How To Get Away With Murder, Grand Jury Doesn’t Charge Driver In Hit And Run Case

They say if you want to kill someone wait until they get onto a bicycle.  In a tragic state of affairs a Suffolk grand jury has decided that running someone over with a truck and then leaving the scene caries with it no consequences, if that person is riding a bicycle.

A Suffolk County grand jury declined to press charges against a garbage truck driver who struck and killed a bicyclist on Sullivan Square in April, according to The Boston Globe.

Police had initially charged Ricky Prezioso, 41, with leaving the scene of a crash after he struck and killed Owen McGrory, 34, on April 3. At the time, Prezioso said he never felt the impact of the collision. Last week the grand jury declined to press the charge further. (via)

What the fuck…shouldn’t you at least be charged with poor driving, if what you say is true YOU DIDN’T NOTICE YOU RAN SOMEONE OVER!

This is the second time someone has run over a cyclist in broad daylight drove off and not gotten any charges, the same thing happened to a Dana McCoomb in Wesllesley.

The real reason I think these things happen is not that the police and prosecutors are not trying hard enough, its that most of the people on the jury drive cars. They all see themselves sitting accused of the same thing. They looked at their phone, or was not paying attention, but for the grace of luck they could be the one who ran someone over without noticing. So they let these people walk because they don’t think its a serious thing, they think it’s an “accident.”

It’s not an accident, its the same as shooting someone “by accident” you are in control of a deadly object, a huge powerful vehicle, and any lack of concentration on your part can and will result in the deaths of other people. Its just that guns by their design are killing machines so responsible people handle them with care. Cars are no less deadly, in fact they kill far more people than guns. (roughly 12,000 gun deaths in 2013, vs 30,000+ car deaths).

Prezioso should have been charged with something, you can not run someone down, and then leave the scene and not have broken SOME law. The members of this grand jury should all have to look Owen McGrory‘s family in the eye and explain to them why they felt no laws were broken. I assure you had McGory been driving a car and been killed by a guy in a truck that truck driver would have gotten charged with something.

For McGrory’s family, explanations are hard to come by.

“My mother — she doesn’t want to face it,” said John McGrory. “When I phone her, she keeps talking about the weather.”

John McGrory described his brother as popular both in Boston and his native Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

“He was such a likable, down-to-earth sort of lad,” said McGrory, who had visited his brother in November. Owen McGrory married his wife, Shannique, in December, and lived in Chelsea with Shannique and her son. He worked in construction and had been an avid bicyclist since childhood.

Shannique McGrory said in an e-mail that her husband was fun-loving and playful and cared deeply for her children.

“I am shocked and disappointed at the grand jury’s decision, but I believe that the truth of what happened that day will come out through the civil justice system,” she said.

“We believe that there is overwhelming evidence of gross negligence on the part of the truck driver in this case,” said Valerie Yarashus, a lawyer representing the McGrory family in the civil suit.

Prezioso and Capitol Waste Services did not respond to requests for comment.(via)

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Bike Share Programs Lead To Lower Overall Head Injuries For Cyclists

After a bit of digging and a deep level of reporting Boston Magazine has a great article about how bike share programs have reduced overall injuries for cyclists, including head injuries.

Then there’s the good news, which takes a bit more digging through the data to locate. As The Atlantic’s CityLabs reported in a corrective to the fear-inducing headlines that preceded it, a focus on proportion aside, both overall head injuries and total overall injuries actually declinedin cities that implemented bike share programs. CityLabs reports:

Total injuries per year in [bike-share cities] decreased about 28 percent, and total head injuries decreased about 14 percent … By comparison, in the non-bike-share cities, total injuries increased slightly … and head injuries decreased just 4 percent over the same period.

Comparing proportion of head injuries to total injuries paints a very different impression of the impact bike-share had on cycling safety than just looking at total injuries themselves, which decreased far more than in cities without bike-share. The study doesn’t explain what might have caused either the net decline in injuries or the proportionate increase in head injuries. But the decline in injuries seems to align with the “safety in numbers” theory, which suggests that the more cyclists take the road, the more cars moderate their behavior, the more cycling is normalized, and the safer cycling becomes. If, in fact, bike-share systems spurred an increase in cycling (and it is, in fact, on the rise in Boston) then this might cause a drop in injuries. CityLab also suggests that cities with bike-share also have better bicycling infrastructure, which both increases the number of bikes on the road (and thus the safety in numbers effects) and makes all those bicyclists safer. (via)

I have to admit many years ago I thought that a bike share program in this town would leave the streets running red with blood, but over the years I have really come around to the idea that we need to put as many cyclists as possible in the streets to make them safer, and its good to see that the math is backing that idea up.

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Newbury Street Bike Festival, Free Socks For All Who Bike There!

Calling all Boston Bikers!  Stop by this Newbury Street Bike Festival on Saturday to get decked out in bike gear, from Boston’s most innovative bike companies.  Everyone that bikes to the event gets a free pair of Ministry of Supply socks.  For more information, visit: https://h-1.squarespace.com/labs-events/2014/6/21/bike-festival

Date: Saturday, June 21
Time: 11am – 7pm
Address: 299 Newbury Street, Boston MA

FREE SOCKS!  This looks like its going to be a lot of fun, check it out!

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Hubway Did It! Breaks Single Day Ridership Record

A while ago I posted about Hubway and their attempt to break a single day ridership record.

Seems they did it!

Folks, you did it! Over 6,000 trips on Hubway for the 1st time ever yesterday! 6,039 rides! Nice work #hubwayeveryday pic.twitter.com/6j8je2hXmx

— Hubway (@Hubway) June 4, 2014

Congrats Hubway, nice seeing the system get bigger and better.

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Hubway Trying To Break A Record This Friday, Also Rolls Out New Stations

Hubway is looking to break its all time single day bike ride record this Friday.

Hello Hubway riders!

Massachusetts is the only state in the nation with a truly statewide bike week. Whether you ride Hubway regularly or just every once in a while, you’ll find plenty of opportunities during Bay State Bike Week, including a very special one this Friday May 16th is National Bike To Work Day — we think that would be a pretty sweet day to break Hubway’s single-day rides record (currently just over 5,900 rides). According tothe League of American Bicyclists, more than half of the U.S. population lives within five miles of their workplace. So grab a coworker and ride in together this Friday.

Ride on,
The Hubway Team

They have also rolled out a new station:

NEW STATION LAUNCHES TODAY 

The newest Hubway station has launched in Cambridge! TheBioMed – Kendall Square station is located on the sidewalk of Kendall Street off of Third Street. Kendall Street is an L-shaped street that runs between Third & Athenaeum Street.

View the entire Hubway station map here.

Please use the Spotcycle app for smartphones or Hubway Tracker for up to the minute system information and bike/dock availability.

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