Boston Bike Route – Kendall Sq Cambridge to Somerville Community Path Pt 1

The path out to Lexington has stop signs for those (cyclists) on the path, but at every single intersection, the Massholes on the crossing roads insist on stopping and waiting for the vehicles with the stop signs. Massholes operate by non-existent rules of the road and refuse to obey the real rules. I've also seen idiots on bicycles who go into trances and drift into the paths of those on the other side of the path. I was on a group ride with one and, after he ran somebody off the other side of the path (and heard lots of swearing), I asked him what happened, and he said he had no recollection of it

A cycling advocate (John Allen? McAllen? -Something like that.) spent a lot of time and effort getting the RMV to fix all of the mistakes in the Mass. driving manual that apparently resulted from the author(s) being incapable of getting it through their thick skulls that bicycles are vehicles. [Lots of phrasing like "…bicycles and other pedestrians…"; "…vehicles and bicycles…"]

Police departments in Mass. apparently STILL teach kids to ride on the wrong side of the road. [All of the adults I've ever asked insist that bicycles should be on the left.]

Most states, when considering the rules for bicycles on sidewalks, differentiate between large people on large bikes and small people (kids) on lightweight (e.g., PlaySkool) bikes and trikes. The large ones would kill pedestrians if they were to ride on the sidewalk and are fine on the road (approx. same speed; easily visible; if on the correct side, closing speed is low). Little ones are no harm to pedestrians and are too low to be seen on the road. Massachusetts, of course, gets it completely wrong and distinguishes between sidewalks in built-up areas and sidewalks in the sticks. They did something similar with tinted windows on cars. Police don't like extreme tinting (because there might be somebody with a gun inside the car when they pull somebody over). So, sane states have a limit on the amount of tinting. [Glass must pass x% of visible light.] Mass, of course, gets it wrong and bans AFTERMARKET tinting. [I assume that the other states have test jigs similar to the ones that they used to have for adjusting the aim of sealed-beam headlights (which Mass. also didn't use, opting for the inaccurate method of drawing lines on a board)…

I've done Cycling the Erie Canal three times (and plan to do it some more). It's well-designed, and the organized ride is well run. ["Just like New York"]. I avoid paths in Mass. because everything having anything to do with transportation is done so incompetently.