<div style="CLEAR: both">Personally I would like to see all motor vehicles banned from the bike lane. It's dangerous when they (scooters) use it to weave to pass traffic on the right. Also I believe it's only low end scooters (those that have big engines and require licence plates can enter the lane) and they can't exceed 20 MPH while in the lane, or something like that.</div>
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-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Turil <turil@thewiseturtle.com><br>
To: Boston Critical Mass <list@bostoncriticalmass.org><br>
Sent: Sun, 18 May 2008 10:39 pm<br>
Subject: Re: [*BCM*] [Fwd: Re: [massbike] Globe: Bicyclists are entitled to use the entire lane of traffic]<br>
<br>
<div id=AOLMsgPart_0_579c70e1-6826-4bb8-9c15-b4bdd26d2120 style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: #000; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff"><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT>State law trumps any local ordinances, unless there is a variance sort
of thing granted by the state legislature (oh what the hell is that
thing really called?)
Also, pretty much all those ordinances are so ridiculously worded as
to make them void in a court of llaw, at least by a good lawyer with a
legit judge. (For example, Somerville's bike lanes are nearly all
hazardous by their very design, compared to AASHTO standards. Alas
the rest of the bike committee decided that safety was less important
than, um, something that wasn't safety, when they OKed these awful
bike lanes smack dab in the door zone...)
So, yeah. Simplify it all by being clear about the fact that in
Massachusetts a bike is the same as a car for all generalized traffic
rules and regulations, except for the two exceptions of specifically
being allowed to pass on the right, and not being allowed to drive on
limited access roads that specifically have signs posted prohibiting
it.
But really, it's all pretty meaningless when the court system is so
disconnected to the laws themselves.
-Turtle
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