Dangerous Bicycle Scenario

[xuth.livejournal.com]

I just ran into (almost literally) a very dangerous bicycle scenario in Davis Square this evening.

I was parked at the (somerville provided) bike parking space between Dover and Day St on Holland/Elm St. I got onto Holland/Elm St and rode southeast through the square right in front of a car on Day St with a green light. The problem is that from my vantage point, I have no stop light or stop sign (they are all behind me where Holland crosses Dover) and from this vantage point, Day St intersecting with Elm St is a completely separate intersection from Holland St intersecting with Dover St. But the traffic signals treat it as one intersection. Without knowing all the details of this intersection (which I should, I just have never dealt with this scenario before), I have no reason to think that I should be concerned about traffic coming from Day St. There really needs to be an additional Holland street light at the corner of Day St.

Comments

[ron_newman]

It would be better to just remove the traffic light facing Day Street entirely, and replace it with a stop sign.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Now there's a thought! More environmentally friendly, too...

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Huh. Ron, I think that's a great idea. It would fix this bike problem, but it would also fix the pedestrian-car issue at Day -- people are always crossing Day at the crosswalk whether or not the light is green. A stop sign would really simplify things, and traffic never backs up there enough to require a light. As a matter of fact, the light causes more back-up than a stop sign would.

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

I am not sure that a stop sign would solve the pedestrian-auto problem at that intersection. I think it would cause more autos to creep well into the crosswalk, thereby causing pedestrians wishing to cross Day St. to either go behind the car (and out of the crosswalk), or in front of the car (again, out of the crosswalk).

No, I think car-drivers would then have to compete with the pedestrian traffic (very high at that intersection), and would have to be somewhat aggressive to ever get out.

Requiring aggressive driving around pedestrians is not my idea of a good idea.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Humm. Yeah, that's a much simpler solution than yet another traffic light!