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Sections of Webster Ave. have no bike lanes, making for hazardous conditions cyclists as well as frustrating situations for motorists.
— Photo by Bobbie Toner
By Jim Clark
Somerville resident, Dr. Geren Stone, has been living through something of an ordeal for nearly two years. Now, after a lengthy investigative and legal process, the wheels of justice have finally come to a stop and a sense of closure has prevailed.
In September of 2015, Stone was struck from behind by a man driving a truck on Webster Ave. in Cambridge while commuting on his bicycle to his job at Mass General Hospital.
According to Stone, just prior to being struck, the driver of the vehicle honked his horn and shouted profanities and admonished him to “get off the road.” Stone was then struck by the vehicle and was knocked to the ground. He sustained light injuries, but had his wrist broken in the fall.
Video surveillance footage helped police to identify and locate the perpetrator of the hit-and-run incident.
Several witnesses came to Stone’s aid, and their eyewitness testimony, in conjunction with surveillance video that recorded the incident, helped lead Cambridge police to a suspect in the matter, Christopher Campbell, 49, of Medford, just a few weeks later.
Campbell was arraigned on January 8, 2016, and after being tried on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and leaving the scene of personal injury, was found guilty of all charges on May 17 of this year.
In a statement provided to The Somerville Times at the time of Campbell’s arrest, Stone said, “I am very thankful to the Cambridge and Somerville Police for all their efforts finding and identifying the suspect. It has been a community effort with The Somerville Times, Fox News, and other local media covering the story and providing the images, and the public helping the police locate the suspect. I hope that these efforts can continue to make the roads safer for all, whether bicyclist, motorist, or pedestrian.”
In last week’s ruling, Cambridge District Court Judge Michele Hogan sentenced Campbell to one year in the House of Correction with 90 days to serve and the balance suspended for two years. Additionally, he was ordered to take courses in anger management and safe driving. The court also ruled that Campbell was to have no contact with Stone.
In response to the outcome of Campbell’s trial, Stone told The Times that he hopes we all can work together to make our roads safer as we move forward.
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I’m very glad to read that justice was served, since there is no excuse for drivers to behave in such a manner, no matter how annoyed they may be with anyone else sharing their road space.
I think that part of the problem with road rage in this very old city is the fact that we just weren’t built with roads wide enough in many cases to allow for cars and bikes to travel safely at the same time. While this isn’t as much of a problem on side streets where traffic is less, it’s a very big issue on our main roads.
Too often cars have to slow to a crawl because someone on a bicycle is driving directly in front of them with nowhere else to go, and some folks with very short tempers can get out of hand. While this is not to condone anyone’s bad behavior, it can show what causes some to take things too far.
Whether or not Webster Ave. has a designated bike lane isn’t the problem. Many of our main streets have bike lanes painted on, but the streets are still only wide enough to accomodate one car on either side, so it seems pointless to tell drivers they need to share the same space with cyclists, since there isn’t any choice in the matter but to share it, regardless of whether or not there is a sign indicating that. Common sense should tell anyone driving a car to watch for bikes, and if they need a lane painted to tell them that, they shouldn’t be driving.
I think that cyclists should be allowed to use sidewalks as long as they have a clear path to do so and they aren’t endangering pedestrians. Many times there aren’t a lot of people around, and the sidewalks could be used when traffic is high, as long as cyclists use common sense while doing so and (carefully) move back onto the streets if they see people walking ahead of them.
I’m all for sharing the road here, but our mayor needs to accept the fact that our old road system just isn’t wide enough to allow for everyone to travel in the same place at the same time, and be flexible with the situation as and where it becomes necessary.
Perhaps accidents such as these would be avoided if cyclists could move onto the sidewalk when they see that traffic is heavy, or if they find that a driver isn’t behaving with the proper courtesy.
The bike path is a great help, but it doesn’t lead everywhere, so cyclists will need to move elsewhere around the city, whether drivers like it or not.
It’s just too bad that nothing ever seems to change for the better until something horrible happens. Let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that.