~~~
Day’s Verse:
Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act.
Proverbs 3:27
~~~
Biking has taken a pretty severe beating at the hands of the Boston Globe in a couple of recent articles (here and here). MassBike responded with this letter, but the articles indicate a depth of misunderstanding and anger at bicyclists on the part of drivers that is frightening to me as a law-abiding, everyday bicyclist. To help combat some of this, MassBike is doing a survey to collect information to help them decide how to further educate cyclists and drivers. If you are a Massachusetts driver or bicyclist, please, for my sake, fill out the survey.
Where we live in Medford, it is incredibly nervewracking driving with the bicyclists on the roads where there aren’t bike lanes (not necessarily the fault of the bicyclists…more the layout of the roads and the wrecklessly aggressive approach everyone somehow needs to take to get anywhere).
Since the roads are so narrow to begin with, and there are often parked cars on the street, and people drive like maniacs, it’s so stressful just to get to Porter Square in Cambridge. I can’t count the number of times I’ve nearly hit a car in the left lane trying to swerve out of the way of a bicyclist, or have gotten blown by at a stoplight and witnessed someone on a bike nearly getting killed by turning or oncoming traffic that has the green light. I’m always wincing and thinking “ahh look out you should have stopped at the light with the cars!” or “omg there’s no way that bicyclist is going to be able to squeeze between those cars”, or “how is it possible for someone to think it makes sense to ride 2 or 3 bikes wide on massachusetts avenue with rush hour traffic squeezing in the road, and when there’s a one-person-wide bike lane?” and they always survive somehow…but it makes me crazy both in terms of fearing for my own safety and the safety of the bicyclists!
I’m thankful you don’t have to navigate areas like Cambridge on your bike, Katie. It’s so scary for a bicyclist and a driver, and a pedestrian out here, for so many reasons. Eeek!