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Wrongway driver causes crash that shuts 128 north at Burlington line
By adamg on Tue, 01/12/2016 - 6:33am
UPDATE: State Police reported at 7:22 a.m. that all lanes had reopened.
State Police report somebody drove the wrong way down Rte. 128 northbound around 4:20 a.m. just before Rte. 3 in Burlington, causing a crash that shut all lanes northbound. They estimate the road could be reopened by 7:30 a.m. WBZ reports two taken away in critical condition.
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Comments
4:20am?
I'm sure the time is just a coincidence...
Tell me again
My favorite line about how we need to register, license and insure cyclists so they can be held to the same lofty standard we hold our motorists to.
Huh?
Huh?
WTF does this have to do with cyclists? You're trying to make a bike / car debate on an article where there is none...
Trust me
For some here, every story has something to do with cyclists.
Even the stories where people say highways are never closed.
Be fair
He Who Must Not Be Named hasn't been much in evidence of late. Let the noobs learn about him on their own in the spring, ok?
Oh, sorry
I was just going by the fact that every time there's a car-vs-bike accident, someone chimes in to say that cyclists need to be licensed/registered/etc for fairness and accident prevention, even though it's routinely clear that having a license and registration doesn't seem to stop motorists from continually acting like they've never seen a car before.
I dunno
My guess is that the asshat who decided that northbound was southbound will probably has his license to drive taken away for a short period to say the least. That's kind of the point of licensing drivers- to make sure that those who are truly a menace on the road lose the privilege to drive.
I'm surprised you don't understand the whole purpose of licensing drivers.
I guess time will tell
Because it sure seems like the point of licensing drivers in this state is much more to collect regular fees than to certify competency in any way.
If by fees
You mean those things the police give people who violate the myriad of laws on the books relating to operating a motor vehicle, I suppose you might have a point.
You're funny
That's called a wink and a wave. I mean, how many times have you seen someone blow through a red light, take an illegal turn, ignore a stop sign, etc. right in front of a cop and not get a ticket? Unless they are on "special overtime enforcement detail", it doesn't seem they much bother around here.
Are you talking cyclists or
Are you talking cyclists or cars?
It pertains to both.
Homework for the Day
I see a lot more cars running red lights than I see cyclists running them. Cyclists generally don't enter an intersection and then fail to clear it either.
I'll have to get the go pro out when the weather is warmer. Or, maybe, you can do a bit of your own field work along the greenway and count the drivers blasting through. It won't take much more than a half our to run out of fingers and toes to tally them on.
The difference
And you have to admit when it comes to "running lights," automobiles tend to do that speeding up and entering just before or just after the light has changed. Not safe at all, but compared to what cyclists to, which is to barely treat a stop light like a stop sign, most drivers marginally violate the law.
I'm not going to say straight light running doesn't happen. Heck, I was jayrunning the other night (with my reflective gear on) and the truck on the opposite side of the intersection took a left after barely stopping for the light that had been red for at least 30 seconds.
Meh
I was in a car whose driver got ticketed for blowing a red light (this was accelerating after the light turned red.) Mind you it was 25 years ago, but it was in Boston.
They'll ticket you in West Roxbury for failing to yield to a pedestrian on a cross walk. They do speed traps in some spots. If the people want tickets handed out, the laws are on the book, and, thanks to the foresight of politicians, drivers can be tracked down via their licenses.
And once again, people do have their privileges taken away if they are truly horrible drivers.
You are.
I have seen many cars stopped if observed by a cop to be doing an illegal maneuver. They do indeed bother.
...I don't think cyclists are
...I don't think cyclists are legally allowed to ride on Route 128. You're a little confused, Michael.
Check massbike.org if you have specific questions about where you are and are not allowed to ride. Be safe out there!
Thanks for that
Maybe that will be on the cyclists-license exam like I assume "don't drive the wrong way on the highway" is on the drivers' test
Sign knowledge is on the permit test
And yes, the test does seem a bit stupid when you are asked what you should do when the light is red, but it is there, so theoretically everyone learned it.
The Permit "Test"
You mean those ten questions that never change, are not comprehensive in scope, and of which five apply only to junior operators (people under 18)???
I wouldn't even call that joke a quiz.
You mean Interstate 95
Cyclists are legally allowed on 128 where it is not a limited access divided highway (Gloucester), although there are far nicer routes into that area.
no joke
I once saw a guy biking on 93S right before the leverett split. Also saw a guy get pulled over on a bicycle attempting to get on 93N by the mass ave exit. I don't have a dog in this car and bike debate - just sharing some stuff I thought was odd and humorous.
I can't blame MassHighway for
I can't blame MassHighway for this one:
https://goo.gl/maps/11UELtm27n52
https://goo.gl/maps/T8yq9ZH3YCD2
This is the most likely place the driver entered the road. There's a Do Not Enter sign, plus a keep right sign on the median. There's even a pair of Wrong Way signs.
Had a scare there once
When I was a graphic design student, my friends and I would sometimes take late night treks out to the 24 Hour Kinkos (do they still have those?) in Burlington to make color printouts of our projects. It was a friend driving that time, but late one night, when there was hardly another soul on the road, we were heading back to the highway after spending lots of money printing and dry mounting stuff, and we got on this entrance (on the correct side, mind you!) and someone immediately noticed the "WRONG WAY" sign between the entrance and exit, and we all screamed. And stopped the car in the middle of the entrance until we figured out that we were NOT going the wrong way after all.