Cambridge Cop Hits Cyclist

Got this in the mail, if true it seems that the Cambridge police department needs to train their officers on how to park, and when to pull out, and oh yea how not to hit cyclists. That is if this is true…I get a lot of stuff in the mail, anyone else see this? Thanks Mike for the heads up.

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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.

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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.

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