When I first saw them, my middle finger shot up spontaneously, and I heard my voice voice spit out my preferred verb followed by a non-negotiable pronoun for those who set mindless rules.
Call it “therapy.” On Plum Island’s one and only road to the mainland, as of last summer, we now have signs instructing “MOTORISTS GIVE 4 FT TO PASS” with a little bicycle underneath—a reference to a common sense courtesy usually known as “share the road.”
Calmed down, I can’t help but wonder about yet another nail in the coffin of common sense. We half-joke that it “is not common anymore” even as we conform to vague notions of what’s “appropriate”—in this case a well-intended but too often paralyzing politeness that makes me wonder if we still have any sense at all.
Long before the redundant signs on the Plum Island Turnpike — which is really a causeway — this was thoroughly driven home on the streets of Newburyport, where motorists hit the brakes if a pedestrian so much as leans toward the curb. And spectators are appalled by any motorist who does not.
We’ve come to expect that pedestrians can cross streets without looking both ways, far from a crosswalk, and against a red light. And that cyclists can whiz down one-way streets in the opposite direction. Any contact with a car, and the motorist is guilty. We are nearing the point when, if there’s an accident between a pedestrian and a bicyclist in Newburyport, the owner of the nearest parked car will get the blame.
At State and Pleasant the traffic and crosswalk lights might as well be defunct phone booths for all the attention they do not get. And good luck to visiting drivers who cling to the belief that green means go in Newburyport. More maddening is the confluence of Water and Merrimack at Market Square. Again, a signal regarded as insignificant punctuates the problem. As pedestrians push the “Walk” button, a driver on Merrimack Street will stop and wave for them to go. Result: All drivers are stopped on green until both streets get red—just as “Walk” comes on for the benefit of strollers already safely across the road.
But let’s get back on the road to Plum Island: Does the “MOTORISTS GIVE 4 FT TO PASS” sign apply when cyclists pedal outside the line, giving themselves their own four-foot lane on Plum Island’s two-lane causeway? And there’s no lack of cyclists who ride two abreast, one of them entirely on the motorist’s side of the bike lane line.
In accordance with a state law that took effect in 2023, the new signs now appear on roads I frequently travel that are often two-lane, hilly, and winding. In such places, they no doubt help remind drivers to be on the lookout.
PI’s causeway, however, is flat except for a small bridge across the narrow channel, and as straight as the Pesky Pole on both the mainland and island sides of that bridge. With a line for bicycle lanes in both directions, and absolutely nothing blocking any sight-lines, the sign does nothing more than state the obvious.
Yes, there are times when the proximity of bicycles to large trucks is dicey. However, danger never results from a lack of space between a bike and any motor vehicle if the two merely stay in the middle of their lanes. The four feet will be there, no need to afford extra room. All of the risk is taken, all of the danger is created, when bicyclists pedal outside their lane—as when they ride two abreast—while oncoming traffic is well within view.
So, here’s a question that cannot be dismissed as either hyperbolic or rhetorical, though it can’t help but sound wild: Are motorists supposed to drive on or over the line that divides us from the other lane into the face of oncoming cars and trucks?
Put another way, which would you rather risk: A head-on collision with another car? Getting rear-ended if you slam the brakes? Or knocking some oblivious fool for a loop? Of course, I’d lay on the horn before choosing the last option. If that didn’t get them to move over, well — that’s what helmets are for.
If anyone who frequently drives the causeway wants a sign to improve its safety, that sign would read: “CYCLISTS, STAY IN YOUR LANE!” And, yes, that should be covered by common sense.
Jack Garvey
Plum Island resident
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