In early April, Eoin McGrory was riding his bike in Charlestown when he was struck and killed in a hit-and-run. The tragedy occurred on the exact same day bike safety proponents were lobbying for the passage of two bills on Beacon Hill to keep bikers secure on the road. LivableStreets Alliance though, one of Boston’s foremost urban transit advocacy groups, is taking matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the painstakingly slow gears of Beacon Hill to turn in their favor.
Boston has certainly made strides in accommodating more than just cars on the road. More cycle tracks are in the works, bike-share stations are opening throughout the Greater Boston Area and city bike festivals are helping to ring in the new cycling season. But catastrophes like the one that befell Eoin McGrory are still all too common.
For this reason LivableStreets has launched its Safer Streets Campaign, a collaborative effort intended to both streamline the process of making Boston’s roadways safer and encourage people not accustomed to biking to give it a try.
BostInno spoke with Jamie Maier, LivableStreets Alliance Campaign Coordinator, about what it will take for Boston to fix this perpetual issue. Not surprisingly, everything comes back to safety.
“We continue to hear time and time again, ‘what is preventing people form using these various forms of transportation,'” Maier told BostInno. “We’re hearing that safety is the fundamental barrier for people.”
Safety measures can come in many forms. Whether its bolder bike lanes or next-generation technology, the innumerable solutions to bolstering Boston’s bike security are bound by nothing.
Right now, though, they’re focused on garnering support to help spread the word of their mission.
“Right now, the biggest [need] is generating broad support that we can mobilize for more specific asks throughout the year,” she continued. To that end, they’ve created a petition to truly show lawmakers and lobbyists the extent of their sentiments while continuing to mobilize people to action.
There are plenty of other initiatives in the works, though. LivableStreets is hoping to implement a plethora of design improvements and infrastructure overhauls that enhance safety while slowing down traffic.
They’re also soliciting help from City Hall, and the clout that comes along with it.
Mayor Marty Walsh’s Transportation & Infrastructure Transition Report, an aggregation of town hall meetings where the mayor and his transition team heard directly from Bostonians, addresses the issue of bike and pedestrian safety. In fact, it’s the absolutely number one recommendation.
“Public safety must be the number one transportation and infrastructure goal. Boston will take proactive steps to improve public safety across the transportation system, bringing the number of traffic deaths among pedestrians, motorists, and bicyclists down to zero within ten years,” reads the report.
“What the tragedy really highlights is the dangerous conditions on our streets,” adds Maier. “And our streets really do put cars first and is a detriment to pedestrians and people who use transit.”
Image via Livable Streets Alliance Facebook
