Mass Vision Zero Coalition Posts Candidate Answers To Questions About Road Safety

The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition has posted answers to questions about road safety – for both at-large candidates and candidates in specific districts in the Sept. 24 preliminaries.

(from U Hub)

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VOTE TOMORROW!

Election Day is tomorrow! Do you know who you’re voting for?

This election is an important opportunity to weigh in on the issues that matter most to you. The leaders we elect will make decisions that affect the safety of our streets. So if you’re able to vote, please head to the polls tomorrow, on Tuesday, November 6th!

If it was me I wouldn’t vote for ANYONE in Trumps party, as they are all complicit in his racist behavior, misogynist activities, and many crimes simply by remaining in the party.  But hey what do I know….

Click here to find your polling place and view your ballot.

Thank you for voting!

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New Vulnerable Road User Bill Making It’s Way Through Senate

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means has reported a new draft of An Act to reduce traffic fatalities, which will be debated later this week.  This bill was developed by several members of the legislature in collaboration with a coalition of bicycle, pedestrian and transportation advocates.  The bill was redrafted slightly from the version reported from the Transportation Committee.

This bill would:

Require anyone riding a bicycle at night to use both a red rear light and a red rear reflector.  Currently law requires either a red light or red reflector.  Current law also requires a front white light when riding at night.

Define several different types of road users as “vulnerable road users” including but not limited to pedestrians, road and utility workers, first responders,  cyclists, persons using wheelchairs, persons operating farm equipment and persons on horseback.  Define a safe passing distance between motor vehicles and vulnerable road users of at least 3 feet when traveling at 30 miles per hour or less and an additional foot of clearance for every 10 miles per hour about 30 miles per hour.  Current law only requires that drivers pass at “a safe distance and at a reasonable and proper speed.”  Require a vehicle that is overtaking a vulnerable road user to use all or part of the adjacent lane, crossing the centerline if necessary, when it cannot pass at a safe distance in the same lane and only when it is safe to do so.

Require certain large vehicles or trailers that are purchased or leased by the Commonwealth after January 1, 2019 or operated pursuant to a contract with the Commonwealth after January 1, 2020 to be equipped with lateral protective devices, convex mirrors and cross-over mirrors.  The high ground clearance of large trucks makes a cyclist or pedestrian involved in an accident vulnerable to slipping under and being crushed by the rear wheels.  Lateral protective devices or side guards are barriers that extend between a truck’s wheels, eliminating the high clearance that poses a danger to cyclists and pedestrians.   Convex mirrors and cross-over mirrors increase driver’s ability to see around their vehicle.

Require the EOPSS to develop a standardized analysis tool to report crashes and incidents involving a vulnerable road user and maintain a publicly accessible database of such reports.  Better data will help inform further efforts to reduce traffic fatalities.

Establish a 25 mph speed limit on an unposted area of a state highway or parkway inside a thickly settled or business districting within a city or town that has accepted the 25 mph local option.  Lower vehicle speeds reduce the severity of crashes.  Lowering the speed limit on similar state roads will provide continuity in communities that have adopted the local option.

Andrew Bettinelli
Chief of Staff
Office of Senator William N. Brownsberger

(via)

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The Math On Driving Doesn’t Work

From MetroNews

A common political argument is that bike and transit riders should “pay their own way.” A study in Vancouver however suggested that for every dollar we individually spend on walking, society pays just 1 cent. For biking, it’s eight cents, and for bus-riding, $1.50. But for every personal dollar spent driving, society pays a whopping $9.20! Such math makes clear where the big subsidies are, without even starting to count the broader environmental, economic, spatial and quality-of-life consequences of our movement choices. The less people need to drive in our cities, the less we all pay, in more ways than one.

Or to put it another way, you are not paying for bike lanes and side walks with your taxes, your paying for massive infrastructure projects to move cars around.

All that money could be used in much better ways.  For instance we could just leave it in your pocket…or we could put it into public transit, or renewable energy, or use it to hire more teachers, or make sure our water is clean, the list is nearly endless.

The other thing to think about is that once car usage is reduced, deaths from car usage is also reduced.  Less crashes, less hit and runs, less obesity, less asthma, less wars for oil, less fracking, less cancer, less diabetes, less global warming induced bad weather.

In short we are spending our money all wrong on things that are only hurting us.

In contrast cycling walking and public transit actually makes money for society!

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Celebrate Comm Ave Improvements (Part 2) This Friday

A bunch of big wigs will be on hand to celebrate the second phase of the Comm. Ave. improvement project.  Come check it out.

From Livable Streets:

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This Friday, we are excited to celebrate the groundbreaking of the second phase of the Commonwealth Ave project!

Thanks to the work of LivableStreets advocates like you, our partner advocacy groups, and many others, we were able secure a plan for Comm Ave that includes crucial improvements like protected bike lanes, raised crosswalks, improved bus stops, and transit signal priority for the Green Line and 57 bus. This is a landmark improvement and a big victory for the 100,000 people using Commonwealth Ave.

If you are available, join Governor Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack, Federal Highway Division Administrator Jeff McEwen, Highway Administrator Thomas Tinlin, Boston University President Robert Brown and others to break ground on the second phase of the Commonwealth Avenue improvement project.

Event Details:
Commonwealth Ave Groundbreaking
Friday, October 28, 3:00 pm
@ 855 Commonwealth Ave, Boston

This project is an important example of LivableStreets’ larger vision of a seamless network of improved streets across greater Boston that are safe and convenient for all. To learn more about our work to improve the designs for Commonwealth Ave, click here.

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