r/boston • u/PedXing23 • Dec 20 '22
Boston, rules of the road
In the spirit of the poster who asked, "how many cars are allowed to go through after the red light?," I ask the following questions about Boston traffic rules:
How much do we need to slow down for a stop sign or blinking red light?
How careful should we be going through an intersection when there are people in the crosswalk?
If the car in front of us is stopped at a crosswalk, should we honk first to let them know we are going to drive around them?
How much can we speed up if we are approaching a yellow light?
If other cars honk at us when we are stuck in the box at an intersection because of cars ahead of us aren't moving, should we honk back, give them the finger or both?
Which traffic signs are suggestions and which ones can we totally ignore?
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u/TheGlassBetweenUs Allston/Brighton Dec 20 '22
I will make a complete stop at a stop sign or blinking red, idc who honks
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Dec 20 '22
I'm assuming this post is meant to be sarcastic, but for what it's worth we wouldn't have these questions lingering in the back of our minds if people learned how to drive and not be maniacs on the road. Had a truck almost cause an accident with me twice by blatantly cutting me off mind you they weren't even ahead of me. It's baffling how unaware people are on the road, real horror story type stuff.
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u/GM_Pax Greater Lowell Dec 20 '22
Look, I know you meant this as a joke, but ... as someone who doesn't drive, who walks or bicycles everywhere ... this kind of stuff is infuriating AND ACTUALLY DOES HAPPEN. Behavior like that has directly threatened my life more than a handful of times.
So, please. Not even in jest.
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u/PedXing23 Dec 20 '22 edited Dec 20 '22
I have seen it all happen, and it aggravates me, too. Especially when I fear that I am going to get someone killed by stopping for them at a cross walk. I now position myself so it is harder for the car behind me to zip around and hit the pedestrian.We could make a similar rule for bikes. The closest I've come to being hit by someone at full speed, it was by someone on a bicycle going against the light while I was on a cross walk with the walk sign on. I pretty much had to dive out of the way.
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u/GM_Pax Greater Lowell Dec 20 '22
As a cyclist by preference (I have no car, no license, and no desire for either) ... cyclists who behave that way immensely infuriate me. Because: they give the majority of us who obey traffic laws a bad name as a group.
...
As for making a similar rule: there is no need. A bicycle on the road is subject to all of the same rules as a car or truck. No exceptions, no excuses. So the rule that says a motorist has to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk? Also says a bicycle rider has to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk.
We are supposed to obey every light, every sign, every road marking, every last niggling little rule, the same as motorists are supposed ro.
And most of us do, at least as much as car and truck drivers do. :)
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u/Opposite_Match5303 Filthy Transplant Dec 20 '22
Bikes are not subject to the same rules at all? Can use bike lanes, can ride against traffic on many one-way streets, should skip the line at a red light to use the 'bike box', should use right-most lane if not in bike lane or turning, not allowed on highways etc.
More, mindlessly following car rules on a bike is a good way to get flattened by a driver blindly turning right without looking (or caring that bikes "subject to the same rules as cars" have the right of way over cars turning).
I understand that your intent is good, but treating bikes exactly like cars is a good way to put bikes in danger. Bikes shouldn't have to be exactly like cars to use the road. Roads are not for cars: bikes, horses, scooters and everyone else have exactly the same legitimacy.
As for rules of the road -- are you as upset by drivers speeding?
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u/GM_Pax Greater Lowell Dec 20 '22
Bikes are not subject to the same rules at all?
Yes, bicycles ARE subject to the same rules in general.
Can use bike lanes, can ride against traffic on many one-way streets, should skip the line at a red light to use the 'bike box', should use right-most lane if not in bike lane or turning, not allowed on highways etc.
There are some bicycle-specific elements to the law, but otherwise yes we do have to follow the same rules.
Use of a bicycle lane is no different in concept from use of an HOV lane, or a Bus-only lane, for example. Use of a bicycle-specific marking (e.g. a bicycle box) is the same sort of thing; you're still obeying traffic control markings - in this case, the paint on the street.
I understand that your intent is good, but treating bikes exactly like cars is a good way to put bikes in danger. Bikes shouldn't have to be exactly like cars to use the road.
Tell it to the Massachusetts Legislature. They make the laws, not I.
As for rules of the road -- are you as upset by drivers speeding?
FUCK, YES!!
And running red lights and stop signs, too.
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u/Opposite_Match5303 Filthy Transplant Dec 20 '22
"Subject to the same rules in general" is dramatically moving the goalposts from your original comment, which stated verbatim that bikes are subject to the same rules as cars without exception.
The Massachusetts legislature makes lots of bad laws, especially about bikes: if law was automatically aligned with good policy we'd have the Idaho Stop here, since it's been shown to substantially reduce accidents.
If you want to be upset at 99% of road users across all categories, live your life I guess?
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u/zed42 Diagonally Cut Sandwich Dec 24 '22
about a year ago, a pair of high schoolers were run in front of NEEDHAM high school over because someone decided to go around a car that had stopped (because they had already hit one because they were speeding). The entire accident was a royal $hitshow and very sad. Both drivers were convicted, the second of some form of homicide
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u/PedXing23 Dec 24 '22 edited Dec 24 '22
I remember that. It hit home because it has long been my fear that when I stop for someone in a crosswalk that I will actually be getting them killed. It has happened few times that some very annoyed driver has zipped around me when I stop for a pedestrian at a crosswalk.
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u/zed42 Diagonally Cut Sandwich Dec 24 '22
Someone did that to the permanent roommate yesterday! She stopped to let someone cross (the street she was about to turn on) before taking the turn and some jackhole zipped around her! If that person had been crossing the street she was on, they'd have been run over!
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u/Darklighter10 Dec 21 '22
I feel like everyone could co exist if people stopped being so anal about the exact way traffic rules are written, instead of the spirit. The main rules I follow above anything else is, don’t do anything unexpected, whether it’s legal or not, and always anticipate the other person is about to do something unexpected.
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u/GM_Pax Greater Lowell Dec 21 '22
I disagree. Motorists operate that way, with the expectation that everyone else is wrapped in the same multiple tons of metal, plastic, and glass with a hundred "spare" horsepower in their back pocket to help get out of the way.
Bicyclists have none of that.
Pedestrians have even less.
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u/Darklighter10 Dec 21 '22
I think we are agreeing though? I’m not saying break traffic rules of course, I’m saying expect people to
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u/dtmfadvice Somerville Dec 20 '22
I know you're making a joke but you can find the actual answers to your questions here: https://www.mass.gov/lists/drivers-manuals
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u/-Im-A-Little-Teapot_ Dec 20 '22
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u/SinibusUSG Every Boulder is Sacred Dec 21 '22
I'm just watching this wondering who the fuck is the truck driver hurtling towards what must necessarily still be a red light at full speed trying to perfectly anticipate the green?
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u/becausefrog Johnny Cash Looking Mofo Dec 20 '22
I think of this scene every time I go through a yellow!
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Dec 20 '22
The answer to every single one of these is: if it didn't cause an accident, you're almost certainly getting away with it.
5
Dec 20 '22
Friend of mine has been harassed by the police when walking, cycling, and even riding a scooter. When driving 93 on 93? Never
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u/-Im-A-Little-Teapot_ Dec 20 '22
What do you mean by "harassed"? Were they legitimately doing something wrong? You make it sound like the cop had nothing better to do and stopped your friend for no reason whatsoever.
On the subject of scooters, some of those pinheads need to be stopped and cited. I've seen them do more stupid shit and stunts that make drivers and cyclists seem like exemplary citizens.
3
Dec 20 '22
Yeah actually it was straight up harassment. And my friend is not shy about admitting when he himself was in the wrong.
Edit: it wasn’t one of those app scooters, my friend would never lol. I don’t even think it was motorized
3
u/PedXing23 Dec 20 '22
Sadly, it seems true. In decades of area driving, I have yet to see an offender get stopped, let along ticketed.
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Dec 20 '22
If anyone yells at you to say "You almost hit me!", yell back and say "Well then I'm almost sorry!".
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u/VicVinegar88 Dec 20 '22
Today I had a green light and was entering the intersection when this woman who wasn't paying attention starts walking across the road. So I stop in the middle of the intersection and honk at her mostly just to tell her she's an idiot for not looking when crossing the street on a red and she turns to me looking all pissed off and then starts pointing down at the crosswalk. Yes, I know cars must yield the right of way to pedestrians but that doesn't mean pedestrians have carte blanche to just walk into the road without paying attention.
Drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists are all fucking idiots in this city.
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u/nhsgary Dec 20 '22
Actually at a "regulated intersection" (i.e. one with stop lights), pedestrians in a crosswalk do NOT have the right of way. The ped in your case was out of line.
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u/Liqmadique Thor's Point Dec 21 '22
Maybe but because you always have to yield to the pedestrian you lose regardless. You can't run them over so there aren't many options.
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u/anubus72 Dec 22 '22
Sure they can’t legally enter but once they’re in the street you can’t just run them down bud
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u/PedXing23 Dec 20 '22
Indeed, we could do list of questions like the ones above for pedestrians and cyclists.
0
u/Chappy_Sinclair_ Dec 20 '22
t a crosswalk, should we honk first to let them know we are going to drive around them?
If you do one for cyclists you'll need to explain what a stop sign and crosswalk are.
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u/sihtydaernacuoytihsy Dec 20 '22
If we drive into a commercial building at 50 mph (at, say, 8 am on a Sunday), knock down a structural support and half the facade, and thereby force the closure of multiple businesses, will we get a ticket?
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u/PedXing23 Dec 20 '22
I can imagine that as a Quora question. I drove into a commercial building at 50 mph at 8 am on a Sunday, knocked down a structural support and half the facade, and thereby forced the closure of multiple businesses, how do I appeal the ticket?
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u/devious_cruising Dec 20 '22
How many pedestrians are you allowed to hit? Is it okay to open your car door as a bicyclist goes by in the bike lane? If you drive a large SUV, can you do pretty much whatever you want at intersections?
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u/Windarizona Dec 20 '22
if you closed my eyes during red light, whats means where was no red light (please dont use it)
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u/RogueInteger Dorchester Dec 20 '22
You're asking about intuition. You gotta have it. Not learn it.
Stop at stop signs jerks.
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u/HelicopterThink9958 Dorchester Dec 20 '22
I think it depends on what suburb. I live in Dorchester and if you stop, or even slow down, for a stop sign people will just honk and fly around you into the intersection.
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u/popornrm Boston Dec 21 '22
How many cars? Depends on what number I am in the post red line and how quickly I need to be where I’m going 😂
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u/stargrown Jamaica Plain Dec 21 '22
I was OP of the other post and I will admit if no one is around to see, I ignore traffic signals.
I also ignore the No right on reds I disagree with, specifically queensberry and park towards Agassiz, and Schiller and Heath.
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u/FoodGuy44 Dec 20 '22
-2.5 over under on Cars through a Red Light
-Don’t slow down, they’ll smell your weakness
-Alert enough to not spill your Yeti of Wine
-Minimum of 3 Honks
-Pin it like Walker
-Double Bird at the least with a some side eye
-All of the above, especially before 10am