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Massholes, Rhodey riffraff keeping cops, tow drivers busy on Temple Place downtown
By adamg on Thu, 06/06/2024 - 1:29pm
For the past couple of days, Mary Hurley has been chronicling the people who park on narrow Temple Place, blocking in Silver Line buses at either end of the short downtown street that is supposed to serve as the SL5's starting and ending points.
Around 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday, somebody from Rhode Island parked a pickup just past the intersection with Washington Street, keeping a Silver Line driver from making the turn into the Temple Place stop.
Police who assembled at the scene called in a tow truck, but before it arrived, they removed a "very cute dog" and gave it some water:
Around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a Masshole at the other end of Temple Place blocked a Silver Line bus from leaving:
Less than ten minutes later, a tow-truck driver arrived - escorted by some BPD motorcycle cops - and gave the car the hook:
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
What's the best way to get
What's the best way to get somebody towed? Do people call 911, BTD, what?
TEMPLE PLACE
what happened to the dog??
I don't know for sure, but ...
I imagine after the Rhode Islander picked up the pickup at the Frontage Road impound lot, they drove over to Mahler Road animal shelter in Roslindale to pick up their pet.
I wonder
Given that they left the dog in a hot vehicle, could the cops fine the driver for that, too?
Seems like someone who is way too selfish to be allowed to have a pet.
Call 911
Though in this case calling the Transit Police might speed things up a tad.
I have respect for 311, but if something is an emergency- yes, a road being blocked is one of those- call 911. Requesting that BTD do enforcement in places in general would be 311.
Whether its parking in bus
Whether its parking in bus lanes, driving onto green line tracks, hitting rail road bridges, etc not a day goes by that awful Boston drivers don't cost thousands of public transit users tons of time and money. People complain about the MBTA but the primary reason the agency is struggling is because drivers suck up so much money, space and other resources.
Amazing!
Now let’s ticket and tow people blocking all bus stops, bus lanes, bike lanes, and car travel lanes! Our public roads are not parking lots for private vehicles!
We need automatic traffic enforcement
We need automatic traffic enforcement.
Cameras on the front of the buses to snap a picture of people parked where they aren't suppose to be so they can receive a nice fine in the mail by surprise!
Do that a few times to someone and people will get the hint and not do this anymore.
Its working well for NYC and creating some revenue.
Tell your state representatives...
...they can draw up and sign a bill anytime they want.
In fact, there is one floating around. Not sure where it's at these days.
The shear entitlement and audacity
And why wouldn't they park illegally? Police can't be everywhere, BTD responds to cases hours or days later. Mentality seems to be "go around/deal with it".
Lets talk about the blocking of the box at the BU Bridge. People going Comm. Ave. east bound over the Pike end up blocking the intersection of Comm and Mountfort St that goes over bridge. Cars on Mountfort can't move, which backs up traffic all the way around the curve to....you guessed it....back to Comm. Ave where they can turn right onto Mountfort. Its like a snake wrapped around a rock eating its own......rear end.
How many commutes does that ruin? How many emergency vehicles heading to/from LMA does it impact?
Never seen BPD there to do traffic enforcement except during some on the construction years back or if they needed to harass cyclists with their lights and helmets checkpoints. Honestly haven't even seen that in years.
Again don't worry, I saw an entitled cyclist run a red light here but the blocked intersection didn't hold them up. A motorist blocking the box on Tuesday almost hit a few us that had waited at the light and had the green when he drove abruptly into non-turn lane but whatever, something something entitled cyclists.
“ Never seen BPD there to do
“ Never seen BPD there to do traffic enforcement ”
I saw them once hold up traffic nearby when a Washington politician was on his way to the Ritz hotel.
I thanked the officer for making drivers stop for the red light so pedestrians could cross. He misunderstood me and thought I was complaining. He said,”It’ll all be back to normal soon” He obviously had no clue how bad it normally is on Washington St.
He misunderstood me and
Or that was just his way of saying "Enjoy it while it lasts."
I wish that were so.
But there was no irony in his voice. Not a speck of dry humor.
Angela Merkel!
Had some Staties holding up all traffic at the off ramp from the Pike at the Double Tree.
No one is coming down the ramp, I'm gonna be late for work, I don't have time for this, so I went and pedaled onward. The trooper gave like a split second "heeey...aahhh..nevermind."
I can think of a few jealous motorists from that day.
Sometimes you get an even tighter doomloop
when there are two cars trying to turn left onto a divided highway from opposing directions. The cars behind each one get backed up to the point of blocking the *other* car. The horn symphony that follows is quite moving (unlike the cars, heyo.)
This is happening all the time now
on Freeport at Morrissey. For some completely befuddling reason they changed the light there so there's a flashing yellow arrow for traffic turning left to head north on Morrissey from Freeport, which naturally every driver interprets to mean they should rush into the intersection and completely block the folks trying to turn left onto Morrissey southbound to get to the grocery stores or CVS.
This is why we need retest at renewal
So all those drivers who were taught that three drivers get to go through a stop sign at once and got their license from a crackerjack box will have to crack that drivers manual every five years and learn about the world changing.
we need more of this, and
we need more of this, and MBTA needs to be authorized to use photo evidence of parking in bus lanes to be able to assess fines or points against a driver.
How?
The MBTA is neither a police agency nor an insurance company. How will it do either of those things?
Um ...
It isn't difficult. School buses will soon be able to nab offenders via video.
All that needs to be done is for the MBTA to submit evidence to the police and for the police to be required to follow up.
Rhode Island is a popular destination
Especially for lower income people priced out of the city due to gentrification. Many people who live in Providence work in Boston (area). Whoever you are , don't complain about out of state plates too much, because a lot of people have the need to flee the state and city due to very high cost of housing, etc.
Yes ... and?
So "fleeing the state" means amnesty from obeying traffic laws while spending way too much to drive into Boston and pay for parking and all that?
Okay. Whatever.
This is becoming more
This is becoming more and more of a problem. And its because of lack of enforcement. There was a time when drivers were worried about doing this because they might get a ticket.
Now, since there's virtually no enforcement of traffic laws anymore, people just do what they want.
I wish BTD would ticket heavily on the N Washington Street bus lane. They don't so people just drive in it anyways. The 111 bus that leaves Haymarket has to use that lane.. and often it can add UP TO 45 MINUTES to go 1/4 of a mile because cars are using the bus lane. It renders the bus lane useless.
Just today our friend Maureen Caught (@caughtinsouthie on socials) posted about a Pilot for a bus lane on Summer Street. My first comment was "yay more bus lanes that BTD can ignore". Sad but its true.
Bus lanes are a great idea, but without rigorous enforcement, they become useless.
Unbelievable!
That white Honda even had its park-anywhere lights on. Can't believe the cops would tow someone so considerate!
Close it to non-bus traffic
Put up a gate that only Silver Line bus drivers can open, just like the gate to the tunnel at D Street.