Chris L

If pedestrians in your part of the world are as stupid as pedestrians in this part of the world, forget about yelling, using a bell, or a horn or anything else. Just accept that they will do stupid things at the stupidest possible time, and be prepared to deal with it. I like to place myself a decent distance from the gutter, just so that i have time to see their walk from a distance, and anticipate that they will step out onto the road without looking.

Here yelling at them or buzzing them will be a bad move. They've already started to cross, I can see what they're doing. The last thing I want them to do is suddenly stop in the middle of the road -- and I know that's exactly what will happen if I say or do anything other than the evasive action I've given myself the space to take.

junioroverlord

I yell at people all the time on my bike, be they in cars or outside of cars.

meat_toothpaste

True pedestrians have right of way, but they need to be safe about practicing it. It's unwise as a pedestrian to step off the curb/sidewalk and thinking everything will just stop for them. They should look for their own sake, and mine too.

When I was at Cal State Long Beach, it seemed like they had the most inept pedestrians. They would just step off and think all the cars would just stop.

I second the bell suggestion. When I am cruising by and I see pedestrians ahead I give my bell a good 3 second ring to project my oncoming presence.

I hear bike messengers making the fake siren sound all the time since some of them don't have bells on their rides. That seems to work too.

HiYoSilver

Or just yelling No Brakes

Leo C. Driscoll

Hey Trevor, perhaps you should do a little research before you pontificate about my "illegal sidewalk riding". The following quote is from MassBike archives and was written by John S. Allen (jsallen@bikeexprt.com) who supports my (safely) riding on sidewalks in the Fenway and on the BU campus.

".... the state law (Chapter 85, section 11B, the bicycle sections) says that municipalities may
ban bicycles from sidewalks only in business districts. As to how a business district is defined, that's
unclear, but Cambridge defined them as the areas zoned for business use when it researched the prohibition of bicycles in Central Square. The Boston ordinance is, then, invalid except in areas which
may be defined as business districts." https://list.massbike.org/archive/200105/0057.html

Also Trevor, your gratuitous advice on "safely riding in traffic" I don't need. Riding safely in Boston traffic is an oxymoron. Boston has eight times as many doorings as the national average. Also the combination of bike-hostile and manic drivers, nearly non-existent traffic law enforcement, and notoriously poor road infrastructure maims and kills cyclists with high frequency. Riding safely in Cambridge is also an oxymoron for different reasons. A dooring by Cambridge's stupid bike-lane design killed an acquaintance. https://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/...s/02379848.htm

bostontrevor

You might want to do your research.

Quoting MGL Ch. 85 Sec. 11B: "bicycles may be ridden on sidewalks outside business districts when necessary in the interest of safety, unless otherwise directed by local ordinance."

Quoting the City of Boston: "You may not ride on sidewalks in the City of Boston (BTD Art. 6 Sec. 18)."

It seems pretty cut-and-dried.

I don't know how much opportunity you've had to speak with John, but I doubt he would "support" your riding on the sidewalk. He may believe it to be legal (though I respectfully disagree with his interpretation of a law with has very little semantic wiggle room), but he's adamantly a vehicular cyclist. It also doesn't sound at all like you're a safe sidewalk cyclist, terrorizing pedestrians who won't clear the way for you. Speaking as an oftentime pedestrian as well as dedicated vehicular cyclist and cyclocommuter, please don't ride on the sidewalk . There ain't room.

Meanwhile, doorings don't happen if you don't ride in the door zone. That's the place to be and you'd know that if you read John Allen's pamphlet. On the other hand, riding on the sidewalk/sidepaths puts you at 5 to *20* (yes, kids, that's right, 20!!) times the risk of hospitalization compared with riding in the street. The least safe "roadway" position is on the sidewalk against traffic...The second most dangerous? On the sidewalk with traffic. That's right, the two sidewalk positions you can take are also the two most dangerous positions you can choose vis-a-vis traffic.

I am truly sorry to hear that you knew Dana. I know we were all saddened by her death and for many of us it only demonstrated what a farce Cambridge's bike lanes are.

allgoo19

No it didn't help. It doesn't make any sense to me. Difference of hardness a runner can feel between concrete and asphalt is much less than the difference a runner can feel between different pair of shoes. If I was to blind folded, I can't even tell the difference between the two surfaces but I can with two pair of shoes. I run all the time, I know there's more obstacles like people and baby strollers runners have to avoid and more bumps when you run on sidewalks. Yes, I'm often tempted to run on the street because it's more convenient but I don't. You don't do things only because it's convenient for you. It's no different than a pedistrian j-walks only because it's convenient. You can minimize the knee injury by getting better shoes and, or lose your weight. That's much more effective.

bostontrevor

I went to the source and asked the horse:

Camel

IMO riding in the door zone does not equal riding safely in traffic. I ride safely in traffic, out of the door zone. When I ride in a striped bike lane, I do so outside of the door zone. I also adhear to traffic law. Striped bike lanes give cyclists a false sense of security (by there stupid design in MA). IMO bicycles should not be riden on a sidewalk (legal or not).

I commute from Waltham to Brookline (just up the street from Fenway Pahhk)at night, then home again in the morning (4 to 7 days/nights a week). I don't recall the last problem a driver has had with my cycling.

Leo C. Driscoll

Hi Trevor of-the-five-mile-commute and- never putting-your-foot-down ;- Thanks for our little debate. I think that's what forums should be about, not just one-liners.

It made me reflect that I have probably been pushing the envelope and just pushing my luck. I used to be a fierce VC (vehicular cyclist) in Boston traffic. This changed when my son was riding in the Fenway and was hit by an (uninsured) driver who ran a red light. His pelvis was shattered, his heel was crushed, and he now has a bionic hip.

I view riding in Boston traffic as an extreme sport (without the calculated risks I take when I bike in Durango and Crested Butte). This view is shared by Tyler Hamilton from Marblehead who you will recall in the summer of 2003 biked the entire Tour de France with a broken collar bone. When asked after the race whether hurtling down the Pyrenees was the most dangerous riding he had ever experienced, he replied, no, riding on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston is much more dangerous.

So taking into account the demographic shift from pedestrians who could hear a bell or a shout or 100 db air horn to the new iPOD/cell phone generation, I'm going to "seek alternate routes". So if you see a guy commuting on a big bike with DH body armour, give a wave!

bostontrevor

Ha! Now that's doing your homework!

That's very sad to hear. I guess the lesson I take away from that is not that the roadway is the wrong place to be but that just as with driving a car, one should be of a certain age and ability before taking to the streets. Of course, I don't know how old your son was, so that may all be moot.

The question you should ask yourself is how crossing that street on the sidewalk (where motorists don't expect fast moving traffic to be and which has terrible visibility when not on the far side of the intersection) would have allowed him to avoid the accident.

I certainly remember Tyler who you may also recall was recently fired from Team Phonak in an effort to be allowed into the majors after he and other Phonak riders came up positive for blood doping, but that's a sad discussion for another time.

I don't know. Different strokes for different folks, but there's nothing that I find particularly challenging about Mass Ave in Boston. In fact, it's one of my favorite streets to ride on because traffic is so heavy that the speeds are very manageable. One of my preferred routes involves a mile or two of it, in fact.

My "short 5mi commute" actually takes me straight through the heart of downtown Boston every day. I honestly don't feel like it's so bad, but my riding style may be very different from yours, so you may have a very different experience with traffic.

PS: I did once see a messenger who was rolling around with DH gear on. I had to laugh.