Boston Bikes Introduces Their Safety Goals Program

Boston Bikes which have already placed bike lanes in the North End and has plans to do two more, one on Salem Street and another on Cross Street have introduced an Urban Cycling Guide.

The goal of the campaign, keeping cyclists safe is part of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s commitment toward reducing the city’s crash rate by 50 percent by 2020.

More than 30 college, university and bicycle advocacy groups have joined together to release the campaign which is the latest step to make Boston a world-class cycling city.

“We want to encourage as many people as possible to safely bike through our city and enjoy all Boston has to offer,” Mayor Menino said.

The guide stresses four key messages: 1. Beware of doors. 2. Follow the rules and yield to pedestrians. 3. Avoid large vehicle blind spots. 4. Use helmets and lights at night.

The message points were carefully determined based on the findings from the 2013 Cyclist Crash Report which looked at more than 1,500 cyclists crashes in Boston since 2009.

“It became apparent that if we can educate cyclists on these four points, we can dramatically reduce the crash rate,” said Nicole Freedman, Director of Boston Bikes. Freedman has made several appearances at North End community meetings advising residents of Boston Bikes plans for the North End.

Promoting bike safety and ridership also supports the Mayor’s initiative Greenovate Boston, which encourages residents to bike, walk and use public transit more to help reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.

At recent North End community meetings, residents have expressed several concerns regarding bicyclists not abiding by traffic rules, riding on sidewalks and going the wrong way up one-way streets.

Cyclists are also being invited to test their Bike-Q by going to the program website at www.bostonbikes.org/urbancycling.