Bike safety in Cambridge is on the up and up. As the city continues to iron out the kinks of its latest cycling endeavor, the Grand Junction Bike Path, cycle-specific traffic lights have been sprouting in the meantime. As noted on local biking blog Boston Biker, “Cambridge has been at the forefront of copying good ideas from other places,” implementing this novel safety measure from ze Dutch.

According to a Boston Globe article, the bike light on Western Avenue is the third installment in what appears to be a growing trend. Already similar measures are available for bikers in Harvard Square and Porter Square, and “aim to help cyclists turn left safely at dicey intersections.”

They’re essentially the same kind of traffic lights we use when getting behind the wheel. Red, yellow and green illuminations indicate whether to proceed or come to a halt and even better is that the lights are in the shape of a bike.

Often times for many automobile drivers, the problem with bikers is not that they take up too much of a lane or swerve in and out of traffic whimsically; it’s that cyclists aren’t held to the same road regulations. I can personally attest to this, seeing bikers pass through intersections despite the light glaring red on a daily basis while walking to work. They think that just because nobody’s moving, they’re free to go.

This is a major oversight in bike safety, and public safety in general, and one that appears to be in the process of being remedied. The Globe notes further that Boston will soon begin phasing these bike traffic lights into its own intersections, as per the ” Boston Bike Network Plan, a blueprint released last year that outlines the city’s long-term plans for bike infrastructure.”

Image via Boston Biker, featured image via Shutterstock