Originally Posted by moT311
I live a few blocks from the accident, and have been riding huntington for 3 years now, and I'm not sure that in the direction the kid was going that I have ever been on the right side of the lane (where I'm guessing many of you think he should have been). Traffic is almost always backed up in both lanes (close to the curb), and lane splitting is basically the only way to go because people waiting to cross hang off the sidewalk effectively block the right lane for cyclists. Believe it or not, splitting the lane to get through backed up traffic (and starting off splitting as you proceed through the intersection) is probably the safest bet at that spot because of the insanity of pedestrians at the intersection. Even if there is no car traffic you have to ride in the middle because people refuse to see bikers as oncoming traffic. Almost everyday when walking I see a biker (with a green light) have to narrowly cut through the herds of northeastern students. I'm not saying it is anyone's fault, but what I am saying is that splitting the lane in that case is very often where you have the most room. The weather sucked, the situation sucked, and dead kid is a tragedy.
Everyone asserting that splitting lanes here was the safest option had actually convinced me I was wrong. But they also had me under the impression that the cars were moving faster then a bike could and that doing anything remotely safe or taking another route was completely unavoidable. Sorry, but splitting lanes because traffic is backed up is never the safest option(though it may be safer then cruising the shoulder.) The safest option would be to sit in traffic with all the other vehicles because you value your life and safety more then the few minutes you can save by cutting through traffic or possibly passing very slowing on the shoulder. Yeah it sucks but unfortunately splitting lanes through even slow moving traffic is incredibly dangerous. If this truly was an intersection where the traffic is traveling at 30, there is no safe shoulder and absolutely no alternate route that avoids it short of walking the bike on the sidewalk(even if it is a mile longer) then I stand corrected.
I may not live in boston but I have spent combined weeks there as well as ny and every other major city in this country. No matter where I go I always see a certain segment of cyclist riding with little respect for anyone else on the road or for there own safety. Some accidents truly are unavoidable. Maybe this was one of them but the fact that he was splitting lanes and the behavior of 22yo male messenger bag wearing cyclists in general makes me doubt it.