Welcome to Newton, where city officials, the police, and even residents don't treat bicyclists as equal to motorists. Here are some examples of what equal treatment WOULD look like:
City Officials:
- All road projects (new, refurbished, & planned) would include improvements and infrastructure designed to make biking safer
- Crash data would be easily accessible and regularly used in planning road projects
- The Vision Zero guideline to reduce speed limits to 20mph across the city would be executed. Driver speeds are the #1 contributor to severe and fatal injury experienced by bicyclists.
*Newton has already signed on to Vision Zero but has not executed any initiatives
- In an equal environment, bikers needs would be upheld in the face of opposition. So many bike infrastructure initiatives have been thwarted by members of the community who do not bike, resulting in the voices of those who do being silenced.
- Understand the lack of a "critical mass" of bikes on our roads is not a reflection of the community not wanting to bike, but rather a reflection of how unsafe our community feels riding on our roads. Build it and they will use it.
- Reach out to those who work in Newton and do not live here. They are using our roads and deserve a safe route to work. Include them in planning discussions. Ask, who's not at the table?
Newton Police:
- Issue citations to any motorist who makes an illegal maneuver that results in a crash with a bicyclist. This includes Sudden Right Turns and not Yielding to Bicyclists when Making Left Turns. Issuing citations are common in car-on-car crashes but almost unheard of in car-on-bike crashes.
*For more laws of the road check out Massachusetts Bicycle Laws.
- Ensure all accident reports are accurately documented. Inaccurate reports result in injured bicyclists not receiving insurance coverage and therefore not receiving the care they need and are owed to fully recover.
- To meet this end, blank police reports would include a section for bicycle-specific crashes where officers could document which car maneuver was made that led to the crash. For example a box to check off for a Sudden Right Turn. This would provide equal representation of the events leading to the accident, rather than the car-specific reports designed now.
- Receive training about their implicit biases against bicyclists. These biases play out in real world situations that leave bikers more vulnerable to dangerous road behavior.
Residents:
- Drive carefully and thoughtfully around bicyclists. Some people certainly do but unfortunately many pass within 3ft (illegal), pass over the yellow line when a bicyclist is using the full lane (illegal), speed up when passing, and yell harassing words when passing. All of these behaviors lead to unsafe, and inequitable roads.
- Support bike infrastructure initiatives when brought to a public hearing. Rather than insisting on no infrastructure, work with bikers to find reasonable compromises together.
- Actively push your district's council member to adopt bike-friendly initiatives. City officials will always maintain the status quo until there is enough of a push from the public to force them to do otherwise. Safer roads for bikers are safer roads for everyone.
- Bike more! Getting on the road teaches you what it's really like to bike on our streets. You may be surprised by how many road obstacles bikers experience, from debris in the shoulder, to uneven pavement, to what it feels like to have a car speed by (scary!).
What'd we miss? Leave a comment!
When cyclists complain that an intersection is badly designed and a menace to cyclists, the City's response is "we had to balance the needs of so many constituencies" - the issue with that logic is that a bicyclist will suffer serious injury or die if hit by a car, but a motorist will be just be annoyed or slowed down by a second or two. Motorist convenience should NOT take precedence over bicyclists' safety when roads are designed. Ever.