As a diehard bicyclist of long standing, I have an aversion to electric bicycles, or e-bikes. Don’t like ’em. They’re too heavy, too fast, and too quiet. Many of the people who ride them on the shared-use paths (SUPs) around the Island show little concern for what it takes to operate them safely and responsibly. (In fact, SUP is too broad a concept. For that reason, I’m gonna use their original name — bike paths — from now on.)
So, you can imagine what I felt reading about the collision between a pickup truck turning into Nomans restaurant and an electric dirt bike/motorcycle speeding down the bike path that sent a father and son to Boston via medevac. I was aghast.
Other than location, this accident bore no resemblance to a minor collision three years ago. The 20-year-old daughter of good friends was slowly exiting Nomans’ parking lot, about to turn left onto Seaview Avenue toward Oak Bluffs, when a 70-year-old cyclist ran into her car broadside. No one was physically injured, but the poor girl was freaked out.
A few days after that accident three years ago, I biked over to Nomans to have a look. What I found was alarming. There are three entrances/exits from the large lot, each of them about 30 feet wide. They all slope downward before intersecting with busy Seaview Avenue just past the bike path. What alarmed me was that there are no stop signs at any of these exits, and no “Caution — Bike Xing” signs.
In other words, no one driving away from Nomans, where they might have had a drink or two, is warned that they are about to enter a busy intersection after they run over somebody on the path.
I went into the restaurant to speak to the manager about these dangerous conditions. She listened to my concerns and said she would bring the matter up to the owners. She also said that Nomans does not own the parking lot. It all belongs to Island Inn.
So, I went around back to have a chat with Island Inn’s manager. He listened cordially.
Six months later, I returned to see if any new signage had gone up. None had. I repeated my concerns and disappointment at both establishments, warning that I was “going to raise the stakes.”
Sorry to say that it was an idle threat. Other than a fruitless complaint to Oak Bluffs’ highway department, the issue languished on my back burner. But after reading about the recent accident, my indignation flared.
I paid visits to the State Police barracks, the Oak Bluffs Police, and the Oak Bluffs Fire Department, hoping to get more information on the accident and to express my concerns about the parking lot.
No added information was available to me, and although everyone was aware of the dangerous conditions in the parking lot, the only suggestions were to contact District 5 at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Instead, I filed a request with the Oak Bluffs Fire Department for information on all traffic incidents involving the parking lot exits going back three years. I included another dangerous intersection, where Head of the Pond Road crosses a busy bike path before intersecting with heavy traffic on the Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road. (Once again, no signs whatsoever at the exit, unless you count two “Bikes Must Stop” signs on the path.)
Next, I put in a call to the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC), intending to ask how they can issue a liquor license to an establishment exhibiting such little concern for its patrons. I never got to ask that question, but I had a friendly conversation with the commissioner. He suggested contacting my state senator, which I’ve done.
I also plan to contact the Massachusetts Division of Insurance to suggest that the insurance industry require property owners to maintain adequate visible signage where their driveways cross a bike path.
These are initial steps to improve bike path safety on the island:
- Paint yellow dividing lines on every Island path. The easiest way to let all users know they’re on a two-way street.
- Establish and enforce a 15-mph speed limit.
- Require helmet use.
- Towns, do a much better job clearing vegetation along every bike path inch. Keep them free of sand and gravel. Daily.
- Place trash cans at every bus stop.
- Banish all but the slowest e-bikes.
- Put the image of a bicycle on every “Caution — Bike Xing” sign. That way everyone will comprehend the message.
- No more “Bikes Must Stop” signs anywhere, ever. In addition to being obnoxious, they are unenforced, ignored, and give drivers the idea that they rule the roads. “Caution — Busy Intersection” would be friendlier.
And if I hear one more town official say, “Sorry, not my jurisdiction,” I’m gonna blow a gasket.
Tom Pallas lives in Tisbury. Before moving to the Vineyard in 1998, he owned an old-time bike shop in Buffalo.