Originally Posted by dkatz1

I often commute on m bike to my teaching job in Boston. A large bit of my ride is on bike path, but the last half a mile or so is on Massachuestts avenue, one of the major streets in the Boston/Cambridge area.

A lot of traffic. In the last few years, they replaced much of the parallel parking with bike lanes, with the weird set up car traffic ( a lane less then they're used to be, a bike lane, then: parking along the street to the right of the bike lane. I'm not that crazy about this set up, I would have left it alone, but that's NOT the point of this rant.

I see so many cyclists blasting down this heavily traveled road, weaving in an out of traffic (as if everyone in a car is carefully watching out for them), no helmet, talking on their phones, nearly running over pedestrians, etc...I'm surprise more of them haven't been hit (and indeed: some of them have).

But a guy I saw a few days ago...he was doing most of the above...zooming along, weaving in and out of the car traffic....and he had, either on his handle bars (or was just holding it?) one of those plastic infant seats, like you see mounted to a rack over the rear wheel…

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

Generally I get kudos or just indifference towards my cycling, mostly as a year-round commuter here in Metro Boston, even after my serious accident four years ago. The most hostile remarks, particularly in Winter, are from those drivers who fear for themselves to hit me.

Of course I contend with their fears using many of those talking points as mentioned above ["Once again: Health VS Cycling Accidents" (link)]. One soft argument I read on Bikeforums is that cycling in traffic really does look dangerous to car drivers ensconced in their vehicles.

Personally I feel pretty safe, well-lit, with unlimited vision with mirrors, and pretty nimble on my bike. Nonetheless, I’m totally attentive to the cars around me, and I have a number of safety aphorisms in my mind to keep me alert (link).

Once though, I was standing on a busy intersection (Massachusetts and Commonwealth Aves) one Saturday night watching some happy-go-lucky student-type cyclists on Hubway Bike Share bikes, no helmets, riding along and laughing in traffic, and I thought to myself that really does look dangerous.