Cycling Deaths Are a Crisis. Cambridge and Mass. Should Act Like It.

There’s an epidemic of cycling fatalities in Cambridge taking away our neighbors, our friends, and members of our Harvard community.

Last Monday, John H. Corcoran ’84 was killed by an SUV while biking on Memorial Drive, following two fatal cycling collisions with cars over the summer in Cambridge.

These deaths are tragedies. We mourn these victims and send our condolences to their families.

What makes these losses even more tragic is that they were preventable. Better bike infrastructure could have made all the difference — which is why it’s so shameful that local government has spent years dragging its feet on addressing this crisis.

Transit activists have long highlighted the need for upgrades at the Boston University Bridge intersection, a hotspot for fatal accidents 500 feet from where Corcoran was hit.

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation, which oversees the area, must heed those calls and expedite the construction of protected bike lanes. In the long run, implementing a “road diet” — a roadway with fewer car lanes separated from bikes by a barrier — would provide a durable solution to cycling fatalities.

Local government isn’t off the hook either. In 2020, the Cambridge City Council made plans to construct 25 miles of bike lanes by 2026 — an appropriately ambitious target. This past April, however, the Council pushed its construction deadline to November 2027, having constructed only 13 miles of bike lanes as of May.

This setback is unacceptable. Every year of delayed construction is another year of unsafe streets. A 2019 study assessing 13 years of data from 12 major U.S. cities found that installing protected bike lanes citywide could reduce cyclist fatalities by 44 percent.

Other regulation options are available too. Neither of the two trucks that killed cyclists in June were equipped with side guards — protective barriers intended to prevent cyclists from getting caught under vehicles during a collision.

While Cambridge currently requires trucks owned by or contracted with the city to install side guards, our government should work to expand the use of this safety measure statewide. Strengthening speed limits and narrowing lanes could further reduce fatalities.

But those must be the first steps, not the last. Cambridge can do more to institutionalize a culture of road safety, starting with modified drivers’ education requirements and public awareness campaigns that emphasize safe driving on shared roadways. Reckless or distracted driving creates a lethal mix that no amount of infrastructure can fully counteract.

We call on our representatives at all levels of government to push for action on upgraded bike infrastructure and mobility justice.

Students on this campus know firsthand the danger of dodging speeding cars as we bike, scooter, or even just walk around Cambridge. As an influential voice in local politics, Harvard has a responsibility — both for the sake of students and the larger community — to lobby for better bike infrastructure.

In the meantime, the University should also provide safety resources such as helmets and bike vests to students.

The right to move around safely is foundational. It’s time for local policymakers to start acting like it.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.