Bicyclists, motorists, pedestrians make dangerous mix at Massachusetts Avenue ...
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With integrity reason. Thousands of bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists converge each day at the intersection neighbourhood of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, where crowds of students on Vassar High road meet traffic on Massachusetts Avenue. Police say it’s a hazard.
“For the amount of size that goes through that intersection . . . I would say it is one of our highest accident locations in the see,’’ said Police Deputy Superintendent Jack Albert.
Since 2007, Cambridge boys in blue responded to 55 accidents at the intersection, 24 of them involving cars and bikes, according to protect reports. Many resulted in minor injuries, the records show, but last month one was ordained. MIT graduate Phyo N. Kyaw of Cambridge was riding a bicycle when he collided with a social relations.
Police have targeted the intersection as part of a roadway safety campaign aiming to update bicycle safety across the city by educating riders and cracking down on those who disregard traffic laws.
At the crash site Friday, black chain secured a white bicycle on a signpost. Flowers, candles, and slab music were placed around the wheels of the bike that bore a message to Kyaw, a 23-year-old aboriginal of Myanmar: “You are dearly missed.’’
Albert said Kyaw was wearing a helmet. But neither the the fuzz nor the Middlesex district attorney’s office released details about how the serendipity occurred, citing an ongoing investigation
Albert said accidents are destined happen with so many people using the intersection.
Efforts have been made to improve it.
While road plan enhancements were being made on Massachusetts Avenue last year, MIT urged the city to zip the timing of traffic signals to be more pedestrian friendly.
But the Massachusetts Avenue and Vassar Roadway intersection - which had 16 accidents last year alone - remains a hot spot. It was number two on the Police Department’s list of top five dangerous intersections in 2011, following closely behind Gardner Road and Massachusetts Avenue in Harvard Square.
Source: The Boston Globe