The good and bad on Beacon Street

Would should have been a moment of great satisfaction was not.

This morning, as I crested Beacon Street at Hammond Street, I beheld Newton's first full bike lanes. It's a notion that may take some getting used to, but Newton now has real, honest-to-goodness official bike lanes. And, they look great.

But, the joy of my first ride along bike lanes in Newton was dimmed by road markings a quarter-mile earlier. Approaching Tudor Street, I stopped and lingered over the boxes and lines that were obviously painted by the accident reconstruction team investigating Saturday morning's fatal car crash.

(Molly Schaeffer was nearly run over between the accident spot and the start of the bike lanes.)

There's no great insight to be had from the juxtaposition. Just a simple recognition that roads can be hostile places and that cars are capable of killing their drivers and others.