Tag: Marty Walsh

How Boston Is Looking to Mirrors to Protect Cyclists

Posted on by robbie

Building safer roads for cyclists is fast becoming a priority in many cities across the country, but Boston is taking it a step further by asking other drivers to take safety precautions, too.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is proposing an ordinance asking that all trucks weighing in at 10,000 pounds or more begin installing side guards and curved mirrors designed to help prevent cyclist deaths.
“The Act to Protect Vulnerable Road Users” was created in partnership with the city’s New Urban Mechanics innovation lab. The design was developed in the wake of an increase in Boston cyclist deaths in 2012, which mostly involved accidents with large automobiles like trucks and buses, according to New Urban Mechanics program director Kris Carter.
Between summer and fall of 2012, five cyclists were killed, according to the Boston’s Cyclist Safety Report. This past July alone, two cyclists were injured after colliding with trucks, Boston.com reports.

“If a cyclist is continuing straight, a common crash is a vehicle turns right and doesn’t necessarily see the cyclist,” Carter tells Fast Company, noting that the danger lies with those bikers getting pulled under a vehicle. “It’s pretty rare that a cyclist who goes underneath the vehicle survives.

The New Urban Mechanics lab ran a pilot program using three designs on 16 trucks. Should the new ordinance pass, oversized trucks will be required to be outfitted with the side rails and convex mirrors along with bright, reflective stickers to indicate blind spots for cyclists and pedestrians. Carter estimates that the new features will cost about $1,200 to $1,800 per vehicle.
“Really, this is a public health issue, because before we can talk about cycling and wanting to strengthen, improve and expand infrastructure, we must first be honest that the critical component is to improve ridership,” says Councilor-at-Large Ayanna Pressley, who is one of the lawmakers spearheading the ordinance. “People have to feel safe.”
While it may be new territory for American municipalities, mandatory side guards have been in practice in many European cities. In fact, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board made a recommendation earlier this year that regulators should make side guards mandatory on new trucks.
We’re glad to see one American city driving change for safer roads.
MORE: The Verdict on Protected Bike Lanes

This Park Bench Does More Than Just Sit Around

Posted on by robbie

We’d never advocate anyone to remain on their behinds all day, but here’s a novel exception: If you’re sitting on a Soofa, you’re actually hanging out on something that creates energy.
Boston’s parks are getting wicked cool, solar-powered benches that can charge phones via USB, as well as check local the air quality and noise levels using location-based environmental information, the Boston Globe reports. The service is provided to the city for free, thanks to funding from Cisco Systems.

Bostonians will soon see the benches in Titus Sparrow Park in the South End, the Boston Common and Rose Kennedy Greenway. Residents can request additional parks to install Soofas by pinning a location to this online map (which is already lit up like a Christmas tree) or by tweeting the location to @newurbanmechs. You can also submit name ideas for benches if you want.

MORE: This Man’s Seriously Bright Idea is Giving People the Ability to Create Power Anywhere
In the video below, Soofa designer Sandra Richter and Boston mayor Marty Walsh have a chat about the city’s new toy. As mayor Walsh says, the benches aren’t just a convenient way to juice up your phone: “I also think it’s a way for us to educate the public on the environment on all the initiatives we have,” adding, “if [the public gets] into the habit of checking the air quality and the other things we can do on this [bench], it will help us with what we’re trying to do as far as having sustainable communities.”
As we’ve said before, solar power might just be the cheapest form of energy. Harnessing the clean, green power of the sun is a smart financial move, plus it also allows communities to create power just with the sun’s rays and peel themselves off the grid.
But, really, any excuse to enjoy some sunshine sounds good to us.
[ph]
DON’T MISS: How to Crowdfund Solar Power

The Doctor’s Orders: Ride Your Bike

Posted on by robbie

We all know that biking is great for staying in shape and getting from point A to B with zero impact to the environment, but how many of us hop on our bikes simply because our physician tells us to?
TreeHugger reports that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and the Boston Medical Center (BMC) have come up with a first-of-its-kind initiative to combat obesity and to increase access to Beantown’s bike share system, Hubway.
The so-called “Prescribe-a-Bike” program allows BMC doctors to provide low-income patients with a $5 membership to Hubway that usually costs $85 a year. The prescription even throws in a free helmet, too.
MORE: Why Salt Lake City May Become the New Leader in Public Transportation
To qualify for membership, “patients” must be 16 or older and receive public housing assistance or have a household income that’s not above 400 percent of the official poverty level, TreeHugger reports.
“There is no other program like this in the country,” Mayor Walsh told Boston Magazine. “Prescribe-a-Bike makes the link between health and transportation, and ensures that more residents can access the Hubway bike-share system.”
It’s actually becoming increasingly common for doctors to prescribe good ol’ exercise to their patients. WebMD cites a report from the CDC that found that one in three adults were advised by their doctors to increase physical activity in order to maintain or improve their health. That’s an increase from the year 2000 when less than a quarter of patients were given doctor’s orders to exercise. This is certainly a good trend because patients are five times more likely to exercise if their doctors tells them to, WebMD notes.
ALSO: Houston Bikers Need Safe Roads. Here’s the Simple Plan to Make That Happen.
Since this country’s obesity, heart disease, and diabetes epidemics show no signs of abating, we can only hope that out-there ideas like Boston’s Prescribe-a-Bike program will get adults moving.