BU Bikes

Tomorrow (Tuesday Jan. 27th), the DCR will be holding a public meeting on the BU
Bridge and Craigie Dam Bridge and Drawbridge projects. This is the next meeting in a series of meetings regarding bridge reconstructions. Join us at this meeting to help show support for bike-friendly bridges.

When: Tuesday January 27, 6-8 p.m.

Where: MIT, in the Kirsch Auditorium of the Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street in
Cambridge.

View Larger Map

See you there!

DCR ANNOUCES BU BRIDGE LANE CLOSURES

One lane closed in each direction

WHAT: The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)
will be performing repair and maintenance work on the BU Bridge. During
the work, one lane of traffic in each direction will be closed.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 27, 2009

9AM-3PM

WHERE: BU Bridge (Boston/ Cambridge)

These brilliantly crafted videos are part of the “do the test” campaign started last year by Transport for London.

Similarly,the New York City Department of Transportation began it’s LOOK campaign in 2007, urging motorists to look out for cyclists and pedestrians.

These campaigns may be old news to some of you, but they should serve as a good example of creativity as an effective mechanism in raising bike awareness;something we will definitely be keeping in mind as we continue to raise awareness here at BU.

Last week, the “Bicyclist safety bill” was passed here in Massachusetts, which includes many new laws to keep cyclists safer on the road. If you bike in Boston, these laws also pertain to you. Massbike sums up the new laws. :

Changes for Bicyclists

1. Safer Signaling : Bicyclists were already required to use hand signals when stopping or turning, but now it is clear that you are not required to signal when you need both hands on the handlebars, such as when operating the brakes, shifters, or steering.

2. Riding Two Abreast Permitted : Bicyclists are no longer restricted to riding single file at all times. You can now ride two abreast (two bicycles, side-by-side), except that you still have to help faster vehicles to pass. So stay in single file when cars need to get by! On multi-lane roads, you can ride two abreast, but all the cyclists in your group must stay in one lane (which will usually be the right-hand lane unless you are making a left turn).

Changes for Motorists

3. Don’t “Door” Bicyclists : Motorists (and their passengers) can now be ticketed and fined up to $100 for opening car or truck doors into the path of any other traffic, including bicycles and pedestrians. “Dooring” is a frequent cause of bicycle crashes and bicyclist injuries, and while motorists could already be sued in civil court or charged in criminal court under certain circumstances, they could not previously be ticketed and fined on the spot by a police officer.

4. Don’t Cut Off Bicyclists After Passing : Motorists used to be required only to stay a safe distance to the left of a bicyclist (or any other vehicle) when passing; now, motorists are also prohibited from returning to the right until safety clear of the bicyclist.

5. Don’t Squeeze Bicyclists in Narrow Lanes : If the lane is too narrow for a motorist to pass a bicycle (or any other vehicle) at a safe distance while staying in the lane, the motorist must use another lane to pass, or, if that is also unsafe, the motorist must wait until it is safe to pass.

6. Don’t “Right-Hook” Bicyclists : A “right-hook” is when a motorist makes an abrupt right turn too close to a bicyclist, causing the cyclist to crash or make an emergency maneuver to avoid crashing. Motorists are now prohibited from making abrupt right turns at intersections and driveways after passing a cyclist.

7. Yield to All Bicycles Before Turning Left : Motorists are already required to yield to oncoming vehicles (including bicycles) before turning left. The law now expressly includes yielding to bicyclists riding to the right of other traffic (e.g., on the shoulder), where they are legally permitted but may be more difficult for motorists to see.

8. Motorists Liable for Hitting Bicyclists Riding to the Right : Bicycles, unlike other vehicles, are permitted to ride to the right of other traffic (e.g., on the shoulder), and motorists are not permitted to use this fact as a legal defense for causing a crash with a bicyclist.

Changes for Bicycle Rental Businesses

9. Helmet Availability : Bicycle rental businesses are now required to make helmets available to renters. The renters can still choose not to wear a helmet (except for children 16 and under who must wear helmets in Massachusetts), as long as a helmet is available if they want one.

Police Training and Enforcement

10. Police Training : Police recruits are now required to receive training on the bicycle-related laws, bicyclist injuries, dangerous behavior by bicyclists, motorists actions that cause bicycle crashes, and motorists intentionally endangering bicyclists. The training is optional for in-service training of experienced officers. MassBike has developed a police training curriculum, which will be revised to reflect the new law, and we will work with the police to determine how to proceed with the training.

11. Enforcement : Under the old law, each city or town that wanted to write tickets to bicyclists for violating traffic laws had to create its own procedure, unlike the procedure for ticketing motorists, which is the same throughout the state. Very few communities implemented this cumbersome separate process. The new law eliminates the separate procedure for bicyclists, and intends that the existing procedure for motor vehicles be used for bicyclists as well. MassBike will work with the state to determine how to proceed with enforcement.

Other Changes

12. Bicycle Registration Repealed : The bicycle registration law permitted any city or town to require residents to register their bicycles, to require bicycle rental businesses to register their bicycle fleets, and to require bicycle shops to file reports identifying the purchaser of every bicycle. The registration law was not being used or enforced anywhere in the state.

13. Safety Standard for Helmets : The acceptable standard for bicycle helmets is changed to refer to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Hello Bikers!

And welcome to the new semester! We are excited about all the activity buzzing these days, and are surprised and pleased to see bikes still chained up around campus even as temperatures dip into single digits and snow piles drive bikers from the curbs. We’ve a lot going for Spring ‘09, projects big and small, so keep an eye out for us on campus and check out our meetings and a posting of minutes (in case you can’t make it to our get-togethers). Our first gathering of ‘09 will be Thursday (tomorrow) Jan 15, at 4 pm in the greenhouse.

2008 was a big year citywide, nationwide, and worldwide for bikers. Everyone’s been abuzz about biking – judging by the number of newspaper articles from the Globe and the Freep and the NYT, even National Geographic had a letter from the editor this month about the Bike Boxes in Portland, Oregon. On a more local level, Comm Ave got the City’s first bike lane (all 7/10ths of a mile of it!), Mayor Menino jumped on a bike and realized what how it feels to be constantly on the brink of being indiscriminately killed, Obama’s transition team has promised major funding toward “green” transportation and everything else, and people everywhere seem to be wising up to the fact that the car-as-we-know-it is going the way of the dinosaur so maybe we should all accept bikers and not feel so antagonistic toward those who choose biking as their mode of transportation and recreation. Hope for the future, indeed!

And BU Bikes is really rolling strong from the momentum gained in our last (and first!) semester. Here’s a quick recap of what we’ve done so far:

* We had three group rides, Halloween being the biggest and best with 16 costumed-clad riders and one guy who joined us randomly along the way – but I think we can do better for our Valentine’s Day Underwear Ride (um, we’re kidding, right?).

* We helped host a movie screening with the Environmental Student Organization and LiveableStreets Alliance about urban traffic patters and how we can and really should be doing better in modern cities.

* We’ve got logos and t-shirts and designs. Soon to be for sale once we work out funding with Student Activities and vendors and the like. All proceeds go to safety gear giveaways.

* We had (slash are still having) our first helmet raffle – inclement weather prevented us drawing a name at the end of last semester (remember that nasty blizzard?), but at our first meeting, winners will be announced and money will be doled out to buy gear.

* We’re still meeting with BU’s Bicycle Safety Committee: working on placing more bike racks (lots more), writing a University policy on how to handle abandoned and mis-parked bikes, re-thinking how to re-route traffic, promoting safe and responsible biking (helmets, everyone), improve signage on campus (anybody notice the little biker logo in the bike lanes? he’s wearing a helmet), and eventually extend bike lanes and get BU Bridge integrated with a campus bike path, plus so much more its too much

* BU Bridge construction is about to get going, but thanks to pressure and the diligence of various advocacy groups in the area, the Department of Conservation and Recreation has committed to bike lanes on the bridge (under construction from 2009-2012 most likely). We will be keeping an eye on the project, if only to watch out for construction cones and gaping potholes as we ride over it every day.

Yes, projects abound, big and small. And there’s plenty of opportunity for you to contribute, if you’d like to get in on the action – to help make clothing or stuffed bike pillows, or attend City meetings for the greater good of bikers everywhere, or stand at Marsh Plaza and give out candy to bikers who ride past, or make fliers to promote bikes, or help plan your own group ride on GoogleMaps, or help make a claymation movie about proper biking practices on Comm Ave, or really anything else you’d think fits with biking, campus, and awesome (our three fundamental tenets).

So welcome to the New Year, MMIX. Keep it rolling, and get involved.

Ride safe, roll smooth,

-bikes

This just in from the Department of Conservation and Recreation:

On Jan 8-9, Thursday night to Friday morning, 10 pm to 5 am, Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) crews will be making repairs to the BU Bridge sidewalks. During the work, both Cambridge-to-Boston lanes will be closed, and the only traffic allowed to cross in that direction will be Boston-bound MBTA or Boston University buses. All other traffic from Cambridge to Boston will be detoured to the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge.

So, if you plan to ride the BU Bridge, be aware.

that’s all – we’ll keep you updated on anything else that comes our way.