Until we treat bikes as & walking as an ACTUAL form of transportation, we will continue to languish. We cannot flourish as a society with only cars being important. They're expensive, messing with the environment, kill ppl, take up enormous amounts of space...lets do better, plan ahead, be smart.

This, in Waltham. Our public works department and traffic commission policies and even the views of many elected officials have long prioritized drivers. It's only much more obvious now, between the lack of sidewalk shoveling rules and the still untouched key walking routes on city property

Imagine if police were empowered to issue $100 fines for violating the hands-free law based on video and photo evidence. Using your phone while stopped at a light at an already-dangerous multi-use path crossing is not permitted.

When MA eventually permits red light cameras, do you think this company whose driver's blocking a crosswalk will just pass along the fine to its customers as a cost of doing business? Arsenal St, Watertown

Someday we'll look back at how society tolerated a transportation system that kills an American every 15 minutes, that injures hundreds of thousands a year, and that causes untold millions of dollars in damages each year. Remnants of a car crash along the Charles River path, shards on the bike path

US street safety and traffic engineering in one scene

Drivers breaking The Rules of the Road™ is so normalized and common that it barely registers anymore with fellow drivers, unless it's egregious. Can you spot the two violations in this 23-sec clip?

BAN RIGHT ON RED (Was just listening to the latest @thewaroncars.bsky.social podcast about rampant and dangerous right on red in California)

"I made a mistake", says driver who knowingly goes through a red light during the pedestrian phase and honks (with illegal plate cover, to boot). But I'm sure he once saw a biker roll through a stop sign, so we're even I guess.

While I agree with the premise that kids shouldn't be operating vehicles that can go 30+ mph, let's also see Globe editorial board come out in favor of measures like speed and red light cameras, if the concern is safety: drivers kill 70+ pedestrians a year in MA. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/25/o...

The fine for a first violation of the MA hands-free law is $100. Imagine if police could issue fines based on video, as this driver rolls through stop line on red light with zero awareness of cyclists crossing in front, with his face buried in his phone.

THiS iS NEw ENglaNd, yOU CaN'T biKE wHeN iT's 33° AnD wInDY Western Ave, Boston

Right out of the @thewaroncars.bsky.social Life After Cars bikelash playbook groups.google.com/g/westnewton... «Let’s make Newton safer—without making it slower, more congested, or less livable.» The project in question: www.newtonma.gov/government/p...

bUT THAT BIKeR rOlleD throuGH a STOp sIgN tHAT one tIMe (I was walking my bike across the street; drivers are to yield)

There's a reason the MA hands-free law calls out no phone usage when at a red light and in a travel lane. This driver is inching forward in the intersection as he faces a red light, with no awareness of a bike crossing to the sidewalk (it's a dangerous intersection ahead on a bike) till I shout.

Reminder to cyclists: you can always take the lane, even when there's a bike lane, especially when said bike lane is full of wet leaves

STAY ON THE SIDEWALK

This driver, who already ran the red by entering the intersection without being able to clear it, is oblivious to anyone around here, including someone on a bike accessing the adjacent bike lane.

There's a reason the MA hands-free law calls out no phone usage when at a red light and in a travel lane. «Handheld use is allowed only if the vehicle is both stationary and not located in a public travel lane or a bicycle lane, but is not allowed at red lights or stop signs.»

I'm sure if the driver of MA 2SDM61 hit someone blowing through a red light 4 secs after it changed, at an intersection marked No Turn on Red, he'd blame solar glare and police would let him off. (Cyclists are expected to use the pedestrian phase to exit the new shared-used path here.)

One if by land, two if by sea, three if by ebike?

All five of these drivers turned left on a solid red, based on the timing of when the walk signal came on. But I'm sure they're ranting about that cyclist they saw who rolled through a stop sign at 4mph.

In case anyone needs a visual of what these NIMBYs are protesting Four-lane Washington St in Newton before, and now with two through lanes and a shared-use path alongside the Pike

Bike handling skills Live life like this cyclist in the rain

«I am uncomfortable driving on city streets with bicycles mixed in with automobiles.»

When NIMBY residents rail against road diets and bike infrastructure, as they are doing on Washington St in Newton, MA, they are saying these two individuals don't deserve safe and comfortable transportation because they are not in a car

The arrogance of space of cars in cities, parking edition

Is there a better view of the misallocation of @massdcr.bsky.social riverfront space for cars vs. active mobility? The icing on the cake is the post for the sign _for drivers_ further narrowing an already narrow ramp, where two bikes cannot pass at speed (River St and Soldiers Field Rd, Boston)

If these motor enthusiasts can't maintain the speed limit, they should get off the street and onto the race track or something where they can enjoy their hobby. In cities, drivers often slow down cyclists far more than cyclists slow down drivers.

The old "pass a cyclist, not stop at a crosswalk, arrive at same red light as original cyclist" maneuver

I'd heard of these failures of US driving and traffic engineering called crosswalk flags but first time seeing them in the wild (Bristol, RI)

A short clip showing why unsignalized crosswalks across multiple lanes are dangerous. Driver nearest me stops (as I put out my hand), the couple starts crossing, and driver in the furthest lane violates state law by passing a vehicle stopped to let someone cross (malegislature.gov/Laws/General...)

When drivers inadvertently admit they don't like bike lanes and redesigns to slow traffic and make walking, biking AND driving safer because they don't want to pay attention when driving.

"But that time a biker rolled through a stop sign"

Time to end this automobile lane nonsense the motoring enthusiasts have for years been pushing for in Boston & nearby cities. Taxpayers paying $$$ to pave 2 lanes for them, and on a beautiful summer morning at 8:30 on Comm Ave, none of them are using it. Imagine in the winter how empty they'll be!

It must be awful to be stuck in a sealed metal and glass box to travel three miles on a glorious 75° New England summer day #biking

According to Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft, bike lanes have brought Boston traffic to a standstill. Maybe it's drivers like this, violating the MA hands-free law and having absolutely zero awareness of what's going on outside her vehicle, causing that nightmare traffic.

If only MA had red light cameras and each one of these drivers would get a hefty fine for having absolutely zero control over the positioning of their two-ton machines (Watertown Sq)

Boylston St, Boston: Bike lane moving as many people as two adjacent general travel lanes. (Riders going wrong way since nearest protected westbound lane 1/3 mile away) Bike lanes are inherently more efficient than general travel lanes in cities

Imagine an alternate world where there were harsh financial and civil penalties against the driver of MA 2XH156, obliviously using his phone while driving in stop-and-go traffic, approaching an intersection dense with people walking and on bikes

We have collectively normalized the amount of space cars take up in cities to mostly transport one person and minimal cargo

The arrogance of space in cities, parking edition Parking for 10 ppl in the space one SUV would take up on Waltham's Moody St, that if we're lucky, would have 4 ppl Yet Waltham's 6-term Mayor McCarthy does not believe that bike racks belong on a sidewalk or in corrals taking up car parking

Lines are hard, Waltham edition Unfortunately Waltham's traffic commission refuses to approve even flex-posts for this street to keep drivers in line, and the city leadership would rather spend millions on unneeded parking lots instead of repairing sidewalks that have been missing for decades

Those dockless scooters are out of control

Imagine if car horns were as loud inside the car as they were outside Driver of MA 2NZE74 going 35mph (per Varia) in a 25mph zone so annoyed that I take the lane here because the bike lane is in the door zone and puts you at risk of being hooked by drivers bearing right who aren't paying attention

Part 2

The arrogance of space in cities, May 13 edition

US traffic "engineering" in three acts Can you spot the differences between these streets (first and second are a block apart) to explain the different limits? I can't, and neither can most drivers, which is why street design, and not a sign, determines how fast drivers will feel comfortable going

Ban right on red till drivers learn how it works

The arrogance of space in cities, spring edition