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Bicyclist almost smushed by tour bus on Newbury Street

Boston Police report a woman bicycling west on Newbury just before Clarendon this afternoon was pushed into a parked car by a tour bus. Police say the bicyclist said that around 3:50 p.m.:

[S]he was riding her bicycle in the far right travel lane adjacent to vehicles parked along the right side of Newbury Street when a tour bus, traveling outbound in the same direction, changed lanes and, in doing so, came into contact with her and her bicycle. As a result of the contact, the handle bar on the bicycle broke the window of a parked car. The bicyclist, suffering from minor injuries, was transported to the Boston Medical Center for evaluation purposes.

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Comments

I wish they wouldn't refer to this as a 'minor motor vehicle accident.' Sure, damage and danger to the tour bus was minor, but this was an incident that required a bicyclist to visit the hospital for evaluation and could have resulted in serious injury or death.

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Quite so. There is a reason this sort of accident is colloquially referred to as being "Cheese Gratered".

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Funny how the story doesn't list any charges against the driver. On a tour bus, don't you think there'd be plenty of witnesses?

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Depends on the type of tour bus - if we're talking about a charter tour bus then passenger seating is generally so high up that your point of view would be well above bicyclist height. And I'm guessing the blind spots on those things are huge. Worse, the drivers are often from out of town and they get lost (a friend of mine came to Boston with a tour group from the high school where she teaches and they ended up having to back up Storrow when they realized they weren't going to be able to fit under the bridges; another time I watched for 20 minutes as a tour bus tried to make a three-hundred point turn outside Pizzeria Regina so that they could escape the North End). And it is tour bus season, big time - I think the entire teenage populations of Albany and Montreal have been through Boston within the last two weeks.

Obviously just being lost or having a big blind spot or not being accustomed to driving on narrow streets is not an excuse - there's a point at which incompetence becomes negligence - but I don't see anything in the police blurb to contradict the idea that it was a true accident. I'm *not* saying it's the cyclist's fault either but we should all be super careful when we're cycling alongside a big vehicle like a garbage truck or a tour bus (i.e. assume the driver can't see you), and on a street like Newbury where the traffic moves at about 3 miles an hour there's no reason not to take up the whole lane (though it's not clear whether that would have helped in this case).

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I always ride to the far right, like that rider, but incidents like that make it clear to me that sometimes it's best to take the whole lane, even though it's scary and people honk at you, it's your right as a cyclist.

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Let them honk. You shouldn't feel as though you have to trade your safety for their convenience.

You're right that it's scary though. Whenever I take the lane and some driver is honking at me, I worry that the driver is going to lose it and try to 'tap' my back wheel.

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Myth: I should ride my bike as far over to the right as possible

I don’t like being in the travel lane with the cars.

Isn’t it the law that I have to stay on the far right?

Reality: It is often dangerous to ride to the far right, and you are not legally required to do so

1.When riding past a row of parked cars, you are far safer being 3-4 feet away from the parked cars. Drivers will often open car doors without looking behind them. If you are unlucky enough to be near the car when this happens, you will be doored, and it is not fun. The same goes for narrow bike lanes near parked cars. If you need to be outside of the bike lane to be outside of the door zone, that is OK. Bike lanes are to keep cars out, not to keep bikes in.

2.The far right side of the street is often filled with debris, glass, and other bad things for bike tires. You do not have to ride in that stuff.

3.Bicycles are legal vehicles, they have the full right to use the road, the entire lane if need be. If there is a dangerous object (car, pot hole, glass, etc) in your way you may and are encouraged to use the entire lane.

4.Sometimes pedestrians forget to look both ways. If you are safely positioned away from the curb you will have more reaction time, and will not give a drive by hug, which would be painful for all parties.

5.Sometimes bicyclists will ride in the center of the lane to keep cars from passing them, this might be because they are about to make a turn, or the road may be narrowing, or some other hazard might be ahead. You are allowed to do this, and should do this for greater safety. Don’t worry about getting honked at, that is simply the drivers friendly way of saying I see you, and approve of your legal right to use the entire lane!

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and this is a total non sequitur, but have any of you guys tried cycling on Martha's vineyard? Sweet Lord those are some angry drivers.

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Yes, but I won't even think about going to the Island during tourist season. Luckily there are some pretty good bike paths on MV. But downtown Oak Bluffs and Edgartown can be scary, and heaven help you if you want to ride out to Menemsha during a busy time of year.

As for mean drivers, just take into account that MV is frequented by Bostonians AND New Yorkers. nuff said?

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They were spitting mad that I didn't want to bring my road bike on the narrow, sand filled, potholed bikepaths filled with pedestrians and kids on small bikes. I was surprised at the venom, but you just have to laugh it off.

And I agree with you - I wouldn't try it during the busy season either. West Tisbury to Chilmark and Gay Head seems like the best bet in terms of traffic.

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Oh, MV locals. Yeah. I don't get them either.

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Especially the ones in Oaks Bluffs who think they can just prohibit bikes from any street they want, even though they don't have the right to do that under state law. They could petition for that right, but they haven't - they just think they can just ignore state law. I just look at them, ask for their home rule petition, and then bike on.

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Shudder. This is the stuff of my nightmares.

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I was just commenting to a cab driver a few days ago that every single time I wind up riding near a tour bus they do something illegal and dangerous. I think they're so busy narrating the tour (and often looking away for several seconds at a time) that they're not paying attention like they should be. In my experience they're much worse than even cab drivers.

And yes, definitely NOT a "minor accident".

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Agree. I can't tell you how many times I've had close calls with them -- in all capacities, driver, pedestrian, biker. Those things are awful.

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ever heard of an accident? ever traveleld on newbury street on a sunny weekend afternoon? ever tried to do it without having to switch lanes every 50 feet? why is it, with you, everything is always the driver of bus/car/train that is at fault? maybe some other idiot cut the bus off and he had to move over further than he wanted to to avoid and even bigger ACCIDENT. maybe these tour companies shouldnt have tour buses cruising down the most congested streeet in the city?

everytime i see the word "bike" i know you are going to start spouting. its getting pretty tired.

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Tour bus drivers are rarely trained properly for the streets and ignore some of the most basic rules. This includes the various varieties of duck boat drivers who just don't get that whole "painted lines on the street" thing, particularly the ones at a right angle to them. I've seen these assholes swerve over into the bike lane on the Longfellow to get a better view.

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And more idiots making excuses for them because drivers are special and exempt from basic safety laws because ... because shut up! is getting pretty fucking tiring too.

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Or maybe you can go help out Rand Paul or Massey. Seems they all share your definition of "dangerous negligence" = "it was an accident"

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It works both ways. I almost hit a bicyclist yesterday by JFK/UMass station because he biked between my car and the one in front of me right after the green light had changed and I was starting to accelerate forward. He wasn't wearing a helmet either. Mr. Daredevil would have added a new paint color and a huge dent to my hood had he done that a second or two later and/or I didn't slam on the brakes. It wasn't the first time I've experienced the over-zealousness (and sheer idiocy, especially for not wearing a helmet) of bicyclists around town. I have no problem sharing the road and respecting bicyclists' rights and I try to do that as best as possible while driving. Hard to justify when the large majority of the time (both as a driver and a pedestrian) I see bicyclists barrel through red lights. I've had many close calls when bicyclists go through red lights or decline to yield while I've been walking in cross-walks where I have the right-of-way. Co-existence means that both drivers AND bicyclists should have to play by the rules.

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all i am saying is that in a congested city with lots of cars,trucks, buses, and bikes, shit is going to happen. it seems like everytime someone gets hit on a bike the fucking bike brigade comes out and tells all their war stories. wtf do all these war stories have to do with a particular incident? why do i care that you have a special helmet you show your kids everytime you pedal out of the garage? i agree that there are a lot of people that dont care about the bike lanes, i get it. i also know there are a lot of people out there driving buses and trucks through a city that is not built to handle so much congestion and it's a tough job. these things all lead to accidents. dont be so quick to politicize every issue and blame someone for everything bad that happens.

now, if you feel the need to attack my spelling, grammar, education or inner feelings go right ahead.

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All I know is that I ride my bike every day following the law to a T, and, thanks to reckless drivers, I still frequently end up feeling like I'm going to be hurt or killed. If car drivers in this town had as many near-death experiences as the average lawful Boston cyclist, it would be the biggest news story of the year. We'd be rebuilding half the city just to make driving safer.

Yes, you can blame it on 'congestion' and not on the choices that individual drivers make. But here I am, on my bike, actively taking steps to reduce congestion, and I'll I get in return is a bunch of maniacs in their cars trying to murder me.

Other cities have managed to figure out how to make cycling reasonably safe. Why can't we?

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Perhaps you should weigh the risks and benefits of cycling in the city and opt to walk or take public transportation instead of riding a bike. It's a bit extreme to feel like you're going to be killed every day because you ride a bike, but still do it anyway instead of taking the T or walking...

You don't have to be a martyr to feel like you're doing your part in reducing congestion. I never feel like I'm going to be killed walking or taking the T.

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Well, reducing congestion isn't the only reason I ride. I also enjoy it immensely compared to walking or taking the T, and since January when I started biking to work every day, I've lost fifteen pounds. On balance, I think that cycling is prolonging my tenure on this Earth while at the same time making it more fun.

I know many people who drive to work who tell me that they would love to commute via bicycle, at least when the weather is nice, but that they are too afraid of getting hit by a car. Now that's just messed up: It's one thing to drive a car because you need to traverse a long distance; it's another thing altogether to feel as though you need to encase yourself in steel simply to protect yourself from all the others who are doing the same. There's something very wrong with this picture.

A study by Rodale press a few years back found that some 40 percent of Americans would bike to work, if they thought safe facilities were available. That's about the percentage you see in Amsterdam, a city where it's reasonably safe to ride a bike.

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"You don't have to be a martyr to feel like you're doing your part in reducing congestion. I never feel like I'm going to be killed walking or taking the T."

You don't read the T section of this board enough then. :P
Collisions, fire, urine, and general mayhem are all part of the fun and adventure.

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True, true... I stopped riding the T a while ago after getting stuck one too many times and it can get downright NASTY in the summer months! I'd be a hypocrite if I said otherwise. Myself, I walk everywhere if at all possible or take a cab if I'm desperately late or the weather is horrible. Eoin makes some valid points. Hopefully American culture will start swinging toward urban cycling as a safer and more common mode of transport -- I just can't see it happening any time soon.

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I have a problem with other people's germs - well, not philosophically, but physiologically. Ride the T = get sick more often. And, no, it isn't the general run-down skeezyness of the Orange line that is the problem but the crowded conditions and poor ventilation on the Orange and Red lines that make airborne germ sharing almost certain - as well as the probability that at least one of those three thousand closest friends smashed into your car is packing something contagious.

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Three winters ago, I spent the better part of four months under the weather - I'd get a cold, get better for a few days, then get sick again. All this while alternating between my hermetically sealed spaceship on Rte. 9 and working at the dining-room table; in other words, living the pseudo-hermit's life. This past year, taking the Orange Line into down on average of twice a week, never been better. Maybe I've finally built up immunity to everything. Or maybe the kidlet has and she's just not bringing home the sorts of germs she used to (not that *she* got sick in that winter of my discontent).

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... we had the worst epidemic flu since the 1980s. One strain mutated and was only partly covered by the vaccine, and another that wasn't even in the vaccine popped up and wreaked havoc. We had a study going in a rural Montana hamlet and even that got hit hard.

Not everybody is susceptible to respiratory viruses, either. I happen to be particularly hospitable for them and catch just about every respiratory infection in my vicinity. However, I'm the last one standing when Norovirus or plain old food poisoning wipes out my coworkers.

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