At the site of the previous accident, on Mt. Auburn Street, there is a separated bike lane and a dedicated traffic light for bikes. However, this could make the intersection more confusing, with multiple traffic signals with arrows and separate signals for bike riders. It could be especially confusing to tourists using Bluebikes who are unfamiliar with traffic patterns and the array of signals.
Moreover, protected bike lanes may have the unintended consequence of so increasing the comfort level of cyclists that they have lower situational awareness. Meanwhile, with parked vehicles blocking drivers from seeing cyclists, their own situational awareness may be affected.
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Clearly, separated lanes and dedicated bike traffic signals do not eliminate the need for all parties on the streets to stay alert and aware. The solution is not simply one of street layout.
Ben Compaine
Cambridge
There is much riders can — and must — do to protect themselves
There are other causes of bicycle accidents in Cambridge besides “vulnerabilities in road infrastructure” (“Cambridge confronts road safety after 2 cyclist deaths,” Metro, June 23). Acknowledging that I do not know more than what has been reported about the two bicyclists who were killed in crashes recently, I would add that another cause may be the inexperience and lack of training of riders in general. Please relate a few lessons learned from someone who has been a Cambridge bike commuter for more than 20 years:
Always pretend you are invisible. That should be your mantra.
Don’t ride or come to a stop in the blind spot of a vehicle, especially a truck. Treat semi-trailer and box trucks like poison. It’s best to come to a stop off to the right and in a safe spot well in front of vehicles. Be where drivers can see you.
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Ride slowly if forced to travel within door distance of cars. That way, if a driver suddenly opens the door, you’re far less likely to be pushed into traffic. If riding on a car’s passenger side, be aware that passengers open doors without looking. Watch for this when cars are stuck in traffic and people decide to get out and walk.
High-intensity front and rear USB-rechargeable lights are relatively inexpensive and easy to install. They are visible from far away at night. Use them during the day too. Ditto for loud battery- or air-powered horns. You must be seen and heard.
Richard Cook
Waltham
Motorists, especially commercial drivers, need to be vigilant
How many more fatal bike accidents must occur before we recognize that trucks appear to be frequently involved in these accidents?
Since the deaths of two cyclists in Cambridge within two weeks of each other, each the result of a collision with a box truck turning right, there has been a lot of clamor about more safe cycling infrastructure. That’s well and good. But more infrastructure might not have made a difference in either crash.
Motorists still need to remain aware that they are sharing the roads with bike riders and need to understand that a bike lane is another lane of traffic to their right. They are obligated to check before crossing it.
Further, though without knowing all the details of the circ*mstances in these cases, I propose that a driver with a commercial driver’s license who is involved in the death of a vulnerable road user should routinely have to undergo an investigative hearing in order to retain that license. There must be consequences to ensure that all drivers, especially those of large commercial vehicles, operate carefully.
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Joseph Levendusky
Watertown
Keep a mirror on the handlebar
I have been riding a bike to work from Cambridge to various places in Boston for 40 years. It seems that during all that time I have been the only one to use a rearview mirror on my left handlebar. Fatal bike accidents involving motor vehicles frequently happen when a car or truck makes a right-hand turn onto a cross street and hits a cyclist. All the bike lanes in the world will not solve this without riders making full and regular use of all the safety equipment they can, including mirrors.
Rod Bronson
Cambridge
Collisions involving right-hand turns are tragic but predictable
Although laws and studies say otherwise, I believe that it would be safer to have bicycles travel against traffic, as pedestrians are supposed to. This would allow bicyclists to see and anticipate actions of vehicles ahead of them and allow motorists to keep track both of the cars ahead of them and of oncoming bicycles in the same field. Right-hand turns are particularly risky since the driver has to make the move while tracking cars ahead of them, pedestrians in a crosswalk where they are turning, and cyclists who are coming up behind them. This is made worse by bicycle lanes that are between parked cars and the curb, which make it even more difficult to see bicyclists.
B. Dale Magee
Shrewsbury
