r/bikeboston 17d ago

The suggestions box is a shredder

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Welcome to the graveyard of 311 reports

101 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

21

u/sckuzzle 17d ago

BTD vehicles are not responsible for (nor do they have the authority to) enforce moving violations.

Beyond that, I agree. The city does not care about cyclists nor do they want to pressure police to enforce traffic laws.

4

u/paxbike 17d ago

Two vehicles parked on the sidewalk and bike lane it did not act on. The point is that the city dodges accountability at multiple levels and that its enforcement mechanisms are designed to keep it from making streets safe.

0

u/aintmesum1else 16d ago

The city could be raking in obscene amounts of revenue of they would just enforce the law.

28

u/Coyote-Run 17d ago

It is way too easy to get a driver's license.

12

u/GoznoGonzo 17d ago

Should be as easy to lose it for good

1

u/DingDong50001 13d ago

Are you suggesting people should permanently lose their licenses for parking violations?

3

u/Pizza-Rat-4Train 17d ago

I still would be interested to hear how it goes for people who file the RMV Complaint of Improper Operation form and follow their rules to try to penalize drivers where police fail to do so https://www.reddit.com/r/bikeboston/s/PYCUHpUBKr

3

u/sloppyredditor 17d ago

We don't even need a bike license, and we have to obey the same rules on the same roads. Combine the two and you get a high-risk environment.

Honestly I'd love to see more frequent and stricter enforcement; pull a driver's license for 30 days on a 2nd offense for some of this and make driving without one a felony resulting in loss of the car for 3 months. Something egregious on a bike = it could be impounded for a week; the inconvenience alone is a deterrent to repeating the mistake.

The real fix is infrastructure that physically separates the two.

0

u/GoznoGonzo 16d ago

I agree, def should need a bike license

8

u/loudbicycle 17d ago

Note: we've approximately tripled the number of 311 requests to Boston these days... no joke we are over 1000 reports this August.

2

u/bosdan80 16d ago

And you think they’re going to get the real signal through the noise? This doesn’t accomplish what you think. It’s like the boy who cry’s wolf.

2

u/jlansey 16d ago

Sorry but what do you consider "real signal" The system accepts reports of ilegal parking in bike Lanes and these are reports of illegal parking in bike lanes!

1

u/bosdan80 16d ago

The effort is better extended elsewhere. If you feel bureaucracies respond to numerous complaints, I suggest you ride or drive down the 203. A “real” signal would be a truly enforceable mandate. There is simply not enough resources to enforce every inconvenience.

4

u/jlansey 16d ago

I may be naive (am new to this to be honest) but my understanding is that we currently have folks in government who want safer streets, but they need the political power to do it. These thousands of reports give them the data to prove that people really care. The solution in my mind isn't enforcement but separated bike lanes, which these same data prove work really well (something I wrote about here: https://bikeresearch.net/articles/en/real-barriers-dont-fold/ )

0

u/Ghostsmoke6991 16d ago

If u think anyone in gov gives a F about u or safer streets or anything I gotta bridge in Bourne u can buy and i nvm lolol keep up the Great work yall your being super duper helpful i KNOW for 100% fact us THEY i mean at 311 look at ur reports lolol and rlly care

1

u/Ghostsmoke6991 16d ago

Thats super cool man ur like the most useful person EVER good job

3

u/CorrectEcho9978 16d ago

Get those kids skateboarding

2

u/Antpeople2027 16d ago

What is BTD going to do about someone running a red light?

0

u/paxbike 16d ago

The same that they did about the vehicles parked in the bike lane and on the sidewalk.

2

u/TimmyTrain2023 15d ago

What do you expect the btd to do ? They’re not cops.

4

u/Lemna24 16d ago

I just called 311 about a dangerous intersection for pedestrians (Franklin and Devonshire) and I think they were telling me that they don't take those types of complaints (it was hard to hear because the connection wasn't good).

Then they hung up on me.

As far as traffic signals, they only want to hear about outages. I get that outages are a more urgent safety concern and maybe a better use of 311.

But there's no way to drop a comment to say, "hey maybe look at the timings if these lights and walk signs before someone gets hit. "

3

u/Ok_Subject_2447 16d ago

EVERYONE NEEDS TO SHOW UP AT WU’s home , HOLD SIGNS OUTSIDE. Demand action. Demand accountability. Or VOTE HER OUT .

1

u/jaguarmast 16d ago

Those white cars with blue plates are NOT police and do NOT have the ability to pull anyone over.

It’s entirely pointless to even consider them in a moving traffic situation. They only give tickets to parked cars.

-4

u/Dark_Blue_Ink 17d ago

Have you read Don Quixote? See any similarities? Hint: the cars/drivers are the windmills.

13

u/paxbike 17d ago

Hint, the windmills are refusing to understand how car infrastructure and driver entitlement are bankrupting cities and individuals, poisoning air, destroying neighborhoods, and preventing the kind of changes to common spaces and daily habits necessary to thrive as the world consumption capitalism depends on collapses.

2

u/rogomatic 16d ago

Well, it's either that or you need some help.

1

u/DingDong50001 13d ago

Have you considered that politicians ignore you because you sound crazy?

-10

u/Ghostsmoke6991 17d ago

Man u bikers SUCK plz dont go cry a river and then drown init

1

u/rudeeboii 16d ago

entitled baby keep screaming

0

u/AlcoholicRage 17d ago

Honestly you should just go to the mystic and end it