[*BCM*] MassBike To Blame For Biker Awareness

[David Hammond]

Asking that the legal and statutory systems treat bicycles differently than
cars and trucks, without demanding that those systems EXPLICITLY PRIVILEGE
them, runs the risk that laws confining bikes to bike lanes, or prohibiting
their use on certain types of street, etc., will be passed.  That's why I'm
interested in enabling legislation for small electric/electric-assist
vehicles. They ought to be privileged, IMHO. But I also feel the same way
about ordinary bikes.  Why not grant cyclists an absolute right-of-way over
motorized vehicles, qualified only by a "ride to the right whenever it's
safe" provision? How about a law that makes motorists a priori at fault in
any collision with a bicyclist, unless said bicyclist was engaged in illegal
behavior (felony or misdemeanor, NOT civil infraction) that substantially
caused the collision? I'm a public school teacher, so how about the Dept. of
Education making a semester of Bicycling mandatory for high school
graduation?

There's a lot we could do, if we had the political will to organize.
MassBike is making a great effort and deserves a standing O, imho, but it's
just too small.

Dave Hammond

-----Original Message-----
From: bostoncriticalmass-bounces at bostoncriticalmass.org
[mailto:bostoncriticalmass-bounces at bostoncriticalmass.org] On Behalf Of
Robert Arnold
Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2005 2:44 PM
To: Boston Critical Mass
Subject: Re: [*BCM*] MassBike To Blame For Biker Awareness

>Similarly, I like the idea of making ALL traffic laws apply to ALL types
>of vehicles equally.  Then the safety issues of individual vehicle
>designs can be dealt with seperately (but they should all include
>things like lights, brakes, and good visibility).  Equality breeds
>respect, in my experience.

Unfortunately, bikes simply aren't the same as cars or trucks or
busses, etc. We can't move as quickly. We're much more susceptible to
debris in the roadway and potholes. We are less dangerous to ourselves
and to innocent bystanders. There are different laws for different
classes of motorized vehicles, so why not different laws for
non-motorized vehicles? Pretending that bikes are the same thing as
cars seems disingenuous to me, and misguided. And it's equally
misguided to crack down on "bicycle offenses" like headlights without
first showing some enforcement of laws that actually help cyclists.

Rob