I've had close calls with busses as well, in various parts of the city, and I ride far into the lane. I consider them the most dangerous vehicle on the road. I wonder if we could wage some kind of letter-writing campagin to the MBTA. Would it do any good?
<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/17/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">turtle</b> <<a href="mailto:turtle@zworg.com">turtle@zworg.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
First of all, yeah, bus drivers suck. Not all of them, but many of them<br>are so completely insane when it comes to safety and respect.<br><br>Secondly, you won't be able to find a police report, since no damage was<br>
done and no one was hurt. Well, you can FILE a crash report with the<br>police, but no one will take you seriously. You CAN file a report with<br>the RMV, however. See the MassBike FAQ for the link:<br><a href="http://massbike.org/resources/">
http://massbike.org/resources/</a> (Scroll down to near the bottom and<br>lookf for the "driver complaint" question.) But that will only work if<br>you got the driver's description, bus number, and time of day/route,
<br>for identification purposes.<br><br>Finally, seriously, don't ride all the way over to the right. Ride far<br>enough into the lane that you have pelnty of space on your right. Take<br>the lane if it's narrow (as it is in most parts of Mass Ave.).
<br>Seriously. You are entitled to it, and you will be safer, too. Yes,<br>some motorists may get annoyed, but they won't treat you as if you were<br>two-dimentional, like that bus driver did. And the more people who bike
<br>like they belong on the road, the more people will begin to understand<br>that we do belong on the road.<br><br>Oh, and one last thing. I'm glad you are ok!<br><br>-Turtle<br>Got arrested after getting pissy at a bus driver who harassed me...
<br><br><br>Boston Critical Mass <<a href="mailto:list@bostoncriticalmass.org">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a>> wrote:<br>><br>> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.<br>><br>> ------=_NextPart_000_002A_01C6799C.4D40F6C0
<br>> Content-Type: text/plain;<br>> charset="US-ASCII"<br>> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit<br>><br>><br>> So this morning, I almost got sideswiped and pinned by an MBTA bus. I have<br>> notified the MBTA, Badtransit and T-Rage. I'll fill out an incident report
<br>> with the cops after work. Is there anything else I should do?<br>><br>><br>> here is a copy of my e-mail to the MBTA<br>><br>> From: Justin Wong [mailto:<a href="mailto:lilwong@bu.edu">lilwong@bu.edu
</a>]<br>> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 10:02 AM<br>> To: '<a href="mailto:cdubose@mbta.com">cdubose@mbta.com</a>'<br>> Subject: MBTA Bus Route 1<br>><br>><br>> To whom it may concern,<br>><br>> This morning at approximately 8:43 AM I was biking on Mass Ave when a Route
<br>> 1 bus honked at me 3 times and proceeded to accelerate and cut me off. I was<br>> riding respectfully as far over to the right as I could and there was plenty<br>> of room to pass, even for a bus. The problem I want to address in this
<br>> e-mail is: I should not have to worry about dying on our city's streets<br>> because your bus driver thinks she owns the road. Fortunately for me, I was<br>> able to slam the breaks and turn sharply to the right before hitting a
<br>> parked car or being pinned by the bus.<br>><br>> The license plate of the bus is: 2294. You can expect a police report filed.<br>><br>> Sincerely,<br>><br>> Justin Wong<br>><br>><br>><br>
><br>><br>><br>> ------=_NextPart_000_002A_01C6799C.4D40F6C0<br>> Content-Type: text/html;<br>> charset="US-ASCII"<br>> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable<br>><br>> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML
4.0 Transitional//EN"><br>> <HTML><HEAD><br>> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; =<br>> charset=3Dus-ascii"><br>> <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2800.1543
" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD><br>> <BODY><br>> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT></DIV><br>> <DIV><SPAN class=3D300332114-17052006><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>So =
<br>> this morning, I=20<br>> almost got sideswiped and pinned by an MBTA bus. I have notified the =<br>> MBTA,=20<br>> Badtransit and T-Rage. I'll fill out an incident report with the cops =<br>> after=20<br>
> work. Is there anything else I should do?</FONT></SPAN></DIV><br>> <DIV><SPAN class=3D300332114-17052006><FONT face=3DArial=20<br>> size=3D2></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<br>> <DIV><SPAN class=3D300332114-17052006><FONT face=3DArial=20<br>> size=3D2></FONT></SPAN></DIV><br>> <DIV><SPAN class=3D300332114-17052006><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>here =
<br>> is a copy of my=20<br>> e-mail to the MBTA </FONT></SPAN></DIV><br>> <DIV><SPAN class=3D300332114-17052006><FONT face=3DArial=20<br>> size=3D2></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<br>> <DIV><SPAN class=3D300332114-17052006><FONT size=3D2><FONT=20<br>> face=3DTahoma><STRONG>From:</STRONG> Justin Wong [mailto:<a href="mailto:lilwong@bu.edu">lilwong@bu.edu</a>
] =<br>><br>> <BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 17, 2006 10:02 AM<BR><B>To:</B>=20<br>> '<a href="mailto:cdubose@mbta.com">cdubose@mbta.com</a>'<BR><B>Subject:</B> MBTA Bus Route =
<br>> 1<BR><BR></FONT></FONT><br>> <DIV></DIV><br>> <DIV><SPAN class=3D377105413-17052006></SPAN><FONT size=3D2>T<SPAN=20<br>> class=3D377105413-17052006>o whom it may concern,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<br>> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN =<br>> class=3D377105413-17052006></SPAN></FONT></DIV><br>> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3D377105413-17052006><FONT =<br>
> face=3DArial>This morning=20<br>> at approximately 8:43 AM I was biking on Mass Ave when a Route 1 bus =<br>> honked at=20<br>> me 3 times and proceeded to accelerate and cut me off. I was riding =<br>> respectfully=20
<br>> as far over to the right as I could and there was plenty of room to =<br>> pass, even=20<br>> for a bus. The problem I want to address in this e-mail is: I should not =<br>> have to=20<br>> worry about dying on our city'sstreets because your bus driver=20
<br>> thinksshe owns the road. Fortunately for me, I was able to slam =<br>> the breaks=20<br>> and turn sharply to the right before hitting a parked car or being =<br>> pinned by the=20<br>> bus.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<br>> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3D377105413-17052006><FONT=20<br>> face=3DArial></FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV><br>> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3D377105413-17052006><FONT =
<br>> face=3DArial>The license=20<br>> plate of the bus is: 2294. You can expect a police report=20<br>> filed.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV><br>> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3D377105413-17052006><FONT=20
<br>> face=3DArial></FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV><br>> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3D377105413-17052006><FONT=20<br>> face=3DArial>Sincerely,</FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<br>> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3D377105413-17052006><FONT=20<br>> face=3DArial></FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV><br>> <DIV><FONT size=3D2><SPAN class=3D377105413-17052006><FONT =
<br>> face=3DArial>Justin=20<br>> Wong</FONT></SPAN></DIV></FONT></SPAN></DIV><br>> <P><FONT size=3D2><BR></FONT></P><br>> <DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>
<br>><br>> ------=_NextPart_000_002A_01C6799C.4D40F6C0--<br>><br>><br><br>----------------------------------<br>"One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we<br>seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must
<br>pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means." - Martin Luther King Jr.<br>_______________________________________________<br>Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br><a href="mailto:list@bostoncriticalmass.org">list@bostoncriticalmass.org
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