Road etiquette

[Crankin]

Ha! Turn signals are always optional in New England. Most people don't use them, especially for changing lanes on the freeway. People here don't know how to smoothly merge into traffic either. They will come to a dead stop on a ramp and then drive way over to the right in the break down lane and push in the lane at the last minute, instead of smoothly merging in while signalling.
I expect to see all of these things while riding and driving.

[Jolt]

Yes, there's a reason why the term "M@$$holes" is often used by people from other states to describe Massachusetts drivers! We have our share of aggressive drivers as well as people just making dumb moves on the road. That said, when I drove to RI to get my bike (the seller was in Warwick), I decided the drivers there are even worse, at least on the highway.

[Torrilin]

In most of the US, the local, state and federal government specifies bikes as vehicles. That means we get all the rights that a car does, including the right to be able to cross an intersection on a green light. The following two links give MA specific examples of how an intersection can be designed to kill people.

programmed to run red?
MA intersections

Your local government can't fix the problem if they don't know it exists. If they know of the problem and don't fix it, you have better legal recourses in case you get hurt due to their negligence.

[Jolt]

Another problem at traffic-actuated lights in MA is described on this page: http://www.bikexprt.com/massfacil/no...rd/ongreen.htm. Have you ever seen the sign that says "bicycle stop on line for green"? First of all, it is poorly worded (sounds like it's asking us to stop on the line when the light is green--why would we do that?), and second, the "line" referred to often doesn't even exist on the roadway!! The idea was to have a pavement marking painted over a part of the loop that would allow a bicycle to trigger the light, but where I have seen these signs there was no such marking, and according to the page referenced above, this problem is widespread (the page gives examples mostly from the Boston area; I have seen it in Millbury and Grafton). An example of a good idea but lousy execution.

[Crankin]

That is exactly the type of intersection I meant, when I said it was NOT one of these. There are quite a few around Acton and Concord (the intersection is in Acton) and the "line" I believe they are referring to is the white line going parallel to the cross street just when you get to the front of the intersection. However, I have seen special markers for the bike sensor in some places (mostly in other states). Yes, it took a lengthy discussion on TE for a few of us to figure out what "bikes stop here on green" meant. But it's no different than "reverse curve" or other language things that are peculiar to MA.
I guess I could could call the Acton highway dept., but since this light crosses Rt. 2, it's probably controlled by the state highway dept. That might take a million years.