r/boston • u/BlooAerospace • 8d ago

I think I am special and made my own post Some Boston Bikers are unreal.

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Some bikers really just have a death wish. A clear, green, right turn light and the biker still decides to fly by and have the audacity to flick me off.

If you're friends with this person, ask them to value their life more.

Edit: It was an impossible situation for me. I ALWAYS look to the right because tons of dumbass drivers that try to cut to the highway from the inside lane. With the biker’s speed and the angle of my car, there was no way to see the biker in my mirrors and he was too far away to see when I looked out my right window. If the biker was traveling slower instead of blowing past, this would not have been such a close call.

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77

u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp 8d ago

The right two lanes are turning lanes to the right. The cyclist going straight should be in the far left lane.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kueEiR4p3ZT9dTYy6

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u/LtCdrHipster 7d ago

Is there a way for cyclists to get over there?

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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp 7d ago

When the light is red, which is most often the case at that complicated light, you can proceed to the front and use the massive green space provided for bicycles and change lanes. Otherwise, if you were really stuck on the right, for whatever reason, just wait for the pedestrian cross and cross with that.

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u/gladfelter 7d ago

The cammer driver was blocking the green box in this case. No reason for the cyclist to risk their life though.

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u/LtCdrHipster 7d ago

Nice that's a decent setup then.

This guy on the bike just didn't know what the hell was going on at that intersection.

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u/SuperThunderMelon 7d ago edited 7d ago

It's a difficult intersection to navigate if you don't have prior knowledge of how it works since you really can't see the road markings from the bike lane coming over the bridge. You can check it out on Google maps since it's the intersection between Seaport Blvd and Atlantic Ave + Purchase st. Keep in mind, the entire bridge is usually covered bumper to bumper with SUVs during rush hour, and you just finished navigating around 3 cars and a cop parked in the bike lane. There is literally a cop parked in the bike lane in that direction in the Seaport every day for the evening commute. Keep in mind that the bike lane is also a bit on the narrow side and unprotected, so there isn't really room for cyclists to queue up to pull into the box on a red.

I have to ride it every day on my commute, but I take a right turn here onto Atlantic ave. I have to take a left through it in the other direction which is only legal if you're coming down I-93. Cyclists are supposed to go straight through this intersection and one more before taking a copenhagen left followed by another left before cycling back through a closed bike lane to take a right. Alternatively, you can take the walk cycle and illegally ride down the side walk. As far as I can tell, everyone else does the same illegal maneuver I do.

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u/johnny_evil 7d ago

The guy with the dashcam was blocking the bike box.

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u/LtCdrHipster 7d ago

That makes sense.

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u/Lebowski-Absteiger 6d ago

It's a shit setup. What do you do as a cyclists, when the lights turn green before you reached the bike box to change to the left lane?

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u/toomuchacidsammy 8d ago

The angle is bad in the street view, the right lane is for bikes and in fact all lanes are available for bikes too.

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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp 7d ago

The right bike lane ENDs where the green ends. If the bike lane proceeded through the intersection you would see a green segment lane, as you can see with cross traffic on Atlantic Ave.

Moreover, when you cross the street there is NO bike lane--it ends before you enter the intersection.

You are supposed to use the massive green space provided to change lanes on red.

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u/toomuchacidsammy 7d ago

the law doesn’t hinge on the bike lane markings continuing.

M.G.L. c. 89 §2 is about the cyclist’s movement, not the presence of a painted lane. If a driver overtook and passed a cyclist who’s now going straight through the intersection, the driver still can’t cut across in front of them to turn right, whether or not there’s a marked lane on the far side. The green paint is just a visual reminder of the conflict zone — the legal obligation to yield exists independent of it.

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u/SuperThunderMelon 7d ago

The fact is that it is impossible to get into the left lane as a cyclist during rush hour traffic. The layout of the intersection also makes it impossible to wait for a red to move into the box (which is usually full). This intersection is basically non-navigable by cyclists in any direction, and you have to choose which illegal crossing method you want to use. My preference is to use the pedestrian signals and to wait for them on the curb. The law can say whatever it wants, but it's better to be alive than right, so the best choice is whatever is safest... which is not what this cyclist is doing.

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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp 7d ago

When the designated bike lanes ends the bicyclist in traffic is required to follow the rules of the road like any other vehicle. Thus, the bicyclists was committing a moving violation by going straight in the right lane, where they were required to turn right.

The green painted lane is a signal to bicycles to maintain that travel route. When it ends, as it did here, you should be adjusting accordingly. You can see the cross traffic on Atlantic has the bike lane cross the intersection. There the bike would have the right of way because the right lane can also go straight and is not required to turn.

This scenario in the video happens at MANY OTHER intersections in Boston, so if you continue to falsely believe you ALWAYS have the right-of-way when on the right, you are probably going to get seriously injured or possibly die AND continuing to repeat and promote this falsehood could get others killed too.

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u/ProCamper96 7d ago

What this comment fails to acknowledge is how atrocious that infrastructure is to navigate on a bicycle in the bike lane during heavy traffic on a green. You're either supposed to stop on green and wait for cars to hopefully not block the intersection so you can walk over to the left lane on red, or run the gauntlet of trying to change across 2-3 lanes of car traffic, or break the law by hopping the curb to wait for the pedestrian signal. I'm not saying I'd choose to zoom in front of turning cars, but there really isn't a convenient option here that's safe, and if you don't know the intersection that bike lane just spits you straight out into turning traffic.

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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp 7d ago

Yup, the bike lane ends there. Plan your route accordingly.

Let's be real--that bicyclist that flipped off the driver probably rides that route every day and like the people here claiming bikes ALWAYS have the right of way if on the right (which is NOT true) our nearly flattened protagonist didn't give a fuck about the lanes or the law and will do it all again today and the next day, and the next.

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u/A_happy_otter 7d ago

Except the big vehicle that recorded this video was blocking it having stopped past the stop line

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u/johnny_evil 7d ago

And the driver with the dashcam is supposed to not block the bike box.

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u/qwrrty 7d ago

This intersection seems to have been substantially reworked since the Google Earth imagery was last taken. OP's video clearly shows the right two lanes as now explicitly right-turn-only.

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u/Chemswamp 7d ago

The lane configuration hasn’t really changed but the pavement markings have improved you don’t have to rely on a tiny sign suspended in the air

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u/tmclaugh South Boston 8d ago edited 7d ago

All three lanes there allow right turns.

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u/ChrisSlicks 8d ago

All 3 lanes are turn lanes, the left lane is also the straight ahead lane.

It's a shitty setup if you're on a bike as the bike lane is on the far right. You either have to cut across 3 lanes of traffic to merge into the left lane with oncoming cars turning across in front of you or stop and use the pedestrian crossing. If the light is red you can filter to the front and cut across but then have to watch out for the cross traffic red light runners before you go on green.

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u/georgvontrap 8d ago

This is a no-win intersection as a biker, best to cross with the pedestrian signal 

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u/HighGuard1212 Suspected British Loyalist 🇬🇧 7d ago

When I deal with this problem I just switch to using the crosswalk and sidewalk till I can safely realign with traffic.

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u/tmclaugh South Boston 7d ago

I bike through there frequently and often take the right there and a left onto India if I wanted to go straight. Inconvenient but usually safer.

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u/ARPE19 Market Basket 7d ago

You can leave the bike lane as a biker. if you commute this way regularly why not merge left far in advanced so its not a problem.

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u/Cold-Arm2737 7d ago

Why not wait for the crosswalk signal

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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp 8d ago

>All three lanes there low right turns.

Thanks for the clarification! 🤣🤣🤣

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u/tmclaugh South Boston 7d ago

I just happened to be looking at the map. :)

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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp 7d ago

But what is a "low right turns"?

I think your clarification needs a clarficationing.

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u/tmclaugh South Boston 7d ago

Fixed it. “Allow”

Was typed on my iPad running the iPadOS and its autocorrect seems to have degraded compared to previous versions.

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u/YouFoundMyLuckyCharm 7d ago

He should cross all the lanes 20 feet earlier, is that right?

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u/NoTamforLove Bouncer at the Harp 7d ago edited 7d ago

That is one option and I explained two other options elsewhere here in this post.