Note to Cyclists in Cambridge (MA)

[gnomi]

The Cambridge police have started ticketing cyclists who violate traffic laws.

Me, I say it's about time. I've complained about cyclists in the past (see point 8), and with luck the ticketing will make some people stop their obnoxious behavior.

(yes, I seem to be Posty McPostalot today. There may or may not be another one later today in which I attempt to lead you all in song. It depends on how the rest of my morning goes, I think.)

Comments

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

This isn't that new - Cambridge goes on a mini rampage every now and then on doing this. I believe they're the only place locally that does. Sadly, I don't think it helps as much as it should, especially since they're not consistent, they only pick a few places to check, and there just isn't that much they can do.

Now, if they did this all the time, instead of only occasionally, and other towns did it too, maybe something would change.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I wish they'd do it in Kendall, especially at the Broadway-Third St. intersection. With everyone coming off the T, it's a bit nuts there with the cars and the pedestrians and the cyclists.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it - wish it would spread to Davis Square.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Mm. I wonder if they're doing it in phases, targeting neighborhoods one at a time.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Sadly, Davis Square is in Somerville, not Cambridge :) I'd love it if Somerville followed Cambridge's lead but I don't know how likely it is.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Point. My geography brain was not engaged. :-|

If it works in Cambridge, they may start doing it in Somerville. One can live in hope.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i love the guy who said red lights are just for cars. yeah, dude, and they're also to keep you from getting hit by someone driving with the light.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Yeah. They're crazy in Kendall, trying to outrun the cars and the pedestrians.

One day, I almost guarantee, I'm going to witness a car-vs.-cyclist-vs.-pedestrian free-for-all.

[madfilkentist]

I don't mind when cyclists violate the law carefully, e.g., determining that an intersection has no oncoming traffic and then going against the light. But too many just plow into pedestrians (when we have the crossing light) and expect us to get out of the way.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I agree. I'm relatively live-and-let-live about cyclists who are safe in their running the red lights and whatever. But more often I see the ones who are cavalier and are a danger to others.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

Wish they'd do that in New York - if I had a nickel for every time I've almost been run down by a cyclist, I'd have a lot ot nickels.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Maybe it'll catch on in other cities. I was grousing yesterday to mabfan about the guy who was riding his bike on the sidewalk and taking up about half of the sidewalk. There was a woman with a baby carriage coming the other way, and that left those of us who were neither the cyclist nor the woman with the carriage scrambling to get out of the way.

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

DC has a law banning cyclists from the sidewalks in a largish section of downtown where many law firms use many many bike messengers. Since the messengers are licensed, they do get cited. Copies of the citations get sent to their companies, as many of them claimed that "they never saw it" or "it must have become disloged." Right. Sorry, dude.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Certain parts of certain towns have sidewalks that are off-limits. The first thing I asked mabfan was whether it was illegal to ride on sidewalks in Brookline.

[arfur]

from http://www.cityofboston.gov/bikes/laws.asp:

Within the State of Massachusetts, a cyclist's rights allow: [...] Riding on sidewalks outside business districts, unless local laws prohibit sidewalk riding.

In Cambridge, this means:

Cambridge traffic regulations require that bicyclists on sidewalks travel at a walking speed and yield to pedestrians. Sidewalk riding is not permitted in the business districts of Harvard Square, Central Square, Porter Square, Inman Square, Huron Ave., and sections of Mass. Ave. north of Harvard Square.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

I wanna see cyclists get ticketed for not stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks. Several times in Cambridge and Somerville I've been nearly mowed down in crosswalks...not by cars, but by CYCLISTS, who seem to think that they don't have to stop. Hey, schmucks, you are piloting vehicles, and vehicles have to stop for people in crosswalks.

[perpet.livejournal.com]

I wish they would do that here. I got to watch a cyclist run two stop signs and a red light before he cut between my car and the car in front of me, swerved around the car in front of me, and proceeded to run another red light.

And he wasn't even wearing a helmet.