Submitted by [deleted] t3_z7mypz in CambridgeMA
i’m a big fan of the new Garden St bike lanes, but keep seeing people biking in the wrong direction, even though there are two separate lanes for both directions. overall, i’m noticing bad bike etiquette/safety from a number of riders around the city and wondering if there is anything the city can do to educate people biking.
UPDATE: There are now wrong way signs for bikers on Garden St
It would help if the infrastructure was more complete. Panting an arrow on the ground doesn't count, there should be one way signs. Same thing at intersections for cars; cars need to know which direction to be looking for bike traffic from. At least on Brattle, the bikes are in the same spot. On Garden, it's much more likely someone is going to get hooked by a car (especially if the cyclist is going the wrong direction). Reminds me of the new bike lane installed near Beech street that will absolutely get someone killed. Why they installed a bike light that is green while cars are able to turn blows my mind
Cambridge needs to remember universal standards are universal for a reason. Not everyone driving in Cambridge is from Cambridge!
Yes. And a walk light. And the wait at the light in a car is 3x as long. That intersection is all kinds of wrong.
It tends to improve over time after a new project is installed. But, people do still do it in other areas, usually trying to avoid convoluted multistage turns or other lackluster infrastructure. Personally it doesn't really bother me as it doesn't seem to actually present any danger.
This is sort of a long term solution, but some other countries have "traffic gardens", which are basically parks with a little road network in them where kids can practice navigating according to road rules. We should probably build some.
Of course, that doesn't help for people moving here from else where, who haven't ever ridden as adults. I just tell them "wrong way".
I think with Garden St. the problem is largely from the Harvard students coming from the Radcliffe Quad. They're finding it easier in the mornings to go contra-flow on the outbound lane than cross the street at Shepard and back again at Concord. I feel like it's improved since the initial creation, so perhaps it will improve still more over time.
The thing that annoys me is people all around the MIT campus riding on the sidewalks (going fast) with no freakin lights on. Get some damned lights for your bike!
I used to bike all over Cambridge and would run into this problem often enough, even on well-established bike lanes. It's really annoying but I'm not sure there's anything to be done about it. Maybe the Police could start ticketing for it?
[deleted]
Here’s an idea. When you see someone biking the wrong way, don’t yell at them. Just move over and coexist peacefully. Spend your mental energy thinking about why they might do that, such as avoiding a more dangerous legal way, not having to cross twice, missing the light, only going one block, being lost, etc. You might find you have empathy and compassion.
Be careful criticizing the bike crowd they don't take kindly to people pointing out all their wrongdoing lol. Be safe out here though
im a person who bikes and i wrote the post
Licenses for bikes would go a long way to solving some problems. Help enforce rules of the road. A minor fee ($10) could go towards infrastructure. All that road work doesn't pay for itself.
Yes, because your motor vehicle licensing and registration fees cover all of the costs of building and maintaining roads (news flash, it covers basically nothing and the government pays for the other 99%).
How to discourage anyone from biking in under 2 seconds
Imagine that, a bicyclist not obeying the traffic rules
I see just as many idiot car drivers stopping, parking, and driving in bike lanes as you see bicyclists not obeying laws. The difference however is that a bike is not a motorized steel death trap endangering others.
I don't know why people act like bikes are not dangerous. There are plenty of e-bikes that are 50-80lbs of steel traveling at over 20 mph. Even if that alone wouldn't hurt you (and it would), just having people ignoring traffic laws and forcing other cyclists/pedestrians into traffic is extremely dangerous. This constant retort of "I don't need to obey the laws because bikes are safe" is crazy
I never said that bikes shouldn't have to obey the laws. I said that a car is more dangerous than a bike, at any speed. Yes there are ebikes, but they are vastly outnumbered by regular bikes, so don't use them as the generalized standard of danger in this equation. That'd be like me saying there's busses that weigh more than cars and using them as the standard
Be careful. The unwritten first rule of r/CambridgeMA is that you don’t post anything that is critical of cyclists. They are watching. They will take away your internet points and then stalk you for weeks across multiple subs.
Im a cyclist lol. I am concerned as someone who bikes cause I dont want people biking the wrong way in a lane im in
Wasn’t this the sub that banned people for saying good things about bikes?
georgvontrap t1_iy839di wrote
I think new bike lanes inspire a lot of new time riders, and as they get a bit more experience navigating in the city, people learn the rules