Playing In Traffic

Beautiful morning to ride today. Finally warm enough to not worry about frostbite on my ears. So why did I get such a chill watching the nice eco-conscious dad on the tandem with his young son on the back take a right off of Linnaean St. onto Mass. Ave and then proceed to bust through every subsequent red light he hit? Then he actually decides to take the whole left lane for a few blocks, so he can make the turn onto Everett St. It’s OK if you want to live dangerously/stupidly by yourself. But his kid was on the bike with him! One car not noticed, one late-for-work driver deciding to run the yellow, and I’m having to call 911.

Single Dumbest Thing I’ve Read (So Far)
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/articles/2009/04/14/80m_in_us_funds_for_bike_projects_unspent_in_mass/

Massachusetts is letting $80 million for bicycle & pedestrian infrastructure improvements sit there un-used, because the forms are too hard to fill out? What’s up with this? I’m not up to speed on who exactly is to blame — the state or the towns — but SOMEBODY took a long drink at the stupid fountain for this to be going on. I’m dodging potholes in North Cambridge with a bike lane that’s literally the width of a road stripe, and $80,000,000 is sitting somewhere waiting to improve the situation? When’s the next Critical Mass ride? Civil disobediance may be in order.

Filed under: bike commute, bike projects, dumb stuff