wrong and things that are technically illegal. Let's identify and address those behaviors. But let's not even suggest that those behaviors somehow justify the anti-bicycle sentiment that's demonstrably out there on the road. Especially -- and this also reflective of abusive relationships -- because of the inherent power differential in the motorist/biker relationship: motorists' attitudes and behaviors can get a cyclist killed or seriously injured.
Perhaps most importantly, its foolish to think that drivers are going to respect cyclists and give them plenty of safe cushion if we could just convince those pesky two-wheeled scofflaws to stop at red lights. Dangerous driving, road rage, and rampant violations of the rules of the road pre-date the recent surge in bicycling. Cyclists have just become another target for the bad actors in our car-dominated culture.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Dangers of off-road bike paths
After dropping Princess NS&S off at camp at the New Arts Center (she loves it!), for the first time in months, I took the path along the river to get to East Cambridge. My reward: a bee sting.
It can't be coincidence. I'm sticking to the streets!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Summer Reading
Before I go sit on a beach for a week, I thought I'd provide everyone with some summer reading: 31 resources (web pages, government guidelines, local and state planning documents, peer-reviewed engineering and medical journal articles) about making Newton more bicycle friendly.
(cross-posted at Newton Bikes.)
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