Bicycle safety has become a central issue at Boston University, because about 20 bicycle-motor vehicle accidents took place on campus this year, in contrast with the 12 accidents that happened by November last year, BU Police Department officials said.
‘We’ve almost doubled the amount of accidents year-to-date that we had from last year,’ BUPD Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire said. ‘That increase is because of the increase in the usage of bikes.’
In mid-October, BU officials formed the Bicycle Safety Committee ‘to focus on the issues that will result in a better environment for BU’s bicycling community,’ Auxiliary Services Associate Vice President Craig Hill said in an email.
‘We have focused on safety and enforcement issues as well as identifying new locations for bike racks,’ he said.
Composed of 19 members, including administrators, faculty and students, the committee plans to develop bike safety education classes, build a bike safety website and make an online map of bike rack locations, Hill said.
Members are also working with Boston on getting temporary and permanent signs approved, such as ‘Share the Road,’ ‘Watch for Bicycles’ and ‘Bike Lane Ends.’
Concerning BU Bridge safety, BU would like to extend the bike lanes outbound, Office of Government and Community Affairs Vice President Edward King said.
‘We do have plans, but the city has to push forward with that,’ he said.’ ‘We’d like to see them extend the bike lanes; it’d be safer for everyone.’
In late September, BU graduate student Galen Mook, a former Daily Free Press columnist, created BU Bikes, a bicycle advocacy group from which students can learn safe urban biking practices.
Mook said he would like BU Bikes to advocate to improve the actual structure of the bike lanes, which he said are too narrow.
‘They had already designed the street to have a heavy flow, and then said ‘Oh wait, we’ll have a bike lane, too,” he said. ‘Since it wasn’t done in the forethought, we now have to play catch-up and try to put signs up and educate drivers, pedestrians and bikers.’
BU Bikes president and Bicycle Safety Committee member Jack Gutbrod said she wanted to create a liaison between the administration and the biking community.
‘If there’s ever concerns, then there’s an outlet to put them through,’ Gutbrod, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said.
Gutbrod, who is an advocate for bike parking, said the shortage of bike racks is a problem, but the administration is addressing it. Her main concern is the BU Bridge.
‘As of right now during construction, I don’t think it’s been properly addressed,’ she said. ‘It’s not a particularly safe environment for bikers to cross with all of the cars. Bikers are cutting it really close in that area.’
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
Dearest Robert,<p/>I think that before you state something you are not 100% sure on you might want to actually check the laws of both the commonwealth and the local City of Boston laws.<p/>Here are the links to help you out.<p/>http
Timmy Farnsbury
//massbike.org/bikelaw/<p/>http
#comment 4
//www.cityofboston.gov/transportation/pdfs/rules.pdf<br/><p/>Good luck champ!
Dear Robert Cantebury,<br/>I suggest you read the following laws regarding Bicycle operation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.<p/>http
Your name
//www.massbike.org/bikelaw/lawlegis.htm<br/><p/>http