While overall crime is at a 40 year low, bike theft is on the rise in Cambridge, read the full document for more details.

I am going to take this as a sign that bike riding is getting really popular in Cambridge, and also that you need to watch your bike like a hawk when you are in Central Sq.

Contrast that with the Mayor of LA who recently broke his arm while riding when a cab swerved in front of him.

On Saturday evening, Mr. Villaraigosa hopped on a bike for a quick ride down to the beach. While he was riding in the bike lane on Venice Boulevard, a taxi abruptly pulled out in front of him. He swerved, fell off the bike and broke his elbow.

The incident was a gift to the cycling bloggers of Los Angeles, who have long complained about drivers who fail to respect bicycle lanes and a general lack of enforcement of safety laws by the police.

“He’s now officially one of us,” wrote Ted Rogers of the blog Biking in L.A. “Welcome to our world.”

In an essay on The Huffington Post, Mr. Villaraigosa reflected on his accident and promised to increase efforts to make the city more bike-friendly.

“If there’s one thing everyone now knows after my recent accident, it’s that I like to bike in Los Angeles,” he wrote. “The city’s landscape, climate and neighborhoods offer a cyclist’s paradise. Biking in Los Angeles should be a natural.”

“Unfortunately most of our city was built with cars in mind,” he added. “It’s time to recognize that bicycles also belong on L.A.’s streets.”

The mayor pledged to improve the city’s bicycle infrastructure and to step up enforcement of traffic laws. The city plans to set aside 10 percent of the revenue from a new sales tax levy – about $3.2 million this year – for bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

That’s how you make some cab crash lemons, into some political lemon aid. I applaud Boston’s current efforts, but we can always do better, and hopefully they will see these examples and copy them wholesale.

————————–
Hello JP Bikers–

This is from the Neighbors for Neighbors blog report–from E-13 officer William Jones:

A quick heads up for JP residents…

We seem to be experiencing a spike in bicycle thefts around JP. In the last 30 days, 15 bicycles have been stolen from all around JP. A few of these bikes have been left unlocked, but many have been reported secured/locked to banisters, porches, fences, etc. Some have even been secured inside building hallways. I would like to suggest that “out of sight is out of mind”. For some it may be difficult to secure bike inside property, but it appears that the suspect(s) are bent on taking whatever they are able to see. Our best recourse appears to be to conceal the bike if at all possible, preferably inside your property. Also, anything of value that is visible can potentially draw the attention of would be thieves, so remember it is always better to keep items of value out of direct view to persons outside of property. Keep windows, doors secured when not at home.

If in fact your bike is stolen, having serial numbers handy could possibly help in the locating of stolen property.

As always, be safe, and don’t approach suspects…call 911.

P.O. Officer William B. Jones

————————————-

——————-

So I commute down Mass. ave from Cambridge into Boston every day, all year, and I’m sure I don’t have to elaborate on all the asinine things I see. Yesterday evening though, I’m riding through Central Square and one of those 5 o’clock 500 riders blows by me. Up ahead there is a cop car pulled over to the right, blocking the bike lane. Biker goes around cop car to the left. As the biker turns to glare at me, cop car does a u-turn out of the bike lane. Smack, biker goes down, cop car is now in the midst of a u-turn blocking traffic on Mass Ave. I stayed long enough to see the biker stand up at least. I didn’t know if anyone else out there heard of this collision (it seemed above the normal mass ave 5 o’clock incident) and if there were any opinions. I mean this biker was clearly an over aggressive douche, but I’ve been hit and don’t wish it on anyone. Part of me thinks the cop to be at fault, mostly because I’m a biker and he was in a car, blocking the bike lane, doing an unnecessary u-turn into traffic. I hate to assign blame to a fellow cyclist, but if this guy weren’t so adamant about letting me know that he can get to the next light faster than I can, he’d be riding today
instead of wondering what happened. It’s one thing when you’re riding for time, or exercise, but when you’re commuting down mass. ave, everyone just needs to calm down. I’m just glad the biker was wearing his helmet, and no one was hurt.

—————-

Editors commentary follows:

What this seems like to me is a classic case of not looking before you leap. Also how bike lanes can be dangerous if people don’t remember they are still cycling in the road. You can’t park in a bike lane, that is illegal, you also have to look behind you before pulling out in any kind of traffic (but I would think you would be extra careful on mass ave at 5pm in a freaking bike lane). At the same time when riding your bike it is best to keep your face pointing forward. I would say the blame for this incident falls 90% on the cop, and 10% on the biker.

I don’t put much blame on the cyclist because it doesn’t matter to me much why he was turning around . Instead of turning to glare at someone, he could have been doing a quick shoulder check to look for traffic on his way around the cop in the bike lane. Turns his head back to the front just in time to see the cop has decided “RIGHT NOW” is the best time to pull out BLAM! Why he was looking behind him isn’t really the issue the issue is the cop pulled out into traffic without looking for what was behind (and oh yea was also parked in a bike lane).

If anyone has more info on this situation I would love to hear about it. Leave me an email, or drop it in the comments.

People are cranky, really cranky. I was getting honked at for stopping at red lights, for making turns, for existing. Everyone is angry, and no one is happy (except for the bikers that is).

Be careful out there, wear some sun screen, drink lots of water, enjoy the faint breeze (or make your own), and watch out for the poor poor souls trapped in the little metal boxes.

In a 4 month period they found more than 50 violations, at just two intersections. This sort of thing isn’t hard, you can just go out to just about any place in the city and watch just about everyone break the law rampantly (I did the same with pedestrians).

The difference is that the MBTA is not just a collection of citizens, it is a large transportation agency that can, and should, be held responsible for its actions. If you are an MBTA bus driver, you job, the sole point of why you get paid, is to drive people safely around in a bus. That means people on the bus and people outside of it. I have had several very nasty run in’s with MBTA bus drivers that have left me shocked by just how horrible they were at their jobs.

Watch it here.

A three day suspension, and a run through a computer sim isn’t going to cut it. They need to get as serious about driver behavior as they are about cell phones. They are serious about the cell phone ban because a driver had a horrible crash, do we have to wait till a bus driver kills someone by running a red light before they will get serious about this? I sure hope not.

According to police reports, a 40-year-old Watertown man was cycling east on Commonwealth Avenue in the 2300 block at about 5:20 p.m. and a car driven by a 38-year-old Watertown woman was heading east as well. According to witnesses, including an off-duty Wayland police officer, the cyclist was wearing a helmet and was traveling in a straight line in the far right portion of the road.

The car unexpectedly swerved to the right, according to witnesses, and hit the cyclist, knocking him under the car. The woman reportedly attempted to back up with the cyclist still underneath. Several drivers pulled over and lifted the car off the cyclist so he could breathe, according to police reports.

The cyclist was treated at the scene by Newton firefighters and EMTs and was taken to Newton-Wellesley Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. After interviewing witnesses, police determined there was no improper operation and did not cite the driver, according to reports(via wicked local Newton)

I ask you this, how is it that witnesses say that the car suddenly swerved to the right striking this poor guy, then tries to back over him, and the police find that after talking to these witnesses that there was no crime committed? How is that not a crime, driving to endanger, reckless driving, failure to yield, deviating from the lane, running someone over, trying to back over then once you hit them…take your pick.

It’s shit like this that really pisses me off. When you have a cyclist doing everything they are supposed to, multiple credible witnesses (including an off duty police officer), and they still don’t site this person with a crime. This lady should be in jail right now.

Thanks to Nikki for the heads up.

PS. If you do ever submit a tip via the contact form, and want me to link to a website or something else when I give you credit for the tip please include that as well, I am more than happy to plug your website in return for being my eyes and ears on the street.

EDIT: Teeheehee updated with this link

Where we learn that because the cyclist was riding on the right hand side of the street it was the cyclists fault…holy crap that is so wrong. This lady just turns right into a drive way, and without signaling, and then it seems like she panicked and nearly ran him over again while he was under her car, and the police think that because the cyclist was on the right hand side of the street he “contributed to the accident”

Lt. Bruce Apotheker said the actions of Castagno and other bystanders helped save the cyclist’s life. And according to the investigating officer, Apotheker said, the driver was not at fault for the crash.

“The cyclist’s actions, which were confirmed by his own statements, contributed to the crash,” Apotheker said.

The driver told police she never saw the cyclist, and because he had not previously passed her, she had no reason to expect he would be there, Apotheker said. She was not cited for improper operation.

“The officer felt a reasonable and prudent person would not be expecting someone on their right,” he said.

No no no no no no. You have a legal duty while driving in your car to make sure you are not going to run someone over when you start a turn. You have to look in your mirror, and you have to signal, and you have to NOT RUN PEOPLE OVER.

EDIT: Seems the advocate groups are involved now, both locally in newton and elsewhere…more info when I get it.

—————–

Good news!!

The Franklin Park Coalition presented a proposal at the Boston Parks Commission on Monday to make bicycling legal in Franklin Park. While there were several questions, both the Parks Department and the Commissioners expressed their support and appreciated the efforts and enthusiasm of Dot Bike and other volunteer bike groups involved.

Although the ban on bicycling in the park (other than on the road) was not enforced, having bicycling authorized in the park removes possible barriers to continuing to have bike events in the park, or to improvements related to bicycling such as bike racks or path stewardship that addresses biking concerns.

Measuring path widths was a fun group effort with volunteers from Dot Bike, Rozzie Bike, and JP Bikes along with children from a nearby school. Dot Bike was a key partner with the FPC in developing the proposal.

The cooperation of the Parks Dept. on this is very much appreciated, and I can’t thank the Franklin Park Coalition enough for their incredible efforts on behalf of bicyclists and everyone who enjoys and appreciates the park.

EDIT: Got this

“I don’t really know much. A bunch of cops, a bike on the ground and a guy on a stretcher. Here’s a bad photo:”

A bicyclist who was not wearing a helmet died after colliding with an SUV at the intersection of Commonwealth and Lowell Avenues in Newton at about 5:20 p.m. Monday, according to Newton Police Lieutenant Bruce Apotheker.

According to Muriel Mazzarini, who said she was driving the car behind the SUV, the cyclist was traveling east on Commonwealth Avenue when he hit the tail end of the car, which was crossing Commonwealth Avenue from Homer Street onto Lowell Avenue. The witness said she saw blood on the victim’s hand and chest.

“The light turned green and I saw the bike coming down and he smashed right into the car,” she said. “I stopped the car and I got out and went to help. Other people came around and we were all dialing 911.”

More from Wicked Local and pictures here

It is not clear if someone ran a red light or not. What is clear is that someone did something very wrong. My heart goes out to this young mans family. It rips me apart to have to hear about such young people dying in such a way.

More info when I get it.

EDIT: Some people are preparing a ghost bike…I hate having to publish this.

EDIT: Found this pdf of meeting notes from a pubic meeting last year that seems to indicate there have been previous fatal crashes on this stretch of Comm Ave in Newton. I can’t know for sure if this is the same location, but could there be something wrong with the way the road is designed here? An excerpt below.

John Allen, 7 University Park, Waltham, spoke on the item as a representative of the MassBike Technical Advisory Committee. He urged the city to pay careful attention to the bicycle lanes at intersections on Commonwealth Avenue. There was a fatal bicycle accident at an intersection on Commonwealth Avenue.

EDIT: Here is Andy Von Guerard’s (the cyclists) facebook page, and here is his fathers with a heart breaking message at the top. It is always so strange to see these sort of internet time capsules. A little slice of time captured forever in what is usually a mundane part of our day…

EDIT: Some more discussion on other blogs about this. here and here.

Both of these sites raise troubling questions about just how strange this accident seems. I tend to agree, it seems very odd.

The Boston Globe also has an article here.

Sources seem to indicate he ran a red light and smashed into a car…this is very tragic and preventable. Be careful people, follow the law, and wear a helmet!

Another update here.