southpawboston

i agree. the motorists hate the cyclists, the cyclists hate the motorists, and the police hate both, more or less. cambridge has more bike lanes on more streets than boston or somerville, and somerville is rapidly adding bike lanes throughout the city, but don't let that create the illusion that the police in those cities are also bike-sensitive. neither the cambridge nor somerville (don't know about boston) police care much for cyclists and see them more as a nuisance than a legitimate vehicular entity worthy of the protection of law. most police in cambridge and somerville don't want to get involved in responding to accidents involving cyclists, and do the minimum they have to to avoid being sued (arrive on scene to do nothing, basically). they rarely fill out meaningful and helpful police reports and then fail to respond to emails and phone calls inquiring about missing police report details. they do very little because they want to avoid being called in as witnesses.

i witnessed a cop in cambridge (central square) open his car door into the bike lane without looking (technically a ticket-able violation in MA). he very nearly caused the cyclist in front of me to slam into it, and the only way the cop responded was by muttering some expletive about "damn cyclists get in the way". i very nearly got into a shouting match with the cop but decided to keep cool and continue on my way instead, as nothing had actually happened.