City Hall – DR assigned this issue to Police - JW (Communications)

Can we get this extended to people walking in front of moving vehicles while checking FB? It's getting more and more difficult to watch for pedestrians as well.

Thank you for reporting your concern to City of Cambridge via Commonwealth Connect and bringing this matter to our attention. Under our Policies and Procedures, "under no circumstances should an employee attempt to text or read text messages while actively operating a motor vehicle. If actively operating a motor vehicle, the employee should safely pull off the roadway in a safe location to text or read text, unless the cellular telephone is in a hands-free mode." We will be sharing this with a Supervisor to reinforce the policy and mitigate this type of behavior from occurring in the future.

Thanks for fixing this request!

@Police - thank you for taking this issue seriously. I hope the law takes precedent to your policies and procedures. I'll add that many research studies have shown that hands-free mode is not a safety improvement over hand-held modes, and that all mobile phone usage while driving is inherently dangerous (e.g. Lipovac et al, 2017). I would appreciate your comment on updating your policies according to this evidence.

@Richard Hale Shaw - please don't use this serious problem as a platform for blaming victims. Cities are for people and if you find it difficult to not hit them while you are driving, you should consider handing in your license and switching to a safer mode of transportation.

You know, 'd', I was brought up short when I read your remark to Richard Hale Shaw in response to his post. So much so I went to look at all the posts you've made here; alll of them griped, whiney, fussy noise from a bike rider who finds so many things wrong with the rest of the people and conditions here in Cambridge that I can only think you should pack up your bike and build a city all for yourself, so that you are the only person there and you can do anything you want and no one ever bothers you. So ironic that you snap at RHS with "Cities are for people..."...the way you tell it, it sounds like you really think that cities - at least this city - is only for YOU.

@Ms. Richards, thank you for your feedback. Since I work with cities, I know that providing data points to Cambridge on this app has an outsized impact on the way they make decisions about our future. Since I am only one person, I can only provide my own perspective. I am so glad you also have access to this app to provide yours.

You will see I originally mentioned Vision Zero in the post above, meaning that I DO NOT WANT ANYONE TO DIE USING OUR CITY'S STREETS. I also do not want our bicycle infrastructure to only be usable by fit, young men. In the other countries I lived, I shared bicycle lanes with a diverse cross-section of society including low mobility users. In those places, the roads were also safer for all users, including people driving cars. If this is all whiney to you, then you might be a better suited occupant in the walled city for one. In the meantime, your safety is important to me, so I will continue using all of the fora available to me to advocate for it.

@d - my point is a legitimate one. The purpose of my post is to prevent accidents (as I thought yours was).

Driving well under the speed limit, I've seen pedestrians walk into a crosswalk, directly in the path of my car, just as I approach the crosswalk, with their attention deep into their phones. I don't think people are aware that it's equally dangerous to be driving a car while using their phones as it is to be crossing the streets doing so.

Raising awareness on *both* issues - which are directly related - is my point.

If you thought my post was about "blaming the victims" then you completely misunderstood it.

Thanks, @Ms. Richards.

@Richard Hale Shaw - No, your point was not a legitimate one in this context. This post was about abuse of police authority. The officer I posted about above was both breaking the law and not operating in good faith while representing Cambridge.

While we're here, using a phone will driving is far more dangerous than using one while walking. Please don't equate them. It is also YOUR responsibility to stop your car for a pedestrian in a crosswalk no matter what their ongoing activity is. That is exactly the message posted on every crosswalk bollard in the city.

Instead of invoking a "both sides" argument, could you please support me in asking for accountability from our police to be a presence for good rather than endangering us?

I think "d"'s point is really about HIM, and nothing else. As are all his posts. That's why he's rejecting anything that takes away from HIS myriad gripes. yaaawwwwn....

@Ms. Richards, thanks. I've made my point. If he's going to disparage it, I can't do anything about it. Ironic, too, because I agree with him regarding anyone texting/Facebooking while driving, not just the police. But I think it's a waste of my time responding to him any further.

And he's starting to sound like he wants to take on the entire CPD whom I admire and appreciate. They're good guys (both men and women) and they do a great job keeping us safe.

@RHS: agreed. cheers!

Another vote here for the patience of CPD with jabs like this. 22 transportation fatalities in greater boston so far this year as compared to 15 total last year; 40 bicycle deaths alone in NYC so far this year compared to 20 total last year. Politicians in both cities are promoting vision zero, right? People need to take responsibility for their own safety.

I think our police force is mature enough to not need a compliment sandwich every time they are asked to be held accountable for a serious safety issue. Holding them to a high standard is a compliment, after all.

Someone actually died at this intersection last year because they were hit by a driver: http://www.cambridgeday.com/2018/02/15/high-school-mourns-teacher-sam-bixler-29-who-lost-fight-to-recover-after-hit-from-car/

But I guess paying attention while driving is hard, so we should be OK with a few deaths every year? @GTS, sure, people should take a little responsibility for their own safety (this argument is ageist and ableist); but let's all agree that this responsibility should not extend to needing to protect ourselves from authority figures who are breaking the law?

I include relevant contextual details when I report each issue because the keywords make my ticket searchable, categorizable, and data-rich. I encourage everyone to do so. I'm at a loss for how reporting this and other road safety issues makes my gripey, selfish, or anti-police.

@GTS, agree.

It's easy start with one police officer seen checking his phone while driving, and move to generalizing about the entire CPD. or suggesting we need to constantly defend ourselves from CPD authority figures. Worse, making fun of those trying to point out the error by referring to their posts as "compliment sandwiches", or trying to categorize their posts as "ageist" or "ableist".

I was sorry to hear about the teacher who was hit by a car there. It'd be useful to know the outcome of that case, as it was not a hit-and-run: the driver stayed at the scene.

@D - We did share this information with a Supervisor and the policy "under no circumstances should an employee attempt to text or read text messages while actively operating a motor vehicle" has been reinforced. In terms of the hands-free mode, that is something that we will carefully consider for future policy making.

^

Thanks for fixing this request!