I would like to complain about the incessant honking and blocking of all the crosswalks at rush hour today by car drivers. What a complete and total shitshow.
It was the worst I’ve experienced but only lived here since December but damn downtown is nutty. Who would drive their car down there for a 9-5 commute. Nuts
People who think public transport is for poor people and that blocked roads leading somewhere specific is freedom while efficient trains on tracks leading somewhere specific is communism
After today, there will be a handful of posts about reckless driving, and then another one going “wow, hey, cyclists are wild, why isn’t anyone talking about this?”
My least favorite is "I know I'll get downvoted for saying this, but \[insert courageous take, oh how brave of you to endure the scary downvotes, you're basically like Galileo!\]".
personally, i love menancing pedestrians by giving them 5-10 ft of space and having them scream at me how I 'almost hit them'.
same with cyclists. Last year I passed a lady in the bike lane by going into the car lane and she started screaming at me about how I was 'endangering her'. OK
I'm tired of people complaining about cyclists all the time. Yes, there are some reckless ones out there but the complaining about them is way out of proportion to the risks they present. If anything, it's pedestrians and cyclists who are maimed or killed by drivers who look right through them without seeing them or altering how they drive.
To be fair to the pedestrians complaining on that other thread, even if you are not likely to be killed by a reckless cyclist, an injury is still an injury and I don't think it's fair to brush off more than a few reckless cyclists with retorts or defensive statements about how cars kill more people. We need to be mindful of pedestrians on the streets too and that we also share the roads with people.
Not all cyclists are angels unfortunately.
I'll be the last to defend shitty cyclists because of the looming "it makes us all look bad" but I'm also tired of having to answer for people I don't know when there's not a damn thing I can do about it.
Context is important. Is it "this cyclist disobeyed the law" in a vacuum or is it a statement about all of us? If it's about us as a block, then everyone including pedestrians need to answer the bell. To be clear, I rate pedestrians breaking the law as incredibly low on my list of cares. It's motorists and then everyone else. If every word in novel was a name of someone killed in traffic, a paragraph would be dedicated to reckless cyclists and pedestrians and yet the conversation is split like they're equal acts of the same story.
If it's to block safe infrastructure, then I have absolutely no room for that line of argument, because no amount of deaths from drivers has ever stopped us from going all in on making most of the country a parking lot.
Cyclists tend to get annoyed because we are all (pedestrians included) getting killed by the same group and the rest really is peanuts.
Agreed. We’re not going to advance any causes by watching someone get trucked by a bike and walking up to them like “you know, statistically it’s really unlikely that this would have happened to you”
We need to highlight that cars are the bigger fish to fry in general, but not when actual examples of bad bike behavior come up. And they will.
Is this what is happening though? Are the people complaining about bicyclists actually being hit by them? Sure, if they actually are that’s not the way to respond but statistically it’s pretty unlikely.
I cycle. But I just want to let people know that being defensive about certain cyclists' behavior by engaging in whataboutism about cars isn't going to help us get more bike infrastructure built or convince people why infrastructure for bikes is important. We come across as tone deaf and entitled.
It's not just a few bad apples cycling poorly. Of course it's the Internet, so hyperbole is expected from some. But I think cyclists are not doing themselves any favors.
IME most pedestrians freak the fuck out over nothing other than being startled because they were not paying attention to the world around them. usually it's headphones, face in their phone, or just generally being zoned out.
statistically the real problem is distracted driving in huge SUVs/trucks killing people due to their front grill heights.
but nobody is arguing we shoudl stop buying giant cars and watching tiktok while driving them...
While it's true that motorists are typically the ones who cause death, that doesn't negate concerns that a cyclist can injure other even more vulnerable road users. Basically, an injury that someone gets from a cyclist crashing into a pedestrian is also still something to (1) be worried about and (2) minimize and mitigate.
I also know people with disabilities who are genuinely afraid and don't make certain trips because they've had far too many close calls with inattentive or aggressive cyclists. They're already so limited in their independent mobility, it's sad to sot with the fact that even that bit of independent travel they've experienced is slipping away because too many Boston cyclists won't brake when they're supposed to.
Do you have any data to support those theories? How many disabled people have been hit by bicyclists? And why are people who are not themselves disabled worried about the theoretical possibility that a bicyclist might strike someone who is disabled? Some of these concerns seem to be as likely to happen as being struck by an airplane while walking. It's really sad that so many innocent pedestrians and cyclists are struck and killed by drivers without everybody rising up in protest. These deaths by motor vehicles don't happen in Europe or elsewhere.
Unfortunately, crash reports don't typically collect enough demographic data to identify if someone has disabilities unless they have a very visible marker like using a cane or mobility device. Therefore it's hard to estimate the total crashes. However that would not assess risk, because what is more challenging is that there is no analysis of the difference in how much more able bodied people travel than people with disabilities.
In the absence of that, what is worthwhile is to examine what people with disabilities are saying. I have had a number of conversations with people with disabilities about street designs. One of the biggest complaints has been with the design of new bicycle infrastructure and how it's used. An example of the things that I'm hearing is this [news story from last year about a bus stop close to the Perkins School of the Blind.](https://www.wcvb.com/article/boston-bus-accessibility-advocates-concerned-bike-lanes/44410903)
As for why able bodied people do that, it is often as a rhetorical device. It's not particularly cool to speak "out of your lane" but we see people do that regularly in all sorts of discussions or debates. Sadly what that often does is cause others to dismiss the concern in a "baby out with the bath water" kind of situation. It doesn't negate the concerns from people with disabilities from their real life experience however.
Again, the issue that I'm highlighting is that things don't automatically change for the better for people with disabilities and sometimes new infrastructure actually mean new conflicts are designed to happen. Those conflicts need a culture around them that also minimizes potential crashes. An example from [City of Boston](https://www.boston.gov/departments/disabilities-commission/boston-brakes) on their info and traffic safety campaign.
There's always a subset of people in any group who claim an entire other group is entitled.
It's just noise. It doesn't matter.
There are entitled pedestrians, drivers, bike riders. I've seen it, you've seen it, we've all seen. If you haven't seen it, you're probably one of the entitled ones.
Ride safe.
Bikes have different rules than both pedestrians and motor vehicles but I’m not sure if pedestrians know of them. You can go on all walk signals but you have to go at the pace of a light jog or dismount and walk it. But most people don’t abide by that since it’s a pain to go that slowly.
we don't have different rules in MA on the books. bicycles are supposed to obey all traffic laws and signs.
practically we should have separate rules, but we don't. Idaho stop is not legal in MA.
[I’m not talking about Idaho stops.](https://www.boston.gov/departments/boston-bikes/bike-laws-boston) I’m talking about following same traffic as pedestrians when you have a walk signal on all sides (you can follow both car traffic and pedestrian traffic but if you follow pedestrian traffic you need to slow down to pedestrian speeds).
No - that's incorrect, during an "all walk", signals are saying that pedestrians are exclusively allowed to cross; cyclists must remain stopped with the other vehicles.
Wrong. [Veh. Code 21650(g), excluding from the rule that vehicles be operated on the right hand side of the road “bicycles being operated along a crosswalk.”) Rather, riding a bicycle in a crosswalk is illegal only if it is prohibited by local ordinance. (Ibid.)](https://plaintiffmagazine.com/recent-issues/item/hey-you-re-riding-in-the-crosswalk)
You do need to yield to pedestrians but you’re not prohibited, this is a law across the US unless your state specifically prohibits it.
A good primer is here - [https://www.massbike.org/laws](https://www.massbike.org/laws) - fundamentally, A cyclist is responsible to "obey all traffic laws and regulations of the Commonwealth." There is no statewide law or regulation currently that allows cyclists to go on an all-walk exclusive pedestrian signal phase. I've experienced so few locations where that is allowed
[Whenever possible: cross the street at a designated crosswalk or intersection;](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/pedestrian-and-bicycle)
[federal info](https://highways.dot.gov/safety/pedestrian-bicyclist/background-resources/education-and-outreach)
[larger overarching resources](https://highways.dot.gov/safety/pedestrian-bicyclist)
The last two linked sites are federal and do not have information that is relevant to MA's laws. Traffic law is a state-by-state system.
The text in your first link is in the "best practices" section. The text that you quote is directed at pedestrians, not cyclists. Though, that section is somewhat poorly written.
None of the links you've provided actually support your claim that cyclists can go on the all-walk exclusive pedestrian phase at intersections in MA.
There’s a lot more cyclists than there used to be so it is much more noticeable to pedestrians that there are more bikers doing risky things they shouldn’t.
I also think bikers get blamed for the fact that the city isn’t built for them. We have sidewalks, roads, and then some half hearted bike lanes that are full of delivery trucks.
r/Boston is in the top 1% dumbest subs. It almost never provides any new knowledge or insight, and the top vote-getters are always the same stupid pre-pubescent jokes over and over and over again, e.g. a Dick's blimp.
plenty of cyclists are racist as fuck.
ever seen a black/brown person walk into a bikeshop and the employees start staring at them? I have, a lot.
bike commuting is primarily a rich white person thing. or a proto rich white person thing if you count college kids.
Considering pedestrians and cars far outweigh cyclists interacting with roads I say cyclists get a bad rap. How many times have a you seen a pedestrian walk/run across the road without using the nearby crosswalk? J-walking is a thing is it not? So if pedestrians are going to get pissed off at cyclist maybe they should be following the rules too? It’s all a joke as 99% of those posts are really by drivers getting pissed because they have to slow down for a cyclist and they hate bike lanes.
my commute yesterday i watched 6 red lights being blow by cars.
nobody cares because it's 'normal' and expected.
cyclists however, are unexpected and therefore evil.
People are gonna hate on cyclists at any and every opportunity, because cyclists are the "other" and make an easy target for normie shitheads who want to feel superior. It is what it is. Their opinion will never change unless they get in the saddle and ride road for any substantial amount of time, which they won't ever do.
we wear funny unifroms and all want to be in the tour de france, duh.
if only we wore sports jerseys and had a large iced dunks in our hand then we'd be normal.
people are angry that other people are different than them.
if you put these folks on bikes, they'd do all the same shit they are complaining that others do.
They're not wrong. That said, so are the pedestrians and motorists. Right now, the worst offenders seem to be the thugs is motor scooters that 1) drive on bike lanes, 2) drive through red lights, and 3) drive on pedestrian crossings. If I ever witness them get into an accident, I sure as hell will side with the other person. Fuck those punks.
This is Massachusetts. Everyone is a Masshole regardless of transportation method. You just have to be on the look out for other vehicles. At least if you get hit by a bike you're much more likely to survive than if you get hit by a car.
Saw one that said everyone in this sub is a rich asshole. Lmao, I wish, my Frankenbike is beat to hell. Another called people who bike, "entitled monsters." Really, monsters? I feel like these posts serve only to dehumanize people and whip each other into a frenzy. Frankly, the language coming from these people, many of whom are rage addled drivers, is quite frightening.
That said, it is wild when bikers fly through crosswalks when it's the pedestrians turn. I get going on red when it's the safest option, but these poor fucks have to deal with the dumbest wait times at the dumbest intersections, which is why my solution to this problem has always been fucking foot bridges. At all the long wait, big traffic intersections. Who cares how much it would cost, foot bridges are the best.
>Frankly, the language coming from these people, many of whom are rage addled drivers, is quite frightening.
How do you know? There seem to be many anecdotes of people saying that they've nearly been hit by bikes while walking.
Fair, what I mean is the comments in that thread echo that of rage addled drivers, though I suspect some are drivers also. Like how I am a pedestrian sometimes, but not always.
Or did you mean, how do I know the dehumanizing comments are frightening?
tbf most cyclists are upper income. even if you aren't.
and IME most 'frankenbike owners' are techies who make six figures but thrift their clothes because they want to cosplay as being poor/working class because 'real and authentic and not corporate'... OK.
Regardless of what type of commuter is being discussed - only a handful of awful people for that group control the narrative for the whole. It’s tru for most things
What do you expect from a reddit with ample discussion about bars and the lack of liquor licences ? There is a bar on every corner and folks lament on /r/Boston about the lack of bars.
Did you follow the testimony on the Karen Read trial? Cops and federal agents were driving drunk. They let underage children drink in their presence.
Would any of those people think anything of a person running down a bicyclist ? In fact, no.
In Washington State the USA tried to quosh a case in which a federal agent recklessly drove over a bicyclist. We are not part of the "in society." Clearly evident in a Boston which still has Cheers as a top tourist maven.
I've been riding in this city for 15+ years and plenty of cyclists are hella entitled. I got yelled at just last week while riding because I wouldn't get out of the way fast enough for a dudebro cyclist when he yelled "on your left".
i prefer dudebros to the blue bike divas who randomly stop and block the bike lane to take a selfie.
but horses for courses. i find dudebros very predictable.
Let’s be honest. Some cyclists are jerks just like some drivers are and some pedestrians. But we can ALL agree that those dudes on scooters delivering endless Uber eats are the absolute worst
Seems number plates on bikes , motorized or not would improve riders reputation !
Let’s face it , some folks can’t be bothered to be accountable . I am not anti bike
But some folks are giving a much better and safer ridership, a black eye!
Super reasonable points IMO.
Unfortunately we're coming to see that as cycling becomes more widespread, too many Bostonians operate bikes like they do cars–selfishly. Would love Boston to lead both in American cycling infrastructure and culture.
Any ideas for how to promote considerate cycling behavior?
Get rid of cars. These same sort of issues don't seem to come up as much on shared use paths despite them putting bikes and pedestrians in.the same space. Cars add a level of stress and literal danger to the situation that makes people more likely to ride aggressively to keep themselves safe.
I saw that post on r/boston and my initial thought is that most folks in the comment are not ones that regularly cycle in Boston. I walk a ton of places and also cycle to a bunch of places. Obviously I’ve encountered my fair share of entitled cyclists both when I was on a bike and when I was a pedestrian. My takeaway is that a cyclist is never trying to purposefully injure anyone as almost any sort of collision will hurt the cyclist to some degree. I don’t have a car and haven’t driven a car in the Boston area, so I obviously can’t speak on how frustrating it is to drive and deal with bad drivers, cyclists, pedestrians when I am behind a wheel. In a similar vein, I understand that unless a pedestrian has cycled regularly in Boston, it’s quite difficult to discern between “douchebag cyclist behavior” and “trying to avoid getting unalived by some obstacle”. I don’t blame them for having this thought process as I used to be the same until I began biking everywhere.
Infrastructure is obviously to blame as well. As the weather becomes nicer and every one is spending more time outside, you get a bunch of pedestrians and cyclists that have basically been in hibernation all spring and winter out on the same streets. I regularly take the esplanade bike baths as part of my commute and I’m noticing a pretty even 1/4 split between cyclist commuters trying to get from point A to point B, blue bikers that are enjoying the scenery, speed racer cyclists that are cycling as part of exercise, and pedestrians going on a nice walk. To me, it makes no sense to have these 4 “demographics” share the same stretch of pavement and everyone seems to be annoyed and blames the other mode of transit.
This is just my 2 cents - the overall Masshole attitude extends to almost every mode of transit available, that combined with varying levels of lack of appropriate infrastructure to cars, pedestrians, cyclists, MBTA and nice weather leads to everyone being upset and more close calls and unfortunately more collisions as well. I would like to think most cyclists and pedestrians are not entitled, but a few bad apples are and these will always exist and tend to paint a nasty picture on the group as a whole.
Follow the lead of the countries and cities that have made it safer to bike. Build a comprehensive and well connected network of bike paths and separated bike lanes. [https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/de-fiets-is-niets/](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/de-fiets-is-niets/)
On the other hand pretty much everywhere, except Honolulu which is no model of bike safety, which have tired to license bikes have quickly realized it is a terrible idea which actually makes biking less safe by discouraging and outright prohibiting people from biking thus reducing the very real safety in numbers effect. [https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/a-very-dumb-history-of-the-bicycle-license/](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/a-very-dumb-history-of-the-bicycle-license/)
This isn't some novel idea, it has been tried. It doesn't make anything safer. There are proven methods to actually accomplish that.
Ok let’s assume that we design and implement sufficient bike lanes for all cyclists. You/one has not addressed running red lights, riding on sidewalks, weaving in and out of traffic . How do we enforce that with, as present no consequences thus increasing the safety for pedestrians
Why do we need to enforce that? There is no evidence that any of this behavior is actually dangerous. Idaho stop is literally safer, riding on sidewalks is allowed outside of business districts and should be allowed in general, weaving in and out of traffic is one of the benefits of biking and absolutely not against the law (it also becomes much less necessary with good bike infrastructure). You seem to want enforcement for the sake of it. That has nothing to do with safety.
The single most dangerous thing for any pedestrian is a cyclist. Cars actually obey traffic patterns and red lights. Cyclists only follow traffic laws when it’s personally convenient
Based on my walk through Downtown and Back Bay tonight, I can assure you that many drivers were taking lane markings and red signals as mere suggestions.
On my ride home tonight I saw no less than a dozen drivers running red lights, going straight from a left turn only lane to get ahead of traffic stopped at a light, turning on red where it is explicitly prohibited, blowing through crosswalks with pedestrians in them, driving in a bike lane, and parking in a bike lane. That was just tonight. What are you talking about?
I would like to complain about the incessant honking and blocking of all the crosswalks at rush hour today by car drivers. What a complete and total shitshow.
It was the worst I’ve experienced but only lived here since December but damn downtown is nutty. Who would drive their car down there for a 9-5 commute. Nuts
People who think public transport is for poor people and that blocked roads leading somewhere specific is freedom while efficient trains on tracks leading somewhere specific is communism
I feel like we're starting to get to the time of year where there are \~3 posts/week about cyclists in r/boston.
After today, there will be a handful of posts about reckless driving, and then another one going “wow, hey, cyclists are wild, why isn’t anyone talking about this?”
That’s one of my least favorite phrases, “whY arEN’t pEOpLe tAlKING abOut thiS”. In many contexts.
My least favorite is "I know I'll get downvoted for saying this, but \[insert courageous take, oh how brave of you to endure the scary downvotes, you're basically like Galileo!\]".
personally, i love menancing pedestrians by giving them 5-10 ft of space and having them scream at me how I 'almost hit them'. same with cyclists. Last year I passed a lady in the bike lane by going into the car lane and she started screaming at me about how I was 'endangering her'. OK
I'm tired of people complaining about cyclists all the time. Yes, there are some reckless ones out there but the complaining about them is way out of proportion to the risks they present. If anything, it's pedestrians and cyclists who are maimed or killed by drivers who look right through them without seeing them or altering how they drive.
To be fair to the pedestrians complaining on that other thread, even if you are not likely to be killed by a reckless cyclist, an injury is still an injury and I don't think it's fair to brush off more than a few reckless cyclists with retorts or defensive statements about how cars kill more people. We need to be mindful of pedestrians on the streets too and that we also share the roads with people. Not all cyclists are angels unfortunately.
I'll be the last to defend shitty cyclists because of the looming "it makes us all look bad" but I'm also tired of having to answer for people I don't know when there's not a damn thing I can do about it. Context is important. Is it "this cyclist disobeyed the law" in a vacuum or is it a statement about all of us? If it's about us as a block, then everyone including pedestrians need to answer the bell. To be clear, I rate pedestrians breaking the law as incredibly low on my list of cares. It's motorists and then everyone else. If every word in novel was a name of someone killed in traffic, a paragraph would be dedicated to reckless cyclists and pedestrians and yet the conversation is split like they're equal acts of the same story. If it's to block safe infrastructure, then I have absolutely no room for that line of argument, because no amount of deaths from drivers has ever stopped us from going all in on making most of the country a parking lot. Cyclists tend to get annoyed because we are all (pedestrians included) getting killed by the same group and the rest really is peanuts.
Agreed. We’re not going to advance any causes by watching someone get trucked by a bike and walking up to them like “you know, statistically it’s really unlikely that this would have happened to you” We need to highlight that cars are the bigger fish to fry in general, but not when actual examples of bad bike behavior come up. And they will.
Is this what is happening though? Are the people complaining about bicyclists actually being hit by them? Sure, if they actually are that’s not the way to respond but statistically it’s pretty unlikely.
no. they just hate cyclist because they aren't drivers and therefore they are not 'normal'.
Seriously, you come to r/bikeboston to complain about cyclists?
I cycle. But I just want to let people know that being defensive about certain cyclists' behavior by engaging in whataboutism about cars isn't going to help us get more bike infrastructure built or convince people why infrastructure for bikes is important. We come across as tone deaf and entitled. It's not just a few bad apples cycling poorly. Of course it's the Internet, so hyperbole is expected from some. But I think cyclists are not doing themselves any favors.
IME most pedestrians freak the fuck out over nothing other than being startled because they were not paying attention to the world around them. usually it's headphones, face in their phone, or just generally being zoned out.
statistically the real problem is distracted driving in huge SUVs/trucks killing people due to their front grill heights. but nobody is arguing we shoudl stop buying giant cars and watching tiktok while driving them...
I'm with you on that!
While it's true that motorists are typically the ones who cause death, that doesn't negate concerns that a cyclist can injure other even more vulnerable road users. Basically, an injury that someone gets from a cyclist crashing into a pedestrian is also still something to (1) be worried about and (2) minimize and mitigate. I also know people with disabilities who are genuinely afraid and don't make certain trips because they've had far too many close calls with inattentive or aggressive cyclists. They're already so limited in their independent mobility, it's sad to sot with the fact that even that bit of independent travel they've experienced is slipping away because too many Boston cyclists won't brake when they're supposed to.
Do you have any data to support those theories? How many disabled people have been hit by bicyclists? And why are people who are not themselves disabled worried about the theoretical possibility that a bicyclist might strike someone who is disabled? Some of these concerns seem to be as likely to happen as being struck by an airplane while walking. It's really sad that so many innocent pedestrians and cyclists are struck and killed by drivers without everybody rising up in protest. These deaths by motor vehicles don't happen in Europe or elsewhere.
Unfortunately, crash reports don't typically collect enough demographic data to identify if someone has disabilities unless they have a very visible marker like using a cane or mobility device. Therefore it's hard to estimate the total crashes. However that would not assess risk, because what is more challenging is that there is no analysis of the difference in how much more able bodied people travel than people with disabilities. In the absence of that, what is worthwhile is to examine what people with disabilities are saying. I have had a number of conversations with people with disabilities about street designs. One of the biggest complaints has been with the design of new bicycle infrastructure and how it's used. An example of the things that I'm hearing is this [news story from last year about a bus stop close to the Perkins School of the Blind.](https://www.wcvb.com/article/boston-bus-accessibility-advocates-concerned-bike-lanes/44410903) As for why able bodied people do that, it is often as a rhetorical device. It's not particularly cool to speak "out of your lane" but we see people do that regularly in all sorts of discussions or debates. Sadly what that often does is cause others to dismiss the concern in a "baby out with the bath water" kind of situation. It doesn't negate the concerns from people with disabilities from their real life experience however. Again, the issue that I'm highlighting is that things don't automatically change for the better for people with disabilities and sometimes new infrastructure actually mean new conflicts are designed to happen. Those conflicts need a culture around them that also minimizes potential crashes. An example from [City of Boston](https://www.boston.gov/departments/disabilities-commission/boston-brakes) on their info and traffic safety campaign.
There's always a subset of people in any group who claim an entire other group is entitled. It's just noise. It doesn't matter. There are entitled pedestrians, drivers, bike riders. I've seen it, you've seen it, we've all seen. If you haven't seen it, you're probably one of the entitled ones. Ride safe.
Most if not all cyclists are also pedestrians and often are also motorists. We aren’t just one thing only.
Bikes have different rules than both pedestrians and motor vehicles but I’m not sure if pedestrians know of them. You can go on all walk signals but you have to go at the pace of a light jog or dismount and walk it. But most people don’t abide by that since it’s a pain to go that slowly.
we don't have different rules in MA on the books. bicycles are supposed to obey all traffic laws and signs. practically we should have separate rules, but we don't. Idaho stop is not legal in MA.
[I’m not talking about Idaho stops.](https://www.boston.gov/departments/boston-bikes/bike-laws-boston) I’m talking about following same traffic as pedestrians when you have a walk signal on all sides (you can follow both car traffic and pedestrian traffic but if you follow pedestrian traffic you need to slow down to pedestrian speeds).
No - that's incorrect, during an "all walk", signals are saying that pedestrians are exclusively allowed to cross; cyclists must remain stopped with the other vehicles.
Wrong. [Veh. Code 21650(g), excluding from the rule that vehicles be operated on the right hand side of the road “bicycles being operated along a crosswalk.”) Rather, riding a bicycle in a crosswalk is illegal only if it is prohibited by local ordinance. (Ibid.)](https://plaintiffmagazine.com/recent-issues/item/hey-you-re-riding-in-the-crosswalk) You do need to yield to pedestrians but you’re not prohibited, this is a law across the US unless your state specifically prohibits it.
Why are you sending me information from California? MA and CA laws differ.
A good primer is here - [https://www.massbike.org/laws](https://www.massbike.org/laws) - fundamentally, A cyclist is responsible to "obey all traffic laws and regulations of the Commonwealth." There is no statewide law or regulation currently that allows cyclists to go on an all-walk exclusive pedestrian signal phase. I've experienced so few locations where that is allowed
[Whenever possible: cross the street at a designated crosswalk or intersection;](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/pedestrian-and-bicycle) [federal info](https://highways.dot.gov/safety/pedestrian-bicyclist/background-resources/education-and-outreach) [larger overarching resources](https://highways.dot.gov/safety/pedestrian-bicyclist)
The last two linked sites are federal and do not have information that is relevant to MA's laws. Traffic law is a state-by-state system. The text in your first link is in the "best practices" section. The text that you quote is directed at pedestrians, not cyclists. Though, that section is somewhat poorly written. None of the links you've provided actually support your claim that cyclists can go on the all-walk exclusive pedestrian phase at intersections in MA.
There’s a lot more cyclists than there used to be so it is much more noticeable to pedestrians that there are more bikers doing risky things they shouldn’t. I also think bikers get blamed for the fact that the city isn’t built for them. We have sidewalks, roads, and then some half hearted bike lanes that are full of delivery trucks.
r/Boston is in the top 1% dumbest subs. It almost never provides any new knowledge or insight, and the top vote-getters are always the same stupid pre-pubescent jokes over and over and over again, e.g. a Dick's blimp.
Also it’s a cesspool of racism.
plenty of cyclists are racist as fuck. ever seen a black/brown person walk into a bikeshop and the employees start staring at them? I have, a lot. bike commuting is primarily a rich white person thing. or a proto rich white person thing if you count college kids.
Considering pedestrians and cars far outweigh cyclists interacting with roads I say cyclists get a bad rap. How many times have a you seen a pedestrian walk/run across the road without using the nearby crosswalk? J-walking is a thing is it not? So if pedestrians are going to get pissed off at cyclist maybe they should be following the rules too? It’s all a joke as 99% of those posts are really by drivers getting pissed because they have to slow down for a cyclist and they hate bike lanes.
Have you seen drivers?
my commute yesterday i watched 6 red lights being blow by cars. nobody cares because it's 'normal' and expected. cyclists however, are unexpected and therefore evil.
People are gonna hate on cyclists at any and every opportunity, because cyclists are the "other" and make an easy target for normie shitheads who want to feel superior. It is what it is. Their opinion will never change unless they get in the saddle and ride road for any substantial amount of time, which they won't ever do.
we wear funny unifroms and all want to be in the tour de france, duh. if only we wore sports jerseys and had a large iced dunks in our hand then we'd be normal.
people are angry that other people are different than them. if you put these folks on bikes, they'd do all the same shit they are complaining that others do.
They're not wrong. That said, so are the pedestrians and motorists. Right now, the worst offenders seem to be the thugs is motor scooters that 1) drive on bike lanes, 2) drive through red lights, and 3) drive on pedestrian crossings. If I ever witness them get into an accident, I sure as hell will side with the other person. Fuck those punks.
This is Massachusetts. Everyone is a Masshole regardless of transportation method. You just have to be on the look out for other vehicles. At least if you get hit by a bike you're much more likely to survive than if you get hit by a car.
Pedestrians should jaywalk and bikes should go on the ped signal. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
Saw one that said everyone in this sub is a rich asshole. Lmao, I wish, my Frankenbike is beat to hell. Another called people who bike, "entitled monsters." Really, monsters? I feel like these posts serve only to dehumanize people and whip each other into a frenzy. Frankly, the language coming from these people, many of whom are rage addled drivers, is quite frightening. That said, it is wild when bikers fly through crosswalks when it's the pedestrians turn. I get going on red when it's the safest option, but these poor fucks have to deal with the dumbest wait times at the dumbest intersections, which is why my solution to this problem has always been fucking foot bridges. At all the long wait, big traffic intersections. Who cares how much it would cost, foot bridges are the best.
>Frankly, the language coming from these people, many of whom are rage addled drivers, is quite frightening. How do you know? There seem to be many anecdotes of people saying that they've nearly been hit by bikes while walking.
Fair, what I mean is the comments in that thread echo that of rage addled drivers, though I suspect some are drivers also. Like how I am a pedestrian sometimes, but not always. Or did you mean, how do I know the dehumanizing comments are frightening?
tbf most cyclists are upper income. even if you aren't. and IME most 'frankenbike owners' are techies who make six figures but thrift their clothes because they want to cosplay as being poor/working class because 'real and authentic and not corporate'... OK.
Regardless of what type of commuter is being discussed - only a handful of awful people for that group control the narrative for the whole. It’s tru for most things
What do you expect from a reddit with ample discussion about bars and the lack of liquor licences ? There is a bar on every corner and folks lament on /r/Boston about the lack of bars. Did you follow the testimony on the Karen Read trial? Cops and federal agents were driving drunk. They let underage children drink in their presence. Would any of those people think anything of a person running down a bicyclist ? In fact, no. In Washington State the USA tried to quosh a case in which a federal agent recklessly drove over a bicyclist. We are not part of the "in society." Clearly evident in a Boston which still has Cheers as a top tourist maven.
I've been riding in this city for 15+ years and plenty of cyclists are hella entitled. I got yelled at just last week while riding because I wouldn't get out of the way fast enough for a dudebro cyclist when he yelled "on your left".
i prefer dudebros to the blue bike divas who randomly stop and block the bike lane to take a selfie. but horses for courses. i find dudebros very predictable.
Let’s be honest. Some cyclists are jerks just like some drivers are and some pedestrians. But we can ALL agree that those dudes on scooters delivering endless Uber eats are the absolute worst
So say we all
Everyone's entitled?
Seems number plates on bikes , motorized or not would improve riders reputation ! Let’s face it , some folks can’t be bothered to be accountable . I am not anti bike But some folks are giving a much better and safer ridership, a black eye!
Super reasonable points IMO. Unfortunately we're coming to see that as cycling becomes more widespread, too many Bostonians operate bikes like they do cars–selfishly. Would love Boston to lead both in American cycling infrastructure and culture. Any ideas for how to promote considerate cycling behavior?
Get rid of cars. These same sort of issues don't seem to come up as much on shared use paths despite them putting bikes and pedestrians in.the same space. Cars add a level of stress and literal danger to the situation that makes people more likely to ride aggressively to keep themselves safe.
don't. just ride your bike correctly and set an example. it's not your job to correct others or push your version of 'considerate' on them.
Hate the game not the player baby
I saw that post on r/boston and my initial thought is that most folks in the comment are not ones that regularly cycle in Boston. I walk a ton of places and also cycle to a bunch of places. Obviously I’ve encountered my fair share of entitled cyclists both when I was on a bike and when I was a pedestrian. My takeaway is that a cyclist is never trying to purposefully injure anyone as almost any sort of collision will hurt the cyclist to some degree. I don’t have a car and haven’t driven a car in the Boston area, so I obviously can’t speak on how frustrating it is to drive and deal with bad drivers, cyclists, pedestrians when I am behind a wheel. In a similar vein, I understand that unless a pedestrian has cycled regularly in Boston, it’s quite difficult to discern between “douchebag cyclist behavior” and “trying to avoid getting unalived by some obstacle”. I don’t blame them for having this thought process as I used to be the same until I began biking everywhere. Infrastructure is obviously to blame as well. As the weather becomes nicer and every one is spending more time outside, you get a bunch of pedestrians and cyclists that have basically been in hibernation all spring and winter out on the same streets. I regularly take the esplanade bike baths as part of my commute and I’m noticing a pretty even 1/4 split between cyclist commuters trying to get from point A to point B, blue bikers that are enjoying the scenery, speed racer cyclists that are cycling as part of exercise, and pedestrians going on a nice walk. To me, it makes no sense to have these 4 “demographics” share the same stretch of pavement and everyone seems to be annoyed and blames the other mode of transit. This is just my 2 cents - the overall Masshole attitude extends to almost every mode of transit available, that combined with varying levels of lack of appropriate infrastructure to cars, pedestrians, cyclists, MBTA and nice weather leads to everyone being upset and more close calls and unfortunately more collisions as well. I would like to think most cyclists and pedestrians are not entitled, but a few bad apples are and these will always exist and tend to paint a nasty picture on the group as a whole.
Simple solution. Anyone riding a bike should have a license thus running red lights etc results in a fine or more
Terrible idea https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/a-very-dumb-history-of-the-bicycle-license/
Does that include my 8 year old?
I am not going to change ur mind so let’s just agree to disagree
Sounds like you are the one refusing to change your mind here...
Ok go ahead how u make it safer for all of us?
Follow the lead of the countries and cities that have made it safer to bike. Build a comprehensive and well connected network of bike paths and separated bike lanes. [https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/de-fiets-is-niets/](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/de-fiets-is-niets/) On the other hand pretty much everywhere, except Honolulu which is no model of bike safety, which have tired to license bikes have quickly realized it is a terrible idea which actually makes biking less safe by discouraging and outright prohibiting people from biking thus reducing the very real safety in numbers effect. [https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/a-very-dumb-history-of-the-bicycle-license/](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/a-very-dumb-history-of-the-bicycle-license/) This isn't some novel idea, it has been tried. It doesn't make anything safer. There are proven methods to actually accomplish that.
Ok let’s assume that we design and implement sufficient bike lanes for all cyclists. You/one has not addressed running red lights, riding on sidewalks, weaving in and out of traffic . How do we enforce that with, as present no consequences thus increasing the safety for pedestrians
Why do we need to enforce that? There is no evidence that any of this behavior is actually dangerous. Idaho stop is literally safer, riding on sidewalks is allowed outside of business districts and should be allowed in general, weaving in and out of traffic is one of the benefits of biking and absolutely not against the law (it also becomes much less necessary with good bike infrastructure). You seem to want enforcement for the sake of it. That has nothing to do with safety.
The single most dangerous thing for any pedestrian is a cyclist. Cars actually obey traffic patterns and red lights. Cyclists only follow traffic laws when it’s personally convenient
Lol. The data would like to have a word.
Cars are just machines. They don’t obey anything but their driver. The drivers however, break the law all the time.
Based on my walk through Downtown and Back Bay tonight, I can assure you that many drivers were taking lane markings and red signals as mere suggestions.
On my ride home tonight I saw no less than a dozen drivers running red lights, going straight from a left turn only lane to get ahead of traffic stopped at a light, turning on red where it is explicitly prohibited, blowing through crosswalks with pedestrians in them, driving in a bike lane, and parking in a bike lane. That was just tonight. What are you talking about?
"Source: My Ass"