100 agree. The city’s decision to not close any streets during the pandemic has created a situation where the cars drive very fast, and very aggressively. Then all of the bikes and pedestrian are bunched up at the intersection corners or sidewalks. What do the public health experts think of that? All of the great minds in our city and government and we are doing nothing while other cities are boldly making their cities more livable for the actual residents and small businesses. Not a good look for Cambridge.

Individual responsibilities prior to the pamdemic were lacking. As with other areas of social irresponsibilites on the part of elected officials and some members of the public, COVID 19 has brought what has been previously neglected to the attention of us all. In my opinion our city officials are doing their very best given the circumstances. Let us call for better adult responsibility by pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicle drivers. Face masks, food deliveries, homeless accomodations, small busuness loans, economic assistance. just some of the areas our city officials have lead the way in best practices. Certainly there are more areas that need attention...may I suggest when possible taking a day to get license plate numbers and use your smart phone to record aggressive drivers. This could be a neighborhood community endeaver at the interesections where bikes and pedestrians are bunched up.

It’s not a matter of being busy with other important things. The city council passed an order, and hundreds of residents have asked for street closures and making more room for people on bikes and needing to social distance. City administration is ignoring this directive. Yes the city is responding in other ways as it should, as are all cities around the world. Cambridge is joining other cities’ responses of buying food from businesses for the food insecure, housing their homeless, etc. But where several cities are *also* closing streets and making them friendly to people outside of cars, our city manager and administrators have deliberately chosen to not close streets to provide safe passage for pedestrians and bicyclists.

With respect, what would we do with license plate numbers? And to what effect? There are twitter feeds full of recordings of aggressive drivers. You can’t submit them to police after the fact.

FYI the speeding is being noticed elsewhere - it’s a feature of the empty streets designed for racing, and not just one person’s opinion. It goes beyond “personal responsibility”: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/03/metro/transportation-officials-address-data-showing-highway-death-rate-doubled-april

Thank you for reporting your concern to City of Cambridge via Commonwealth Connect. We will use this information as part of an ongoing review of data to better understand where and when to deploy our officers for this type of enforcement. This particular complaint and the data are reviewed on an ongoing basis by our Operations Unit and the Commanding Officer of our Traffic Unit. We then conduct spot enforcement at the locations identified to mitigate problematic behavior. If the behavior is prolonged, we will continue with our spot enforcement efforts. Please do not attempt to mitigate this behavior by utilizing blockades or taking other measures.

I want to add that this situation is terrible for the elderly, for people with arthritis, or with compromised balance. Thanks to groups of younger people walking (unsafely and obliviously) in groups, and especially joggers (usually maskless, with their 27' wakes of aerosolized breath!) coming up behind me, I often have to leap out of the way into the street, and the traffic is moving so much faster than usual that I'm sometimes trapped and can only stand there not-breathing.

Like many people you might not see as infirm, I'm immunocompromised, so this hampers my ability to get exercise, or go pick up curbside grocery orders. There are good suggestions above: the general idea is that, especially in an old town like Cambridge, sidewalk widening by making clear space in the street for walkers to avoid joggers (and jaw-droppingly thoughtless young people) is key. Cars don't come first.

Time for another one of these, then. Sad,on a street that *already* has a separated bike lane to have to carve out *another* lane because the city thinks "spot enforcement" works.

https://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/news/20180501/rally-pushes-city-to-build-safer-porter-square-for-cyclists-pedestrians

Was this comment meant for a different thread? We're talking about all the streets (and not only in Cambridge, though many cities have widened sidewalks temporarily to permit safe-distancing). The streets of Cambridge are not, for the moment, safe. I see very few bikes despite the good weather, as few people are commuting to work and most of us are getting exercise by walking, more efficient and local.

As noted, we will address the motor vehicle speeding concerns. If the additional concerns are pertinent to infrastructure and sidewalks, we will be assigning this to the Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department for further consideration.

Police - JW (Communications) assigned this issue to Traffic - NC (Communications)

People are angry, and with good reason. This isn’t just bike activists. This isn’t the tired trope of cars vs bikes. This goes beyond police spot enforcement. How’s that spot enforcement going on River Street for people who’ve been complaining about hazardous crossings for years? All of the list serves of residents in the city are simmering. This is bad.

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with us. We have passed this information along to the appropriate staff person for consideration. If you would like to follow-up, you may email tpt@cambridgema.gov; please include the number for this case.

Please note, this system is best used for things like potholes, broken streetlights, damaged street signs, or other service requests related to routine maintenance. For things related to policies, programs, traffic regulations, or other items that require further examination or planning, contact the Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department at tpt@cambridgema.gov