bicycling

Jonathan, who reported his bike was among those hit by a gray Civic at Harvard and Comm. Ave. during a Critical Mass ride on Friday, reports today he got the name of the driver:

Wouldn't you know it, I'm "friends" with this person on Facebook. It's a very distant connection, and I haven't had any contact with this person in at least 15 years other than accepting their friend request. They "friend-ed" me if that makes any difference.

Yes, a lawsuit is in the works.

Via Eoin O'Carroll.

Map showing Hubway stations and the percentages of bikes that are available.

Via Sarah Grafman.

Jonathan was among the bicyclists the driver of a gray Civic took aim at during last night's Critical Mass cork-up in Allston. He reports on the incident, notes he has the guy's license-plate number.

BostonTweet captured a little corking or something this evening at Harvard and Brighton in Allston.

Via Allston Rat City, who wonders:

Was anyone there at the corner of Comm and Harvard when some dude in a Honda got pissed off at the people on bikes blocking traffic and literally drove through them?

UPDATE: JC tweets:

Yep, gray Civic plowed right through them. Don't think anyone was seriously hurt.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports the city will paint bike lanes from the Monument down Centre Street all the way to the beginning of the VFW Parkway - except through the large rotary where the Arborway comes in - because rotaries are just too risky for bicylists, who are advised to use the sidewalks around them.

Dan K photographed City Hall Plaza full of new bikes awaiting the formal launch of the Hubway bike-rental network today.

A Jamaica Plain man with two drunk-driving convictions was charged with a third OUI offense after he allegedly disregarded a "No Turn on Red" sign in the Back Bay and hit and dragged a bicyclist in the crosswalk - then hit a cop as he was pulling over - the District Attorney's office reports.

Neither the bicyclist nor the Boston police officer were seriously hurt in the July 21 incident, the DA's office says.

Steve Garfield reports the city recently replaced the white no-bicycles signs on the Jamaica Pond path that bicyclists routinely ignored with bright yellow no-bicycles signs.

Posted under this Creative Commons license. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

The Globe notes that the draft map of the new Hubway bike-rental network shows no rental kiosks south of Roxbury Crossing and Brigham Circle:

"They're all in the downtown area, with the tourists and the wealthy people," lamented 21-year-old Genesis Baez, who lives in Jamaica Plain.

The Globe quotes Hubway honchos that bike-rental systems only work where they can have rental stations every few hundred yards; leafy JP is just not dense enough for that.

Ed. note: And so JP gets a taste of what life is like for those of us in the real boonies down in Roslindale, Hyde Park and West Roxbury.

Or maybe he didn't think he was getting enough e-mail. But how long before Emily Rooney has him on her show to calmly explain why bicyclists should be shot on sight?

Mike Ball, himself an avid bicylist, ponders the ramifications of a City Hall statement that Hizzona Himself wants bicyclists to stop for red lights and wonders if the new enforcement will also involve going after signal-disregarding motorists as well:

Given the adversarial and disdainful attitude of many non-cyclists here, a well-handled education program should be amusing all around. To hear the anti-cyclist types tell it or read their comments on newspaper and other websites, every single cyclist is a crazed scofflaw who terrorizes the aged, toddlers and law-abiding motorists and pedestrians.

Yet, if the Mayor's release is right, a very overdue crackdown on red-light runners, crosswalk blockers, and those who don't yield to walkers or other vehicles (including bikes) should follow. Motorists, whose tickets for moving violations are considerably higher than $20 and can come with license suspensions and multi-year insurance surcharges, will be in for a much greater shock than cyclists.

Ed. car karma note: This morning, I was approaching the city's worst intersection, where Morton Street and Gallivan Boulevard slam together, to get onto Gallivan from Morton, when I had to hit the brakes because some jerk on the other side blew through the stop sign and barreled onto Morton. This was followed almost immediately by the sound of a police siren and the sight of flashing blues as a cop waiting by the hardware store took off behind me after the miscreant.

Hubway, the impending bike-rental network, wants your suggestions for where they first start renting bikes sometime this month.

John Pouliot captured the scene around noon today at Mass. Ave. and Essex Street in Central Square. He reports:

Moving but being put on a stretcher. Witness-"Why bike lanes don't work."

Wicked Local Allston/Brighton reports on a June 3 incident outside 74 Harvard Ave.

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports on proposed "hybrid" bike lanes along Commercial Street and Atlantic Avenue that would swap the normal positions of car-parking and bike lanes on one side of the streets. Also, Segways would be allowed.

Marjorie Arons-Barron reports on an incident near Charles Circle yesterday involving ten kids on bicycles riding abreast on Cambridge Street, and an increasingly impatient driver who finally had enough:

It didn't work out too well. The white car sideswiped a weaving cyclist, who flew in one direction, his bike in the other. The car never stopped or pulled over. Fortunately, the bicycle rider picked himself up, retrieved his bike and his helmet and, somewhat shakily, rode to rejoin the other riders in the pack, who had stopped not far from the Liberty Hotel.

Boston Police report arresting a pair of 50-somethings who allegedly used "a bag with a big rock inside it" to smash locks and make off with a pair of bicyles at Mass. Ave. and Boylston Street around 2:15 this morning.

Unfortunately for the alleged yeggs, Mass. Ave. and Boylston Street is one of the few intersections in the City that Always Sleeps that has a fair amount of foot traffic even at 2:15 a.m. and so Carl Effee, 54, and Carl Lemon, 52, were both apprehended in short order and charged with larceny of a bicycle, police say.

Innocent, etc.

Mike Ball reports on last night's hearing on proposed bike lanes along Mass. Ave. from the river to Symphony Hall. Among other topics:

The local D-4 police captain, Paul Ivens (also a cyclist) ... was jolly but firm. Along with their regular duties, his officers have issued several hundreds of tickets to bike-lane car parkers since July. He noted that they would likely be handing out non-ticket tickets to cyclists soon as warning educational devices.

The city holds a hearing on Thursday to see what people think of the proposed addition of bike lanes to one of Boston's busiest streets.

City officials say bicycles now account for up to 14% of vehicle traffic on the avenue during rush hours - and that Mass. Ave. has one of the highest rates of bicycle accidents in the city. Under the city proposal, five-foot bike lanes would be striped on both sides of the road.

The hearing begins at 7 p.m. at the BPL main branch in Copley Square.

Boston Police report a possible break in ending a spate of bicycle thefts on Beacon Hill and the Common over the past month: The arrest of Matthew Berry, 30, of Somerville.

Police say one of the theft victims was scanning Craigslist when he saw a bicycle that looked like his. After he contacted police, a detective contacted the seller and arranged to meet him to look the bike over, which he did and then arrested Berry, police say.

Innocent, etc.

Bike-riding Steve Nadis reports a brief discussion with a pedestrian in a crosswalk at River and Putnam.

The Metro reports on a request from Mayor Menino to the state legislature to increase fines for red-running bicyclists from $20 to $150.

Boston Biker says fine, but only if the city does the same for pedestrians:

If you passed a law giving police the ability to write $150 j-walking tickets, you could go downtown on any given weekday and solve the state budget problem. Not only would this make pedestrians more likely to follow the law, but it would make everyone safer (not the least of which the pedestrians themselves). I can't count the number of times I have almost been knocked off my bike by a pedestrians walking out from between parked cars.

Meanwhile, the Boston Cyclists Union is urging Menino to file another home-rule petition, to cut the speed limit on all local roads to 20 or 25 m.p.h., in the wake of Monday's fatal crash involving a bicyclist. Union Director Pete Stidman says:

Boston Police are investigating the 8:10 a.m. collision that left a 74-year-old man dead.

UPDATED with correct age.

Pete Stidman of the Boston Cyclists' Union explains the city should have talked to local residents first, because the lanes just showed up while they were looking at angled parking on Main Street as a way to increase parking for stores there:

Normally, when two competing interests arise like this, the neighborhood has a chance to talk them through and see options on designs that attempt to address both concerns. This happened recently in the St. Mark's neighborhood of Dorchester when the plan for a bike lane on Talbot Avenue also came up against some interest in angled parking. In that case, the Union brought the neighborhood and city planners together and it was found that angled parking would not create a significant number of new parking spaces due to the configuration of the street, and the neighborhood agreed that a bike lane might also be a way to get more customers into their shops. Talbot is now painted and appreciated and the St. Mark's neighborhood is on its way to becoming a very bike-friendly place.

But in this case in Charlestown, that competing interest was not identified or discussed with the Charlestown Neighborhood Council beforehand.

Boston Biker posts a copy of e-mail from the city's bicycle czar on why the city moved so quickly to remove the bike stripings it had just put down on Main Street a month ago - basically, the city should have talked to Charlestown residents first and it didn't.