Description
I'd like to formally request that the "slip lane" from Hampshire St to Antrim St be closed to motor vehicle (or all) traffic. While biking down Hampshire St today I was nearly hit today by a motorist who did not signal before attempting to make a last second turn, through me. After somehow not falling over or as far as I can tell, hitting his car, I came to a stop by the traffic island and directed the motorist to stop as well. He admitted (I believe this was actually caught by my conspicuously mounted GoPro) that he never even turned his head to check his blind spot.
This is not the first incident I've seen here, but this is by far the most dangerous one I've seen yet.
If motorists cannot be bothered to act in a safe and predictable manner then the infrastructure should be adjusted to prevent their negligent actions from harming others. I realize removing this right turn kind of sucks, but serious injury or death because someone can't be bothered to follow the law sucks more.
At a minimum, please consider a trial closing of the slip lane to see how traffic is affected for several days.
14 Commentaires
City Hall – DR (Membre officiel vérifié)
Robert Winters (Utilisateur inscrit)
Ian Woloschin (Utilisateur inscrit)
Robert, you're certainly entitled to your opinion!
I'm just not sure what else I can do to make myself safe, other than advocate for infrastructure changes. I'm wearing a dayglo yellow safety vest, I have a *very* bright flashing light on the front (and rear) of my bike, and I'm riding in a prominent position in the bike lane. I'd love to hear for other thoughts on how to make myself safer, but at this time, all I could come up with is closing the slip lane. I definitely can understand you'd advocate the opposite, and I don't begrudge you at all for that, but I am pretty frustrated that I was almost run over today even though I did everything "right".
If more motorists acted in a safe manner and actually checked their blind spots then I think this slip lane is fine. However, my experience is this is too often not the case, and I'd really rather not have another ghost bike in Inman Square.
Also, please do not bring up cyclists dangerous behavior here, that is definitely a concern, but in this case the cyclist (me) was doing everything according to law, so if you notice cyclists here doing something unsafe please open a new ticket for that, thanks!
Robert Winters (Utilisateur inscrit)
Ian Woloschin (Utilisateur inscrit)
Robert Winters (Utilisateur inscrit)
Pat H (Utilisateur inscrit)
Ian Woloschin (Utilisateur inscrit)
Pat H,
I apologize for the delay, had to wait until I got home to pull video off my GoPro. I've posted a link to a short clip showing my approach until we both came to a complete stop. After quick review I did not see any signals by the motorist, who appeared to be more focused on a GPS unit on the dashboard than the roadway. The vehicle was a late model (2014+) White Subaru Forester, Registration MA 514KP2. The operator was a white, middle aged male. If Cambridge Police would like to follow up I can provide an image of the motorist's face as well, though I don't see much value in trying to publicly shame the operator, even if he nearly ran me over.
City of Cambridge,
If you cannot, or will not, consider closing the slip lane please let me know what I should be doing to make myself safer here. I'm honestly not sure what else I can do, but clearly my efforts are not enough, so I'd like the City to chime in here.
Pat H (Utilisateur inscrit)
Ian Woloschin (Utilisateur inscrit)
Unfortunately in the past, Cambridge Police have basically told me, "Hey, you didn't actually crash, so you didn't get hurt, hooray!" They're not wrong, but they are either unwilling, or perhaps unable, to do anything unless there is either property damage or personal injury, which is usually something you try to avoid!
Fortunately, yesterday was one of the rare days I was riding a regular style bicycle, normally I'm on a long, heavy cargo bike. If I had been riding my regular cargo bicycle there's no way I would have avoided a collision. I guess luck was on my side yesterday, but still, I'd rather the transportation infrastructure not depend on luck to prevent road users from being run over!
Police - JW (Communications) (Membre officiel vérifié)
Ian Woloschin (Utilisateur inscrit)
Robert Winters (Utilisateur inscrit)
Clos Traffic - KK (Parking) (Utilisateur inscrit)