Safer pedaling is a two-way street
This week, Starts & Stops takes a detour from transit and cars for a bicycling edition to mark ''Bike to Work" week that starts May 15. First, a guest appearance by Ty Burr, a Globe film critic and avid two-wheeled commuter, who offers a simple primer on how pedaling can be made easier in Boston.It's spring, and a bike commuter's fancy turns to potholes crying out to be filled. And sand traps. And drivers who never signal.
Actually, that last one is eternal.
The past winter was a particularly nasty one, and many daily bikers spent it sidelined. Even my friend and Newton Corner legend Hardcore Jim -- who has been known to plow through 3 feet of snow along the river to Massachusetts General Hospital -- drove. By early April, though, we were back aboard our battered steeds. Contrary to what you may think, the traffic in downtown Boston is easy to negotiate -- it's the SUVs and cellphone yakkers in suburbia that pose the greater risk.
Some of my friends say that they, too, would ride to work if it weren't for the traffic, or the potholes, or the lack of workplace shower facilities, or sheer inertia. It's true that Boston is depressingly unfriendly to cyclists. I have bike-commuted from Brooklyn to midtown Manhattan, and our city is much worse. That will never change until enough people want it to, and that requires getting out there.
As for safety, there are steps bicyclists and drivers alike can take.
Three Things Bicyclists Can Do:
1. Wear a helmet and lots of blinking lights. It's a fact: Helmets make you look like a dork. They'd make George Clooney look like a dork. So the choice is yours: Would you prefer to be a dork with full possession of your faculties, or a studly ex-cyclist with brain damage? Wear the helmet, dude. As for the lights, they're not for you to see the guy in the semi better, but for him to see you better.
2. Don't ride to the right of a bus or a truck. Especially at an intersection. You're in their blind spot, and if they take a sudden right, it's all over. Hang back, pass when it's safe, let the big boys do what they want.
3. Leave the shades at home. Yes, you spent 300 bucks on the Oakleys. Save them for the weekend 50-miler out in the country. You'd be amazed how much information can be conveyed by eye contact: You come up to an intersection, glance quickly at the driver turning left across the way, and instantly he knows what you're going to do and you know what he's going to do. I can't explain how it works, but it's easier than hand-signals and handlebar bells (both excellent back-ups, by the way).
Three Things Drivers Can Do:
1. Look in the side mirror before opening your door. By far the most common accident involving bicycles and cars happens when a bike gets ''doored" by a parked driver stepping out of his or her car without looking. It's a hard thing to remember -- I'm always forgetting about it myself -- but a simple peek can save pain, lawsuits, and sometimes lives. With any luck, the Legislature will pass the Bicyclists' Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, which puts the legal onus for ''dooring" on drivers.
2. Stop talking on the @!*&# cellphone. I know, I know: You think you can drive perfectly while telling the baby-sitter to thaw out the lasagna. The bicyclists behind you know better: They see you drift to the middle of the road then jerk back, or crawl along at an inattentive 20 miles per hour, or pull a hard right without signaling. Speaking of which . . .
3. Signal. That metallic rod sticking out of your steering column? Pull it up: Hey, the right-hand signal goes on! And guess what -- pushing it down makes the left-hand signal go on! Judging by what I see on the roads, many Boston drivers don't know this. Let me make it simple: Bikers cannot tell what you are going to do unless you let them know. Use the signal. Always. Especially when pulling out of a parking space.
If I get the time between reviewing bad Orlando Bloom movies, I may try to address other issues in future columns. Why not start with the roads? Mass. Ave. is a pathetically unridable major artery, for instance. To mayors Thomas M. Menino of Boston and Michael A. Sullivan of Cambridge: I dare you to get on your bikes and take a leisurely spin from Dorchester all the way to Porter Square and tell me that Mass. Ave. is remotely bike-friendly. I double dog dare you.
Ty Burr can be reached at tburr@globe.com
Tykes on bikesAn important and far-reaching piece of legislation that would make it safer for children to walk or bike to school is before the Joint Committee on Transportation on Beacon Hill, and so far it is drawing positive comments from committee members. Another hearing is scheduled for May 17.
The Safe Routes to School bill comes before the Legislature almost every year. This time, however, the sponsors are trying to tap federal safety funds rather than state money, a move that would annually pay for both infrastructure improvements (better sidewalks, crosswalks, and traffic-calming measures to allow kids to safely walk or bike to school) as well as a critical education component to teach kids, parents, and drivers how to safely share the road.
One quick note: In the 1960s, an estimated 60 percent of kids walked or biked to school. Today, 10 percent do.
The new TThe new fare cards are coming to the Blue Line, and MBTA officials are trying to get the word out.
They plan a public information meeting at 6 p.m. tomorrow at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf, 296 State St. The automated fare system, which will replace the ubiquitous T tokens, is scheduled to go online at Airport Station on May 17 and Aquarium Station soon after.
Can't get there . . .The Essex Street onramp to Interstate 93 south will be closed Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., and Friday from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Saturday.
The Haymarket onramp to I-93 North and the Callahan Tunnel will be closed Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m to 5 a.m., and also from 11 p.m. Friday until 7 a.m. Saturday.
The Sumner Tunnel onramp to I-93 north will be closed Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Atlantic Avenue onramp to I-93 north will be closed Tuesday through Saturday from 1 a.m. through 5 a.m. (6:30 a.m. on Saturday).
The Sumner Tunnel onramp to I-93 north will be closed Monday through Wednesday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., and Thursday from 11 p.m. to Friday at 5 a.m., and again Friday from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. Saturday
The Congress Street onramp to I-93 south and the Mass. Pike west will be closed from Monday through Friday from 10 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. the following morning.
The underpass from Storrow Drive eastbound to I-93 north and the Tobin Bridge will be closed from Monday through Thursday from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and Saturday from 1 a.m. until 6 a.m.
The Storrow Drive onramp to I-93 south will be closed Monday through Friday from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The Frontage Road northbound onramp to the Mass. Pike west at the Broadway Bridge intersection will be closed from Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. through 7 a.m.
The onramp from Congress Street to I-93 in South Boston and the Mass. Pike west Exit 24 to I-93 will be closed from Monday through Thursday from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m., as well as Saturday and Sunday from 12:01 a.m. to 7 a.m.
I-93 north at Exit 20 will be closed to all traffic on Thursday from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday, and also Saturday from 1 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. In addition, the ramps at Exit 20 to the Mass. Pike east and west, and the onramps to I-93 north at Massachusetts Avenue and at Broadway will be closed.
I-93 north will be closed to all traffic at Exit 23, Government Center, Monday through Wednesday from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Thursday.
The Haymarket onramp to I-93 south and the Callahan Tunnel will be closed nights starting Monday through Friday from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. (7 a.m. on Saturday).
I-93 south in the vicinity of the Charles River will be closed and detoured Monday through Thursday from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m., and Saturday from 1 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. The onramps to I-93 South from Storrow Drive, Tobin Bridge, and City Square will be closed at the same time.
The Mass. Pike west in South Boston will be closed Tuesday through Friday from 12:01 a.m. until 5 a.m., as well as Saturday and Sunday from 12:01 a.m. to 7 a.m. The onramp to I-90 west from D Street will be closed at the same times.
The ramps at Exit 20 from I-93 north to the Mass. Pike east and west will be closed Monday through Thursday from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
The Mass. Pike between Exit 22 and South Boston will be closed Monday through Thursday from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Direct access to the Ted Williams Tunnel from Frontage Road and South Boston will remain open.
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