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Police: Bicyclist runs red light in Somerville, gets hit by car

State Police report that Joseph A. Santo, 19, of Somerville, was transported to Mass. General with serious injuries following the collision around 12:30 a.m. at Rte. 16 and Broadway.

A 2006 Hyundai Elantra struck the bicycle in the right lane of Route 16 eastbound.

The State Police investigation determined that the driver of the Elantra, a 46-year-old Medford man, did not contribute to causing the crash. The Elantra's driver, who is not being identified, was not injured. The Elantra was towed from the scene.

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Comments

What are they basing all this on? Wouldn't it be nice to know?

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State Police e-mailed a press release to reporters. They do post those things, but typically about a day later. I can post the entire thing if anybody really wants.

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Since I live near that intersection (and was there just yesterday afternoon), I'd like to know which direction the cyclist was travelling, on which street, and whether he had a headlight and tail light. Was this a rear-end collision with both vehicles travelling eastbound on 16?

North of Broadway, a cyclist normally should use the newly paved and widened sidepath instead of riding on 16. South of Broadway, the sidepath hasn't yet been improved and is in pretty rough shape, so you may have to ride in the road.

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http://bit.ly/qLXJb4

Ron- the SJ is running what appears to be a closely verbatim copy of the State Police press release. At the very least, it has a few more details that you were looking for.

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Now attached to original post.

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It says he was riding on Broadway (and not on 16), but not which direction. He either didn't look south on 16 at all before crossing, or he seriously misjudged the speed of the car travelling north on 16.

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No, he went through a red light.

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So much for the old cyclist canard that running red lights is somehow safer.

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depends on how you approach it. Driving a car can be safe, or it can be deadly, same goes for riding a bike through a red light.

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One person on a bike getting hit going through a red light is purely anecdotal.

How many run red lights without injury every day? How many get hit because they stopped and were run down from behind when the light went green? How many stop for reds without injury of any kind?

Until you know the numbers for more than 1 incident, then you can't just dismiss the so-called "canard" as incorrect.

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16 is an east-west route. And Broadway, I generally this of going north toward Arlington Center. Looking at a map I think I understand, but I wish people used the directions designated by the numbered route.

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At this intersection, Broadway approximates an east-west alignment. When you ride on it, you go from West Somerville to East Arlington. (Or, if you go the other way, to East Somerville.)

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Let me guess - no lights, dark clothing ... and ran a red light at a place where you don't have to wait too long for a green.

I wonder if it is one of those guys who stays out all night and slowly rides around on a child's bike - there seem to be a bunch of them in these parts.

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That almost sounds like SCUL -- except that they tend to be very conspicuously lit, and noisy too. (I've ridden with them a few times but am not a member.) You'll usually see them out on a Saturday night, stretching into Sunday morning.

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I've been known to socialize with certain members of that nocturnal circus - their passion for remixing old bikes into weird bikes is second only to their love of complicated lighting systems for said bikes.

I'm thinking that this young person is one of the pants-on-the-ground crowd in our community who ride bmx bikes around all night without helmets, lights, visible clothing, or any sense of hazard from traffic. They generally stick to the sidewalks and don't bother anybody, but they also don't seem to pay much attention when they veer across the road.

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Actually, Joe is NOT of that crowd. He got in an accident. Why don't you stop being so heartless and jumping to conclusions and think of what his family must be going through. Christ. What is wrong with people. All you should be doing is praying for him, not criticizing or judging.

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Including one who bikes in this area at night.

One of my son's friends was hit by a car recently, so I have a good idea of what his family is going through. Except that particular kid didn't cause the accident.

While I am sad that a young person was injured and a driver was traumatized (and possibly injured), is my job as a parent to point out the consequences of these kinds of simple, inattentive mistakes in order to prevent further trauma.

And don't tell me I should be praying. That's bigoted.

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and assuming he's a "pants on the ground" kid riding a kid's BMX isn't bigoted?

STFU already.

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Do you live in that area? Probably not.

I have no issue with the bmx kids, actually. If you think it is a slur, than you have issues not me. They are just kids, milling about, doing what teens do (with an occasional wheelie and pants-hike-up thrown in), wearing the particular clothing/uniform that makes them feel like they belong with their group, and generally not bothering anyone. Teenstuff. I've never had a problem with them - aside from their fundamental lack of stop-look-listen skills when it comes to crossing streets.

So I may have been mistaken that one of their number fell. Big deal. The fact is, if you live in the area, you would know that there are groups of young men of such an age and in some number that mill about that area late on any given summer night. That leads me to believe that the victim may have been one of that crew. (and not Scul, which tends to celebrate red lights by being visible in their oddness!)

I'm so sorry that you are having such a crisis of self esteem today beerguy. Why don't you ask mommy to bring you something , and punch her when she gets down to the basement. That might make you feel better for longer than popping up on an internet forum and randomly attacking people ad hominem.

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What you are saying here sounds an awful lot like what anti-cyclists say, you've just inserted the term BMX. It is odd that you've chosen to focus on this issue, when there is no evidence what so ever that it has anything to do with the marauding BMX punks terrorizing your neighborhood. Be sure to tell them to get off the damn grass.

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Where did I say "terrorize"? Marauding? Punks?

All I did was note that the vast majority of 19 year old guys who are biking in that area at 12:30 am fit this description. You and others have taken a SIMPLE DESCRIPTIVE PROBABLITY STATEMENT (if you lived in the neighborhood, you would know this) and blown it into massive piles of bullshit based on your own fears of urban whatever teens OMFG!

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It's fun watching you spin, I'll give you that. How can I have any fears of something I haven't seen, something for which there is no evidence?

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Yeah, because being on the sidewalk is only annoying to pedestrians, who aren't people.

For the record, SCUL seems kind of pretentious, but I've never seen their members on a sidewalk or violating traffic rules.

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But there usually aren't many pedestrians out at that hour in the area - and they tend to move aside. These kids are like BMX blowflies, really - just drifting around in lazy circles.

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Do you know something that we don't Swirly? I don't see anything to indicate that this guy was a BMX guy. It seems a bit heartless to cast aspersions on him, and attribute all kinds of negative characteristics based on that stereotype.

For all I can tell from the information above, I could just as easily say that the guy was an MIT student coming home late from lab, who made a bad choice and didn't look carefully at what is normally a deserted intersection at that time of night. Completely different stereotype.

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it wasn't, but please be a little more insensitive to the poor family and their son, who was in a coma. really. speak out of your ass. it's great.

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