With the tragic, retraumatizing passing of Louisa Gag, it\u2019s clear: The culprit is not lack of education. It is trucks. We have a truck problem in our neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
An 80,000-pound metal multi-wheeled vehicle can kill in a fraction of a second. In that sense, it is a weapon. Firing a gun blindly into a crowd and claiming, \u201cI couldn\u2019t see,\u201d would result in criminal charges. Operating a massive truck with blind spots should be held to the same standard. If you cannot see, you cannot go.<\/p>\n
Get The Gavel<\/p>\n
A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr.<\/p>\n
Accountability must extend to employers. Companies choose to send trucks into our densely populated neighborhoods without safety equipment. To prevent deaths such as Louisa\u2019s, Minh-Thi\u2019s, and Sidney\u2019s, we must require companies to equip every truck with readily available blind-spot technology including cameras, sensors, mirrors, and lateral protective devices. <\/p>\n
Where education falls short, technology will save us. Demand safer vehicles, demand accountability, and save lives.<\/p>\n
Alexa Gomberg<\/p>\n
Somerville<\/p>\n
Mary Beth Ellis<\/p>\n
Andover<\/p>\n
Nguyen, 24, was a lifelong friend of Gomberg; Olson, 5, was Ellis\u2019s daughter. Gomberg and Ellis are founding members of Massachusetts Families for Safe Streets.<\/p>\n
Asking cyclists to share a single travel lane with motorists is asking for trouble<\/p>\n
Cities that have reduced traffic deaths have focused on designing streets to prevent dangerous conflicts<\/a> rather than relying on people to behave perfectly. An ordinary mistake should not become fatal.<\/p>\n Asking people biking to share a single travel lane with cars and trucks, as Paul Schimek does in his op-ed \u201cThe preventable blind spot trap killing Boston\u2019s cyclists,\u201d is not a durable safety strategy. It may work for confident cyclists, but it is not realistic for children, families, older adults, or anyone uncomfortable riding in fast-moving traffic. Safer design instead separates road users, places protections at intersections, and uses clear signals to avoid conflicts.<\/p>\n It would also be a mistake to make cyclists responsible for avoiding drivers who turn or change lanes across their path. Drivers must remain responsible for looking before entering another road user\u2019s space. We would never tell pedestrians that using a crosswalk depends on anticipating every driver\u2019s actions. Biking should be no different.<\/p>\n