BOSTON, Mass. — Close to 300 bicycle riders rolled out from Boston Common on Sunday to remember people killed on Massachusetts roads and to press state lawmakers for changes they say would prevent the next death.
The ride began and finished at the corner of the Common nearest the Massachusetts State House. Ride For Your Life, a national nonprofit begun four years ago, organized the annual ride along with MassBike and Families for Safe Streets Massachusetts. The national group stages similar rides in cities across the country.
Riders covered a loop of roughly six miles through the South End toward Fenway and back through Back Bay, passing sites of past crashes. The route used Tremont Street close to where a City Hall transportation planner was struck and killed by a truck while biking to work in Mission Hill this summer, though organizers kept riders away from that exact intersection because they consider it still unsafe.
After the ride, participants left flowers and read aloud a list of those lost in collisions on the road.
Speakers called for slower speeds, safer trucks and tools such as automatic braking. The head of Walk Massachusetts urged the Legislature to let cities and towns install road safety cameras to enforce speed limits. State senators put a camera provision covering school zones, safety zones and active work zones into a $575 million economic development bill over the summer, but that bill remains stuck on Beacon Hill.
State Rep. Steven Owens said relatives of the planner killed this summer plan to meet with legislators on Monday about priorities for the next session.
Mayor Michelle Wu has since announced a set of quick fixes, including concrete barriers along bike lanes, sidewalk and curb ramp repairs, filling gaps in the bike lane network and monthly meetings with advocacy groups.
Ride For Your Life plans a similar ride around the National Mall in Washington in November tied to a global day honoring people killed in road crashes, the World Day of Remembrance.
Section: More Boston MA crime news
Filed under: Boston MA Traffic News
