A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on bicycle-related traumatic brain injuries has determined that more adults are dying in bicycle crashes. 

Notably, the study, which analyzed data from 2009 to 2018, also found that:

The post CDC Report Finds Bicycle-Related Fatalities Are on the Rise appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

Our goal is to shed light on the latest information shaping the landscape of bicycle safety. These trends are complex and multifaceted, driven by a myriad of factors, such as the evolution of urban design, the increasing density of bike lanes, and the advent of new safety technologies. They also reflect changes in public policy and societal attitudes towards cycling and outdoor activities.

We’ll further dissect the contributing factors to bicycle accidents. This examination is crucial, not just for identifying the causes but also for understanding the nuances of these incidents. The factors contributing to bicycle accidents are often intertwined, ranging from infrastructural issues like poorly designed roadways and bike lanes to behavioral aspects such as lack of cyclist awareness and unsafe driving practices.

The post A Deep Dive into Bicycle Safety: Analyzing Trends and Solutions appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

Cyclists Have Up to 3 Years to File a Bile Accident Claim

In Massachusetts, there is a limited amount of time to file a claim for damages following a bike accident. If you were injured in a bike accident through no fault of your own, you have three years to file a lawsuit in court for injuries, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

The post What is the Statute of Limitations for Bike Accidents in Massachusetts? appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

The bicycle attorneys at Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers are gearing up for Bay State Bike Month this September and would love for you to join us. Let’s do this, Boston!

The event’s bicycle-centric events take place across the great state of Massachusetts and are designed to bring out new riders and shine a spotlight on the benefits of bicycling for transportation, fitness, and fun.

The post We Are Gearing Up for Bay State Bike Month. Are you? appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

Although Boston officials have outlined a solid vision for how to proceed, the process is moving excruciatingly slow for those of us who cycle daily.

In the meantime, our suburban neighbor, Cambridge, is leading the charge. As reported by the StreetsBlog, Cambridge became the very first city in the U.S. to make protected bicycle lanes mandatory. The only other city with a similar policy is Portland, OR, and that community requires bicycles lanes only on major streets.

Cambridge passed the “Cycling Safety Ordinance” bill in April, requiring all city streets to be equipped with protected bicycle lanes. When that vision is fully realized, it will mean an expansive network of 20 miles of urban protected bicycle lanes.

Although Cambridge is a suburb of Boston, it’s a major cycling thoroughfare back-and-forth, as riders commute to-and-from downtown Boston, across the Longfellow Bridge to Harvard University, Mt. Auburn Hospital, Hubspot and a number of research facilities. Cambridge has a higher-than-average percentage of people who bike to work, which is part of what made this a significant priority for city council there.

How Protected Bicycle Lanes Can Prevent Boston Bicycle Accidents

Bicycling on its own can be an inherently dangerous activity. However, the risk grows exponentially when a bicycle and motor vehicle traffic intersect, mostly thanks to the wide disparity of size and speed between the two vehicles.

However, unlike motor vehicle crashes, which increase the more motor vehicle crashes there are, the collective number of bicycle crashes declines the more bicyclists there are in a community. What’s more, cities that prioritize safer bicycling also have lower rates of overall crashes.

In a study recently published in the Journal of Transport and Health, researchers with the College of Engineering, Design and Computing at CU Denver analyzed more than a dozen years of data in more than 12 different cities. During this time, there was a reported 50 percent increase in the number of people biking to work as well as the number of protected bicycle lanes. Over the course of the study period, there were 17,000 traffic deaths and 77,000 serious injuries.

Researchers theorized there would be a decline in serious bicycle accidents the higher the cyclist concentration, solely for the fact drivers would be more “trained” to watch for them and slow down.

As it turned out – there was a reduction in the overall number of reported bicycle crashes. However, it wasn’t so much that drivers altered their behavior behind the wheel because there were more bicyclists. Rather, the infrastructure build for cyclists – protected bicycle lanes in particular – are associated with fewer roadway deaths – and less severe bike crashes where they do occur.

Traffic engineers with the State of Massachusetts Department of Transportation noted how much more difficult it is for a driver in a car to see a bicyclist riding on the road just ahead to the right compared to one riding in a bicycle lane.

The big – rather unexpected – bonus gleaned from the research was that in those cities that had heavily invested in protected bicycle lanes, the road fatality rate for ALL motor vehicle crashes tumbled by as much as 75 percent.

Boston bicycle accident attorneys could present this as Exhibit A, B and C why the city and state should take swift action on this. Massachusetts has had more protected bicycle lanes in its sites for the last several years.

Protected Bicycle Lanes Increasingly on City Planning Agendas

Protected bicycling lanes along all streets in Cambridge have been part of the long-term plan for Cambridge city planners. This measure, passed in April, will ensure the cycling is factored as an inherent element of traffic infrastructure.

Now by law, the university town of 113,000 (noted for its larger-than-average number of bicycle commuters) will be required to set erect barriers between motor vehicles and bicyclists on any road that is reconfigured, rebuilt or expanded. The only way a roadway will be exempt is by an express, case-by-case basis of detailed physical and financial restraints.

That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see protected bicycle lanes will pop up immediately throughout Cambridge. In all likelihood, progress will be gradual, appearing as city plans and completes upgrades.

Some Massachusetts bicycle safety advocates argue swifter action is needed, particularly considering Cambridge’s stance as the No. 4 most dense city in the U.S. Having this alternate means of travel safe and available to any who wish to avail themselves is an imperative, not only for the environment and personal health, but for a boost in local business and a more efficient means of travel. Plus, the fewer cars on the road, the fewer crashes we have.

Still, in unanimously passing a measure that sets policy mandating bicyclist safety – not merely calling for it – the city council gives teeth to the objective.

Thus far, local reports are that the opposing “bikelash” sometimes seen when pro-bicycling measures are passed has been minimal.

Here in Boston, city officials have added roughly 6 miles of protected bicycle lanes total over the last five years. If we have any hope of meeting the Go Boston 2030 goals outlined in the mayor’s transportation plan, we should be constructing about 7 or 8 miles of protected bicycle lanes annually for the next three years.

At the current rate, that goal won’t be met. Officials say we can expect by the close of summer for projects along Commonwealth Avenue and Summer Street to be completed and ground to break on retrofitting parts of the Southwest Corridor with bicycle lanes.

For the safety of all road users in Boston, we do hope communities across the state can get rolling on these important projects as expediently as possible.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a Boston bicycle accident (we prefer the term “bike crash”), call for a free and confidential appointment at 617-777-7777.

Additional Resources:

Come on Boston, let’s pick up the pace on building bike lanes, July 10, 2019, By Michael Fitzgerald, The Boston Globe

The post Let’s Get Rolling on Boston Bicycle Lanes appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

These are sometimes referred to as “invisible cyclists.” Working class. Typically a minority. Often a recent immigrant. Commuting to work. Uninterested in the color or sleekness of bicycle style, as long as it works. For these individuals, bicycling isn’t an environmental cause or an interesting thing to do with friends. It is a means of transportation, cheaper than a car, faster than walking and more reliable than public transit.

Other difference in these two types of bicycle riders:

1. Can afford living in the priciest part of the city (i.e., owning a car isn’t necessary); lives in an expensive part of the city, close enough to work so owning a vehicle isn’t a necessity; lives near a bike-share station built as a residential amenity because local wealthy residents sustain it financially; Riding is generally easier because bicycle infrastructure is in place.
2. Lives in a more remote part of town; would prefer to own a vehicle due to long transit times to-and-from work; Living area lacks adequate bike-share, docking stations and other bicycle infrastructure.

Some cities, including Boston, are attempting to make it more equitable.

Although Boston has had a bikes-share program since 2011, the city’s Blue Bikes only last year started trying to tackle this issue with income-eligible biking. Those who receive an array of public assistance benefits (free/reduced lunches, SNAP, SSDI/SSI, WIC, public or Section 8 housing and more) can use proof of participation in these programs to be eligible OR can obtain income-based fares upon providing proof of income. Those who reside in homeless shelters and transitional housing within the city are also eligible to ride for $5 annually.

But that still doesn’t address the inequality with regard to biking infrastructure – separated bicycle lanes and connectivity to-and-from Boston proper to surrounding communities of urban poor. Most of the 194 bicycle stations throughout the area are concentrated in higher-income areas.

Harvard: Bicycling Preferences May Vary By Race

Minority populations (black and Hispanic) in Roxbury, a low-income Boston neighborhood, have different bicycling preferences compared to higher-income white riders, according to a 2017 Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study published in the journal Preventative Medicine Reports. For example, they tend to use more away-from-traffic routes, such as cycling tracks, and they tend to seek bike parking areas that are more well-lit than theft prevention.

But Roxbury, like many similar communities throughout Boston, does not have access to these amenities. As noted by study authors, the safest bicycle infrastructure systems are those build after intense lobbying from bicycle advocates – which means there need to be not only people who have knowledge about the various bicycle design options, but also who have volunteer time to making the call for action.

As a long-time Boston bicycle lawyer and advocate, Attorney Andrew Fischer has seen firsthand the out-sized risk these residents face – because we work directly with those who are harmed in bicycle-versus-vehicle crashes. Our team has long pushed for safety reforms for the people and neighborhoods who need it most.

Analyzing Biking Data By Income

Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau reveal that it’s not just in Boston or Massachusetts, but across the country – in both urban areas as well as those more vehicle-dependent suburb areas – the majority of people who use bicycles regularly are those in low-income brackets.

In a sense, it’s not just that researchers, governments and marketing firms are ignoring these so-called “invisible cyclists,” it’s that these invisible cyclists comprise the largest share of those in low-income brackets.

Even the data we do have from the Census Bureau only classifies primary transportation mode by income – even then strangely pooling together not just cyclists but also those who commute by motorcycle and taxi. (Bicycle safety advocates have long pushed for bicycling to have its own classification to capture more adequate information.) Still, the data gleaned does show it’s the poor income bracket that tends to travel more often by these methods.

In other words: It’s the disadvantaged – not hipsters – who most often bike to work.

Researchers who have delved deeper into the data found that roughly 49 percent of those who use a bicycle to get to work are those who earn less than $25,000 annually.

The main reason, as noted by the author of Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the Road, is simple: Bicycling is cheaper than other methods of transportation.

Analysis conducted by Portland State University, the Community Cycling Center and the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation, found that most bicyclists are younger and male, but that little-to-no existing research exists on cycling behavior among those who are:

• Women
• Low income
• Minority

What these researchers sought to discover was what barriers exist to bicycling in these communities. Chief among them was cost. Many said bicycles were expensive, they didn’t know how to repair them and/or didn’t know where to take them to get them repaired. Others didn’t know how to ride or felt they were unable to ride with a group (especially their children) – issues with safety and/or resources.

Neighborhood Social Inequality and Traffic Crashes

Boston bicycle injury lawyers have seen anecdotally that a disproportionate number of bicycle accidents occur in the community’s poorest communities as opposed to the richest. This was underscored in a 2012 study by the American Journal of Public Health.

Controlled for traffic volume, intersection geometry and traffic volume (pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles), researchers discovered that lack of safety infrastructure in poor urban areas explains the excess rate of injuries in these areas.

Specifically, in economically disadvantaged areas compared to the wealthiest, the rate of traffic injuries was:

• 6.3 percent higher for pedestrians;
• 3.9 percent higher for bicyclists;
• 4.3 percent higher for motor vehicle occupants.

This statistically significant inverse relationship is one our bike injury lawyers hope Boston and other cities will be successful in tackling. In the meantime, we are dedicated to fighting for safer streets and the legal rights of all bicyclists.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a Boston bicycle accident (we prefer the term “bike crash”), call for a free and confidential appointment at 617-777-7777.

Additional Resources:

Neighborhood Social Inequalities in Road Traffic Injuries: The Influence of Traffic Volume and Road Design, June 2012, American Journal of Public Health

The post Extending Boston Bicycling Opportunities to Low-Income Communities appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

So why the disconnect in perception? Study authors opine that when a cyclist violates traffic laws, it’s fairly easy for people to notice. Transgressions by other traffic users, like speeding, are less visible, even though they’re far more dangerous.

Furthermore, a 2017 study published in the Journal of Transport and Land Use asserted that where cyclists do break the law, it’s rational – because it’s done primarily for their own safety, not convenience.

Bike attorneys know these kind of stereotypes are stubborn, but important to challenge not only because they’re wrong, but because they can have real consequences for cyclist safety in Boston and beyond. Motorists who presume cyclists to be scofflaws are likely to exercise less care and concern for their well-being.

More Bicycle Lanes/Cycleways/Bike Paths Means More Law-Abiding Bicyclists

The Danish study utilized video cameras at at numerous intersections in major cities throughout the country, including Copenhagen. Objective analysis of more than 28,500 cyclist crossings revealed that fewer than 5 percent of bicyclists broke the rules when they were riding in bicycle lanes. However, that figure rose to more than 14 percent when there was no safe cycling infrastructure.

Smaller cities, like Denmark, tended to have more scofflaw cyclists, but also on the whole had a lot fewer bicycle infrastructure features. Where cyclists did break the law, the most common offense was cycling on the sidewalk.

Meanwhile, wholly two-thirds of motorists broke the law, their most common offense being speeding.

The findings of this study were nearly identical to another bicycling lawbreaker analysis by a Canadian consulting firm, which reviewed the legality of some 80,000 bicyclist actions at intersections, finding 5 percent violated traffic safety laws.

Combating Erroneous Cycling Stereotypes

Londoners, renowned for their colorful language flair, refer to rule-breaking cyclists as “Lycra louts,” and surveys have found the majority of motorists presume bicyclists routinely ride through red lights. But they like their Boston counterparts are wrong.

In a study by Transport for London, analysts found 85 percent of bicyclists stopped for red lights. That’s not to say it isn’t cause for concern that 15 percent did not, but that’s far from an epidemic or anything close to a majority.

Furthermore, even where cyclists may be breaking the law, the statistical reality is that they aren’t posing a serious risk to anyone bu themselves. Yes, our bike injury lawyers are familiar with a few instances wherein a cyclist plowed over a pedestrian or other cyclists, but such occurrences are rarely fatal. On the other hand, when cyclists collide with motor vehicles – no matter who is at-fault – it’s the bicyclist who suffers the most severe consequences.

More often than not, though, cycling crashes are the result of negligence by motorists.

Regular Cyclists are Safer Behind the Wheel

Being a cyclist further provides valuable safety perspective when that same person is later behind the wheel of a car.

A 2017 study by Accident Analysis & Prevention found this to be yet one more way in which more cycling creates safer roads. This piggybacks off the findings of another study that revealed cyclists who are drivers on the whole tend to have quicker reaction times compared to those who don’t routinely bike. These insurance industry-funded researchers found that whereas 13 percent of drivers overall made at least one claim for either property damage or injury annually, but that figure dropped to 6 percent for drivers who are also cyclists.

The reason, according to study authors, was that cycling has the added bonus of making an individual more attuned to road hazards, and thus better equipped to anticipating danger. Anytime a person is more aware of how he or she fits into his or her surroundings, the better they’ll drive/ride accordingly. The physical exercise component doesn’t hurt, with cyclists on the whole being more physically and mentally agile.

• MGL Ch. 90, s. 14 – Right Hooks, Dooring, General Precautions for the Safety of Other Travelers. This is a broad provision of law, prohibiting everything from vehicle occupants from opening a door unless it’s reasonably safe to do so without interfering with the movement of other traffic – including pedestrians and bicyclists. The law also bars turning left into an alley, private road or driveway before yielding right-of-way to a vehicle is approaching from the other direction OR a bicyclist traveling on the right.

Even if a cyclist is found to be partially at-fault for a crash with a motor vehicle, Massachusetts comparative fault law does not bar collection of damages so long as the bicyclist’s percentage of fault isn’t greater than that of the car driver.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a Boston bicycle accident (we prefer the term “bike crash”), call for a free and confidential appointment at 617-777-7777.

The post Stereotype of Cycling Scofflaws Inaccurate by Most Recent Research appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

Image Courtesy of Peter Cheung

The #redcupproject is an international movement, coordinated in memoriam of Washington D.C. cyclist Dave Salovesh, an advocate recently killed in a bicycle crash when the driver of a stolen van barreling down the road at twice the posted speed struck him and a pedestrian. The #redcupproject in Boston took off with the help of cycling advocates like Peter Cheung, organizer of the Boston Bike Party and leader of Boston’s ghost bicycle project, which honors cyclists who died in Boston bicycle accidents.

As explained in The Boston Globe, the red cups are filled partially with water and lined in a row within existing or makeshift bicycle lanes, alongside traffic where most cyclists ride. At every location – from here to San Francisco and in countries as Spain, Denmark, Australia and Mexico – the cups were smashed within minutes.

The message: How incredibly vulnerable bicyclists are riding alongside moving traffic, separated only by a painted road line. 

Along chaotic urban streets in Boston, Newton and Cambridge, activists recorded and/or photographed as one-by-one, rows of cups were crushed, mowed over by motorists who paid no attention to the painted lines on the road. This, says Cheung, drives home the point that Boston and other Massachusetts cities need to begin prioritizing bicycle safety with better bike infrastructure and connectivity.

“It has a powerful visual impact, seeing those cups scattered and squished, and the contrast of the water on the concrete,” said Cheung (who for environmental reasons used paper cups). “… Some elected officials say, ‘Oh yes, we support Vision Zero,’ which is what we want to strive for – zero fatalities. They say they support it, but they aren’t moving on it fast enough.”

Cups Underscore Higher Boston Bike Crash Risk in Underserved Communities

Expanded Boston bicycle routes have long been the goal of city planners, who announced not long ago the ambitious goal of quadrupling bicycle ridership by 2030. But with already more than 40,000 bicycle trips at 62 locations citywide (not the full scope of Boston ridership), many like Cheung – including our Boston bike injury attorneys – feel these efforts need to be moving at a faster clip.

The visual call for boosting bicycle safety is especially imperative for communities like Dorchester. For his #redcupproject experiment, Cheung chose Mass Ave. South, which is the main corridor in Boston. Although the #redcupproject was initially focused solely on those roads along which bicycle lanes are painted, Cheung chose this stretch of Boston street precisely because it has no bicycle lanes and also heads straight into Dorchester, which is vastly underserved when it comes to bicycle infrastructure.

“These are the kinds of areas where people need this protection the most,” he said. “We have a lot of low-income people here who don’t have a car and there are many times during which the trains and buses don’t run.”

Mass Ave is the north-south corridor through Boston and into Cambridge. While approximately three-quarters of that roadway have some type of bike lane, a fourth of it doesn’t – and that quarter runs right into the minority areas of the city.

“This area, perhaps even more than some of the others, needs protected bike lanes,” Cheung said.

Others throughout Boston put the cups across thoroughfares like the Larz Anderson Memorial Bridge, connecting Allston to Cambridge over the Charles River.

Pursuing Vision for Safer Boston Bicycling

Long-term, the initiative Go Boston strives to have areas of the city where all residents have improved and equitable travel options.

Boston bicycle accident lawyers know this is going to require investment, with the priority being installation or retrofitting of bike lanes that are separated from moving traffic, as well as introducing traffic-calming measures so cars, trucks and buses all slow down. This not only reduces the odds of a bike crash, but also the severity if one were to occur.

Bicycle lanes that include a curb-separated barrier are preferred because they provide the most protection for cyclists. Another options that is less expensive (but also slightly less effective) are the plastic bollard separators. Those do still get run over and require replacement.

“But at least there is physically something there, something that is within motorists’ immediate line-of-sight,” Cheung said.

Another issue with the painted-line bike lanes is they don’t guarantee there won’t be debris in the road. They don’t guarantee people aren’t going to park there. They don’t guarantee someone will give them the full 3-feet of distance required by Massachusetts law. This is why bicyclists are legally allowed to ride on the road, though many would prefer protected bicycle lanes.

The #redcupproject is just one local bike advocacy effort to take place the last few weeks, with May being National Bike Month. Another was the Glacial Pace Ride.

“It emphasizes the glacial pace on improvement of bicycle infrastructure,” Cheung said. “There are parts of this city that have had plans in place to improve bike safety and infrastructure for the last 10 or 15 years, and very little progress has been made at this point to-date.”

In some areas, he says the city is not even 40 percent finished on the bike infrastructure goals that were set for completion last year.

If Boston hopes to bolster ridership, it’s got to prioritize making it safer. People from 8 to 88 can ride a bicycle, but there are widely varying levels of proficiency. There is little chance that novice riders or those younger or elderly will ever ride on a Boston street the way it’s currently designed.

The benefits of bicycling are multifaceted. In addition to resolving some of the issues Boston has with parking, traffic congestion and unreliable public transportation, it’s also healthier and drives down our carbon emissions (so it’s far better for the environment).

If you or someone you love has been injured in a Boston bicycle accident (we prefer the term “bike crash”), call for a free and confidential appointment at 617-777-7777.

Additional Resources:

Cyclists are putting red cups in the road to show how drivers often invade bike lanes, April 26, 2019, By Steve Annear, The Boston Globe

More Blog Entries:

Fatal Boston Bicycle Crash With Truck in Fenway Under Investigation, March 16, 2019, Boston Bicycle Accident Attorney Blog

The post Boston Cyclists Are Seeing Red: Solo Cups Mark Daily Bike Danger appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

As our Boston bike attorneys understand it, 69-year-old Paula Sharaga was struck by a cement truck driver near the same area where a 24-year-old Boston University student bicyclist was killed in November by a dump truck.

Tragedy in Fenway: Bicyclist Dies in Crash With Truck

The post Fatal Boston Bicycle Crash With Truck in Fenway Under Investigation appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.

“That number is sure to rise if Boston keeps encouraging people to ride bicycles where bicycles don’t belong,” Jacoby wrote, adding that if people want to ride bicycles, “Massachusetts Avenue during business hours shouldn’t be one of them.”

As longtime Boston bicycle attorneys and cycling rights advocates, the fact was then (as now) MGL Ch. 85 s. 11B legally gives bicyclists the same right to the road as motorists, with few exceptions. But we’ll give the writer this much: Boston roads weren’t meant for bicyclists, at least in the 20th Century (though cyclists were the driving force behind the first paved roads in the U.S., before cares become commercially available 110 years ago). American traffic engineers throughout the 1900s, however, made cars the priority, building wider lanes that encouraged higher speeds.

This, combined with the fact none of us alive today remember life before automobiles likely fuels drivers’ sense of roadway space entitlement. Regardless of who was here “first,” the fact that something has been done a certain way for a century doesn’t mean it should stay that way – particularly if it is proving inefficient and especially if it isn’t safe for others sharing that space lawfully.

Leaders with both The City of Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation don’t appear to be heeding critics like these, instead recently pledging further commitment to the cause of multi-modal traffic infrastructure that offers more options for safe access.

Boston Roads  Increasingly “Meant For” Bicycles

MassDOT last month released its first-ever Massachusetts Bicycle Transportation Plan with a 10-year trajectory that includes ambitious plans to expand the bike pathway network. The coordinator of the department’s bicycle and pedestrian program told Boston.com now “was absolutely the time to update the bicycle plan,” pointing to marked increases in bicycle ridership the last 10 years.

The City of Boston citywide bike count for 2017 was about 40,000. That was 10,000 more than just one year prior, accounting for approximately 10 percent of total daily Boston commuters. Yet while more than half of all daily trips in Boston each day are to a destination three miles away or less, 8 in 10 of those trips is in an automobile. In terms of pollution, traffic jams, parking, accident risk, public health and road maintenance, city and state officials say it just makes more sense to encourage more cycling in the city.

The state’s plan is to be calculated in establishing roadway equity among all modes of transport with intent to correct the skewed prioritization motor vehicles have had in Massachusetts for decades. The hope is that over the next 10 years, with additions of more designated and detached bike lanes and other kinds of roadside paths, the more people will be encouraged to ride.

It’s been proven the greater separation afforded bicycles and motor vehicles, the more cyclists will be drawn. So-called “high comfort trails” that are wholly separate from traffic, open to bicyclists of many ages, riding abilities and purpose have become extremely popular in New England. The problem in Massachusetts is these trails don’t connect from one to the next. Part of the state’s plan is to fill in the gaps.

Another ambition is to connect these pathways to more transit hubs, giving cyclists a more convenient way to traverse the city.

These priorities aren’t entirely new. Our Boston bicycle accident attorneys have been watching carefully the last few decades as leaders initiated piecemeal “Complete Street” projects throughout the city. Most of those changes, however, were retroactive, involved repairs and/or an area of high concern.

The goal now is to proactive stance with the expansion of new infrastructure – giving bicyclists and pedestrians the space they need to comfortably and safely get to their destination. So far, $60 million has been allocated specifically for these goals.

Some Remain Resistant to Bike-Friendly Boston

There continue to be skeptics. In a Boston Globe column published last month, Jacoby cited U.S. Census data (as opposed to local city data) indicating a purported dip in bicycle ridership in cities across the country and alleged billions of taxpayer dollars have been poured into a seemingly pointless bicycle infrastructure. He urged policy makers to “turn their backs on the militant, self-righteous bike lobby and its fantasy of a world in which drivers defer to cyclists as the rightful kings of the road.”

These attitudes aren’t new or shocking, but one hopes increasingly in the minority, especially because they seem to fully miss the point of the city’s plans, namely the priority of creating physical separation if possible. It’s true that protected bicycle lanes result in fewer and/or narrower motor vehicle lanes, and average speed may decline. Lower speeds, of course, mean less risk of crash-related injuries and deaths for all road users, including those in cars and trucks. Further, the slower pace is likely to be offset in many cases where the state plans more traffic-calming roundabouts that don’t require complete stops, keep traffic flowing and reduce crash risks.

That’s hardly the sort of tyrannical cycling coup on car drivers Jacoby describes. More accurately, bicycle safety advocates, bicycle accident attorneys and policy makers have dedicated decades in pursuit of a more democratic, safer means of daily travel for everyone – motorists included.

It’s unlikely the city or state is going to pedal backward on this now, so this columnist and others may do well to consider the points outlined to law enforcement training manuals from the Massachusetts State Police Academy , which address common misconceptions about roadway bicycling.

• “Bicycling on a roadway, even with heavy traffic, is not disorderly conduct… Bicycling is a legitimate purpose purpose specifically granted by statute…. (Cyclists lawfully using the road) do not create a hazardous or physically offensive condition.”
• “Many think) bicyclists should keep off busy streets for their own safety… But studies show repeatedly the biggest threat isn’t the driver approaching from behind. More than 80 percent of car-bike collisions happen at intersections and are related to crossing, entering and turning movements.

Bicyclists share all rights and responsibilities as any other road user while engaged on Boston roads. That is by law. So while it may be true Boston roads “weren’t meant for” bikes originally, they’re here now, and we all have a vested interest in making the streets safer for everyone.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a Boston bicycle accident (we prefer the term “bike crash”), call for a free and confidential appointment at 617-777-7777.

Additional Resources:

Is the bike-lane fever breaking? Jan. 9, 2019, By Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe

More Blog Entries:

Electric Scooters in Boston: Wheeling in This Spring, Jan. 20, 2019, Boston Bicycle Accident Attorney Blog

The post State Rejects Archaic “Boston Roads Aren’t Meant for Bicycles” Attitude appeared first on Bike Accident Lawyers Blog.