My bike route home along narrated with my commentary on its safety and the shortfalls of city leadership.
Take action and tell Boston’s leaders that safe streets can’t wait
– Sign this open letter to Mayor Wu: https://benjaminsiegel.github.io/enough-is-enough/
– Contact Mayor Wu: https://www.boston.gov/departments/mayors-office/michelle-wu
– Contact the Boston Transportation Department: https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation
Learn More:
– Cambridge Bicycle Safety: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/cambridge-bike-safety-signup
– Boston Cyclists Union: https://bostoncyclistsunion.org/newsletter-signup
Credits
This video was produced and recorded in its entirety by Charles Jessup Franklin.
The primary video was recorded June 25th, 2026
The collision was July 6th, 2026
No sound effects were used. Those were the actual sounds of my bike’s brakes and a car colliding with me.
Bike action camera: Osmo Nano with horizon stabilization activated
Car dashcam: BlackVue DR650GW
Sources:
– Cambridge 2023 Bicycling Report: https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/files/cdd/transportation/bike/bikereports/20231023bicyclingincambridgedatareport_final.pdf
– Cycling Safety Ordinance: https://www.cambridgema.gov/streetsandtransportation/policiesordinancesandplans/cyclingsafetyordinance
– “City councilors blame AI for mistake”: https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/city-councilors-proposed-orange-line-extension-with-a-mistake-riddled-map-made-by-ai/3971609/
– Benefits of cycling infrastructure: https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/benefits-of-great-places-to-ride
– MassDOT IMPACT Crash Records: https://apps.crashdata.dot.mass.gov/cdv/
26 Comments
New England of all places should be better with this
as a runner/walker, thank you for having and using your bell 😊
it's terrible how unsafe bikes are on the road, makes me scared of biking ngl
Bike lanes on roads are start, but far from a quality feature. I've seen what's possible for inner city bike trails; hardly any contact with vehicles, access to major city centres, and recurring recreational incentive. Keep pushing for change, it's a valuable pursuit.
0:35 get off your high horse it's an e-bike you're not exercising anything
well its nice to see the area I want to go to school in is doing alright for anything thats not a car, apart from Boston, but meh
GOD I despise city driving, especially in bad road design.
"we're going to place business along this highway, make it 45, everybody goes 50-55, and GUESS WHAT…NO GODDAMN TURN LANES"
"Sorry. I was too lazy and too stupid to use my mirrors and eyes"
Hm. Parking in the bike lane?
1st offense, $300.
2nd offense, drivers license suspended for 4 weeks.
3rd offense, drivers license revoked entirely, 2 year ban from signing back up to driving school.
Oh the money they'd save on ambulances, fuel and insurance premiums after a brief period of parking fine income…
If you think these repercussions are draconic, yes they are. Similar to £1000 fines for littering in britain.
Not worth taking on.
The bike lanes in my area are either non existent, or so narrow that you're just riding right next to the cars… (unless you want to catch the sidewalk) You can barely even walk side by side on the sidewalk. 😢
I'm not even FROM Boston and I'm invested. What the hell guys, don't you want cyclists??? Don't you want people to get some exercise and reduce car traffic too? There's literally no good opposition argument. Love from Alabama and stay safe out there. Go cyclist guy go!
i thought the "newton supercollider" was a colloquial name until you actually looked it up and it worked, they CHOSE to call that place a fucking SUPERCOLLIDER??? thats gotta be the least comforting name you could POSSIBLY hear when surrounded by hundreds of tons of steel going 10 times your speed
More 4:30 everywhere please
>watching video
>like video
>"my ebike"
>unlike video
WHY ARE YOU NOT USING THE SIDEWALK!? There is a sidewalk pretty much everywhere! What are you even talking about?😭
Didn't have to say you live in Cambridge, we can tell.
I would be taking my ebike to work on the daily, had my e-bike not been stolen 2 weeks ago. I was using it to get to work since where I work is fairly close to where I live and there is a river walk that goes most of the distance from here I live to where I work. Now I’m forced to drive to work since I can’t walk that distance with both rheumatoid arthritis and gout.
Currently saving up the money to eventually buy a new e-bike to replace the one that was stolen. And holding out hope that one day my e-bike is found and can be returned. Sucks even more so since it was a $1,500 bike.
real
4:16 seeing you fawn over that shitty both way bike/pedestrian path gave me whiplash.
my sympathies from germany. I often complain about how some cities(and especially the drivers in those cities) are downright hostile to cycling but it seems that would be average at worst by your standards.
The only “bike lanes” I’ve seen around where I live (around the Mobile Bay in Alabama) are some thin, painted-on bike symbols on the normal shoulder of the road, with maybe one instance of a real bike lane present. Very few people are able to use bikes so they’re uncommon, and those who do ride bikes simply ride them on the grass off the road or on the sidewalk that might exist. I recently bought a bike from a neighbor just to ride around a circle of road in the new place we moved for exercise, but I wouldn’t think of riding it on the actual road because the speed limit is 55mph right there and people usually go about 5 over. There’s also no bike lane on that road, of course. Proper bike lanes would be great to see everywhere but I only learned a few years ago that they even exist 😂
My gf works off of western ave, that street is supposed to be 20 mph with newly built white cones that protect no one
i just cant understand why yall want to be on the road with 6000 pound murder missiles. its the dumbest shit ive ever seen.
I wouldn't dare to ride a road with more than 40 km/h speed limit in my city and in US it's just looks and sounds even more dangerous. Use sidewalk whenever possible.
I also ditched my bell long time ago I consider it near useless in city noise and people also often have headphones or undetectable earbuds, and in my opinion using bell on a sidewalk is just rude to pedestrians, I rather slow down to a crawl and/or use my voice.
Watching this after chill Denmark suburban bus routes videos is like descending into hell.
Im also a daily commuter and experienced cyclist in boston and ive had so many close ones due to disrespectful doordashers on bikes and irresponsible drivers… stay safe
I never enjoyed just how many cars are on the street daily, and that it's getting even more, but I do think bicycles should have a type of license plate as well. There are many cycling tourist here, and I can understand how stressful riding on the street must be, but they're just as unpredictable as cars.
Car drivers certainly dont like them here, and car drivers (or even bus drivers ) getting impatient on a narrow mountain street is rarely a good sign.
6:48 what the fuck was this driver doing ???