🚀 go-pugleaf

 Ron> == Ron Newman <rnewman@bbn.com> 

 Ron> One reason that Boston is more enlightened than a lot of other
 Ron> places is that the local police totally ignore us bicyclists.
 Ron> This often allows us to move faster than automobile traffic, since
 Ron> we can proceed (carefully) through red lights, go (cautiously)
 Ron> against one-way traffic, ride between lanes of stopped traffic,
 Ron> and so forth.

I dunno about this. This morning, my fiance and I were riding to work.
We take the 87 bus to Lechmere. The bus had just left the intersection
at Somerville Ave next to Bradlees and the Burger King to go up to
McGrath/O'Brien Hwy when a bicycle rider sped in between the bus we were
on and the cement truck next to us. Had the T-bus driver been any less
careful, the bike rider would have been in bike-rider heaven (as the
cement truck was taking up *all* of the next lane over -- it was the
T-bus swerving that saved this poor helmet-less guy). 

I don't think that all bicyclists are necessarily like this, but I don't
think, as a rule, that bicyclists should be able to cut between
traffic... I also think, however, if bicyclists are going to go risking
their life around the town, whether it's with or against the law, that
they should be wearing helmets to at least protect themselves from the
hazards of traffic.

--Helen


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