[*BCM*] My thoughts

[Ian Thistle]

So I have been stewing over the last day and here are some points I'd like
to bring up for discussion.

First, I offer my sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the
young man who died.  I didn't know him personally but it seems like I easily
could have.  I'm not sure if his name has been officially released, so I'm
not going to say it, but he was a friend of friends of mine.  It's a
terrible tragedy that I'm sure will stick with us for a long time.

What I'm upset about is this:  Anyone who rides frequently in Boston could
have told you that the area where he was hit is very dangerous.  One of the
first responses on this list called it a "highway," and I agree.  People
drive very fast and the road is needlessly narrow.  You always have to watch
out for Northeastern / MassArt / SMFA students crossing the street without
warning and yet it's the quickest route from downtown to Mission Hill,
Brookline Village, and so on.

Sometimes it unfortunately takes a tragedy for things to change.  I'd have
hope that the area would be improved, except the area of Cambridge St where
Kirsten Malone was killed three years ago (if I remember correctly) is still
just as dangerous as it was the day she died.  Similarly, anyone could have
told you that area was really dangerous before she was killed.

Now, MassBike does some good things, but for a cycling advocacy group, they
haven't done much to make things better for cyclists in the city (at least
that I can tell in the four and a half years I've lived here).  One of their
major recent victories was securing $40 million of funds for bike paths (link
here) <http://www.massbike.org/projects/federal_bikepath_funding.htm>.  Most
of these are in the rest of the state, and the ones that are in the Boston
area aren't ones I will ever ride, nor do most of my biking friends.  I
don't want to stereotype, but they seem to mainly be for "weekend warriors"
rather than commuters.  No matter who rides them, bike paths are in my
opinion counter to the safety of cyclists, since they get overwhelmed by
joggers and rollerbladers and they reinforce the idea to drivers that
cyclists belong off the road.

I don't want to pin it all on MassBike, as I fully support a lot of the
things they are doing.  I guess what I'm mostly looking for is some way to
get my voice heard, as a cyclist on the streets of Boston who sees the city
as needlessly forboding to cyclists.

Lastly, I wanted to voice to everyone that while being scared to ride is a
natural and understandable reaction to this death, that they shouldn't stop
riding.  Fewer bikes on the streets makes it harder for everyone still
riding, not to mention increasing pollution and lowering personal health.

Be safe,
Ian
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