Marathon Route & Safety Summit

Yesterday I rode the Boston Marathon route for the first time, first from Boston out to the Hopkinton start, and then back the same way the runners do it.

While it wasn’t the most scenic ride, I did get to visit two former residences of mine in Natick. Although I’d never thought about it, I’ve lived within a block of the marathon route for the past 20 years. I also threw in an over-and-back of Summit Ave in Brookline, just to further work my legs.

I timed my return trip, which took 92 minutes, a little more than half an hour faster than the record pace set by Monday’s winner. In the end, it was a decent ride, and I definitely stressed the legs.

Then last night I attended a hastily-organized Boston Bike Safety Summit, which was held in response to three recent accidents involving cyclists.

In attendance were top-level brass from several city and state departments, who all echoed the same message: that cyclists are going to be heard and taken into account. While we’ve heard such messages before, I was encouraged to see the heads of the MBTA, MassDOT, and BPD all making some firm, on-the-spot commitments to improving conditions for cyclists.

After the obligatory feel-good political speeches, the majority of the evening was devoted to hearing the opinions and suggestions of the cyclists in the audience. Although there was some chaff, I was very impressed with the diversity and thoughtfulness of the suggestions.

For myself, I spent my one minute of allocated microphone time as follows:

To increase safety on Boston’s roads, you need to do two things: identify risky behaviors and then control them. Identifying them is easy: for drivers, it’s aggressive driving and distracted driving; for cyclists, it’s running stops, going the wrong way on one-way streets, and not being visible at night; for pedestrians it’s crossing against the light.

There are actually laws currently on the books to control all of these behaviors, but they historically have never been enforced. People will continue to die on the streets of Boston—particularly cyclists and pedestrians—until those regulations are taken at least as seriously as writing a ticket for someone parking on Comm Ave without a resident sticker. Thank you.

And after the session ended, I cornered MBTA GM Rich Davey and told him about a cool idea I saw in the May issue of Bicycling magazine. One reason why Minneapolis won their award for best cycling city in the nation is that they provide a standalone replica of the rack found on city buses, so that cyclists can practice putting their bikes onto them. To support my point, another cyclist standing beside me commented that it was very nerve-wracking the first time he had to put his bike on a bus rack, while the driver and other passengers all waited for him. So if you see or hear about these coming to the MBTA, remember: you heard it here first!

Here’s hoping, anyways.

UPDATED: I’m (mis)quoted in this article.