May 5, 2025 • 39 mins
There can be all sorts of hazards out there on the roadways! Hazards can include damaged physical roadway infrastructure like potholes, it can include other motorists or cyclists, weather can play a part in hazardous driving conditions as well. Dan has a personal story he wants to share on the air about a driving experience he had that nearly resulted in a serious accident. We discussed hazards on the roadways and asked listeners about their thoughts and experiences with various hazards on the road!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray w B Boston's new
video Dan Watkins.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
What station. I was trying to watch the game out
of the corner of my eye and I couldn't find it.
They were on TNT. You tn T tonight, TNT. Oh
missed it? Okay, if I had seen it, they would
have won. I'm kind of their good luck Tron. That's
that's what happened exactly. Maybe was it those three points?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Maybe they would have only missed forty four.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And they, oh, well, I'll get him again. I my
TV was pushing me to some pay per view deal
when it was like, I don't like that.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
That's strange.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I got to get back to TNT. Okay, gotta
remember that one for Wednesday night. All right, Thanks Dan,
appreciate it as always. Thank you much, my friend, of course.
Thanks all right, Gonna change topics last hour again. My
thanks to Jamie Gass of the Pioneer Institute. It's a
great organization. It's really grown. It's called the Pioneer Institute
(01:02):
dot org. All one word, Pioneer Institute dot org. Check
them out. They are really smart people who want what
is best for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Most of the
politicians up there at the State House are not very
smart people, nor do they want what is best. They
want what is best for themselves, and that is the difference.
(01:24):
So whatever the Pioneer Institute lines up on an issue,
I'm generally on their side. So I would suggest that
you check them out. And well, that was a really
good hour. Jamie Gass is a really well spoken guy
and a representative of the Pioneer Institute. So I got
to tell you a story here. Okay, my best hours,
(01:45):
I think are experiences that I have had, and uh,
this was an experience which really bothered me. Yesterday I
was heading to the gym on Sunday morning and I
was stopped at the light. Again, it doesn't matter where,
but I will tell you in case you know the
(02:07):
area Lake Street and Washington Street. And I just went
by what's called Rogers Park, a ball field, big big
ball field in Brighton on my right and come up
to a red light. And it just so happened on
a Sunday morning that traffic's pretty light. So normally when
(02:28):
I missed that light on the fifth or sixth car,
but I was number one. I was the first waiting
for the light to change, and I am what you
call a fairly defensive driver. I like to try to
assume that there are other people on the road who
are not paying attention. And you know, again, I don't
(02:49):
want to jinx myself. Believe me. I'm I'm a little
still concerned about even talking about this issue. But I
think it's important, and if you think it's important, i'd
like to have you join me. So as the light
turns green, And before it turned green, I noticed in
(03:11):
the distance to my right on Washington Street heading towards
Lake Street, and it looked like a pretty good clip
and a guy on a bike. Now, I'm going to
tell you the guy in the bike was not a kid. Okay,
he probably was sixty years old, maybe more, I don't know.
He was flying, he was flying. He was dressed kind
(03:35):
of disheveled. It almost looked, you know, as I saw
him that it looked like he was wearing pajamas and
a bathrobe. I don't know, maybe it was maybe it was,
you know, I don't know. He looked a little disheveled.
And when the light turned green, I started to roll
(03:56):
into the intersection, but I rolled in more slowly than
I normally would again, I wasn't in a rush. This
guy on his bike blew through the red light. Never looked,
never looked, never slowed down. He blew through that red light.
(04:18):
I gotta tell you, if I had not noticed him,
I don't know why I did, but I did, and
and I was watching, and when the light turned, I
had I assumed that, well, this guy, maybe he was
going to stop, but I wasn't sure, so I waited.
And of course, as he flew by me, and again
(04:40):
the light had turned, now for three or four seconds.
This wasn't a light that turned quickly. I blasted him
on my horn. Okay, I mean I wanted to wake
the guy up because I was afraid he was going
to roll through another red light. The point of my
story is you have to be so concerned drive, but
(05:01):
you have to be so concerned with a lot of
the bicyclists who do not care about the lights. All
of us have sat at red lights patiently in our
cars when someone has slid by us on the right
in some cases slowed down or maybe even come to
a full stop, and they just proceeded through the red light. Which,
(05:22):
of course, if you did that or I did that,
there would be a police officer who would pull us
over and ride us a ticket immediately for running a
red light. But this guy yesterday, I don't know if
he realizes that maybe after I blasted my horn at him,
he did, he would have hit me broadside. I mean,
there would have been no way that I could have
(05:43):
even if I, well, I guess I could have if
I wasn't paying attention, I theoretically could have could could
have hit him. But the chances are that if I
had just proceeded through the red light and wasn't paying attention,
this guy would have hurt himself into my car and
he would not have survived it. I mean, at the
(06:05):
speed that he was going was really fast, never ever
slowed down. So the point of the story is to
emphasize to everybody that the bicyclists have taken over the roadways.
We have lost. Okay, those of us who drive vehicles,
we have lost. We did not come together and express
(06:31):
our rights as drivers to be able, which we pay
for the roads. Of course, the bicyclists don't pay for
the roads. Oh, we all pay taxes. I get that,
I get that, But we pay excise tax on our cars.
We pay insurance. We pay to register our cars every year,
(06:51):
we pay for inspections, none of which the bike riders
the bicyclists pay for. But look, the last thing any
of us want to do is find ourselves in an
accident with a bicyclist, because you were always going to
(07:12):
be blamed for it. And if I had gone through
that red light without that green light, I should say,
which I had without paying attention, he would have blown
through the red light and either hurtled himself over my car.
And I don't want that on my conscience. To be
really honest with you, I have a responsibility to other people.
(07:36):
I have to assume that when you go down the
street with cars on both sides, be careful. Someone's dog
might run out, some little kid might run out. But
the problem that I deal with all the time are
the bicyclist. They're out of control, they have been made
to feel the masters of the road, they have been
(07:59):
made to that they're impervious to any sort of an injury.
And because even if they do get injured, the insurance
for your car on my car will cover it. But
this guy yesterday, again, this is not some kid. This
is not some nineteen year old kid who was just
going as fast he was going, like they would say,
(08:19):
you know, that's out of hell. I mean, it was
as simple as that he was going. He was probably
going over the speed limit, the motor vehicle speed limit
that would require, which I assume is like probably twenty
five miles an hour. He was going at least thirty
miles an hour, maybe more, maybe more. He was on
a downhill, if you know the terrain that I'm talking about,
(08:41):
Lake Street crosses Washington Street, and maybe he lost control.
I don't know. He should have been out on a bike.
If he lost control, it was just insanity. And I
thought to myself, thank God, and I do mean thank God.
That's something in my head said give a peek to
(09:03):
the right, because once I saw him, I breaked. Slowed
down initially, and then I breaked in the middle of
the intersection because I wanted nothing to do with this dude.
Six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one
seven nine three one ten thirty. I know we haven't
talked about the bicyclist lately, but look, it's May fifth,
(09:25):
by the way, Happy sinker Tomaio. For those of you
who are celebrating the holiday, uh, and I just would
love to hear from you if you've had a near
death experience. I mean, it was scary. It was I
went to the gym, focused on my gym workout and said,
(09:45):
thank god that somebody was Something was in the back
of my mind that said check the right because I
don't know why normally I would anyway. Maybe other times
I've checked it and there was nothing. They are blowing
through the intersection. But this dude was doing twenty five
to thirty miles an hour on a bike. Look like
(10:07):
he was in a house code or pajamas or something
like that. I don't know. And if he's out there,
I saved your life yesterday, Powell, and you didn't care.
You did not care. And don't kill yourself on someone
else's car. Wake up and smell the coffee. Six seven
two thirty six one seven nine three one ten thirty.
(10:31):
It's it's just gotten worse every year. It's gotten worse.
The bicyclists, they will give you some hand signal and
then they just move. They don't wait and wonder if
you know what the what the hand signal meant or whatever.
They they are the kings of the Kings and queens
(10:51):
of the road and you drivers at Massachusetts, you are
a mere inconvenience they need to deal with. Join the conversation.
I love to hear from you six one seven two
thirty or six one seven, nine three, one ten thirty
back on night Side. If you had one of these
experiences lately, feel free to share. And if you're a
bicyclist and you feel that that some some driver did
(11:15):
not exercise sufficient care and caution and actually jeopardized you,
I'm willing to hear from you as well. I don't
want anyone to get hurt. Coming back on.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Nightside, you're on night Side with Dan Ray on you
B Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I was trying to describe this guy yesterday. I mean, uh,
he almost had that look of the nutty professor type look,
if you know what I'm saying. As I say, I
wasn't sure if he's in like a long coat or
a bathrobe or something in pajamas. But he was just
flying down Washington Street and if you know that part
of the uh the city in Brighton, heading towards Oak
(11:55):
Square just blew through that light, never slowed down. I
don't know, I just thank god I saw him. That's
all I can say. Simple as that. Let's go to
the phone. It's going to go to Phil in Boston. Phil,
welcome first this hour and night side.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Phil, how I made first? Dan, I'm so glad you
brought this up. I'm surprised you and that's never happened before.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Never this bad, Phil, Phil. To be honest with you,
I've seen plenty of bike rider. Absolutely this guy. This guy,
First of all, he didn't even recognize the red light. Phil.
He just was coming down there like he was at
the Indy five hundred or he thought he was five
hundred and just blew through the light. And I'm telling you, Phil,
(12:40):
if I had proceeded through that intersection as I normally would,
if I hadn't noticed him, I would have either had
him as a hood ornament, or he would have just
killed himself and hurled himself over the car.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
You know, because you're a bus owner and you're you're cautious,
and then chatting is you got the guy behind you?
You the goal, so you get hit, You hit the guy.
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
The funny thing about it, the traffic was so light.
I don't know if there was a guy behind me,
to be honest with you, I don't know. I get
what you're saying. I get what you're saying. But I
was so focused on this guy, and I thought, is
this guy gonna stop? And then I got a sense
that he didn't care about stopping. And when he was
at the front of my car, he probably blew by
my car, you know, five feet in front of me.
(13:25):
He had plenty of room. I hit that horn. Phil.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Let me tell you, jeez, they carried they carry things
to throw at you. They'll lock your wins you, they'll
lock your rear view me. I'm telling you it's they
don't even give poessions a break, like you say, the
King of the road. Eventually, they don't want anybody driving.
They don't want a driving bikes, absolutely no.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And they had been empowered by the politicians. The powered
by the way the politicians. You know, the politicians always
show up. When you know, someone tries to beat a
truck making a right hand turn and they end up
under the front wheels and they die, sadly, the politicians
will show up. The politicians really concerned that say hey, look, folks,
you know you got to back off a little bit here.
(14:09):
You're not the kings of the road.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
The weak or two. Yeah, the ends alone, I believe
ends Loan. Years ago, someone that office that got hit
by a bike, a ninja w a ninja, a courier
almost killed. I was not killed. And they had a
new law that was passed. A posy career is supposed
to have a number in their backs that can identify him.
That lasted about a week. Like you say, then, I
(14:33):
was walking on Necummings Highway on Washing Street on the
sidewalk going towards the post office. A person was on
a bike on the sidewalk. I was on the sidewalk,
which I did not know that my back was to them.
And it's happened before to me. He came with him
just on knocking me off the standing and I yelled
(14:57):
at him. And now I'm in a beaf with this guy.
Know who he was. He calls me the certain words
and then I'm saying, wait a minute, if I get
involved with this guy, I'm gonna be involved. I'm gonna
get total. He's gonna just walk on the bark and
I'll be I'm guessing though it's no one cares anymore.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Dan, that's the problem. Field and I'm trying to wake
people up here a little bit. I feel that that
the drivers, the people who drive automobiles, you know, pay
pay sales taxes, pay sales taxes, size taxes, insurance. The
politicians don't care about them. We have a group called
Triple A. I'm a member of Triple A, right, But
(15:37):
Triple A doesn't do anything about this. All they want
to do is collect my dues and hopefully and hope
that I don't call for Doe.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
That's a good prince. Yeah right, no, but no, but
I'm so glad it brought it up. I know nothing's
gonna be done about it. It's just almost just survival,
miss Dan. I saw several vehicles set pedal bikes. The
guy has his family and the back with a self
made cat. This gentleman has to be out. He's got
(16:05):
and I'm sure he's a good driver, you mine as
a lass, but he's gonna be a complete idiot. People
are driving and then they got the mopeds on the bike.
No one knows what the rules are. You'll seek to
a carpo. I don't know that. That's a simple thing.
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Oh no, no, I know what the rules are I'm
gonna give you the rules. Simple. The rules are that
people who drive automobiles better comply with every every traffic obligation.
If you drive a bike, do whatever the hell you want.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
That should be made for a good political statement for
someone who's running for some kind of an office. I'm
telling you, but it is getting out a hand in
and someone's gonna get cleaned or have your life rules.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
This guy almost bought the farm yesterday, and I gotta
tell you, I, you know, look, I Phil, I don't
want to be in that situation.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Got problems.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
It's as simple as that. You got it. Hey, Peil,
appreciate you calling me and we'll talk about Appreciate it
very much. All right, we got to take a quick
break here. We're coming up in the news, and I
want to short circuit anyone. I've got one line open
at six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty, and
I got a couple lines open at six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty. If you still drive a car, I'd
(17:18):
love to know what your experience has been and what
you would have done. I hoped that everyone would have
seen this guy coming and spared his life. I felt that,
you know, I could have been half asleep. I guess
I could have been not paying attention. I could have
been listening to the radio. But thank god I saw him,
(17:38):
and I just had a feeling. I said, this guy's
not going to stop, and I figured and I was right.
He didn't stop. He he may have lost his ear
drum because I blasted him. Because I hope he woke up,
and I hope he realized how close he came to
buy in the farm if someone hadn't paid attention. We'll
(17:58):
take a quick break coming right back on Nightside, right
after the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It's night Side, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And by the way, I just want to emphasize, this
was not some kid driving the bike. This guy was
at least sixty, maybe more money. No helmet that I recognized,
and as they say, he looked like he was wearing
pjs A in a bathrobe. I don't know. Maybe he
was in a different sort of get up. I don't know,
(18:32):
maybe he was heading to church on a Sunday morning.
But I'll tell you, anyone who was not paying attention
could have easily hit the guy. He was not stopping,
and he had the red light for about five or
six seconds. It wasn't like the red. The light just
turned red. Now there was a younger person driving a
car who maybe wasn't as attentive. Could have been lights
(18:55):
out for this dude. And if he's listening, you were
very lucky. My friend Crash in Boston. Oh, I'm sure
with a name like Crash, this guy's going to be
a character. Go ahead, Crash.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Well, my last name is actually Gordon, so I'm not
Flash Gordon.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Crash.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
I am Crash Gordon. But honestly, the arrogance of the
majority of people. I've ridden my bicycles all over the country,
and I've driven my trucks. I'm waiting for a team suspension.
I've ridden my motorcycles. The majority of people are not
focused on what they're doing, no matter what they're operating.
(19:39):
It's like the three fingers shop teacher. Hey don't do this, well,
how did you do it?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Show me and let me ask you this. I'm telling
this story straight up. Okay, I'm not saying that I've
never made a mistake driving, but I'm not an If
this guy's blowing through a red light on a Sunday.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Morn that is ignorant, and a lot of bicycle riders
that think they're impervious and you don't have enough patting.
You hit the wall, kid, and it fell down on
you after you hit it, because he knock it down.
This is the arrogance of the majority of what you're
going to encounter, and the biggest problem is half of
(20:21):
it's so distracted when in his own thinking doesn't even
have to be on the phone. Yeah, the guy probably
got kicked in ahead by a butterfly and he was
still following the flight. He went on the field drip.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Because I watched this guy and I just he caught
my eye. He was going so fast and I thought
to myself initially, he's never going to be able to stop.
So the light turns green. I roll into the intersection
really slowly. Normally I just would have proceeded through the intersection,
but I said, and at some point, I just at.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Least you took down one second of momentary reason to
realize anything can happen at any given time. But a
lot of people outplugged.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
In like that.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Well, I feel sorry. I don't know what sort of
trucks you drove, but often we'll hear in Cambridge, there's
been an accident of bicyclist drove under the front the
trucks taking a right and the bicyclist just tried to
blow by the truck on the right side and didn't fight.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Well, the one that ran in front of the trolley, Yeah,
luckless pedestrian in that respect.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, yeah, well that really did.
Speaker 5 (21:29):
So that luckless pedestrian I just wasn't paying it to
or I just didn't care. And the air again, a
lot of bicycle riders. Look at what they just did
in this little town down the road to Spin. They're
taking away sixty percent of the parking to make a
bicycle lane and have these idiots don't even use the
bike lane.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Well that will, we see that. But we've lost that
as drivers, we've lost the argument because the politicians basically
do whatever.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
The biketotical on this one. Yeah, and Michel Woo screwed
up every bicyclist in the city. She gave them the
sense of entitlement. Now they're encroaching upon parking spaces. Well,
there's more vehicles than they're all bicyclists.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And a huge by the way, by a huge multiple.
It's not like it's sixty forty, it's like.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Oh, roll beyond reproach, all right, now it's like eighty twenty.
And the bicyclists do not own the road. Hell, the
carse the hell a lot bigger than you are, and
you want to get in the way of it.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, man, if they don't pay for the roads at all,
those are taxes. So don't they.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Get the driving fees or you're not saying any taxes?
No gas shore with the aggressive the aggressive scooter drivers too.
I mean I've ridden motorcycles, okay, and yeah, I never
got hit on my motorcycle because I didn't want to crash.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I know you've never called before because I've never had
a crash. The only person who I've ever known was
crash was Crash Davis uh In uh In the baseball
bull Durham uh And so we got to keep him
as a first time caller. Run of the Claws.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Oh yay, Do I get a T shirt?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Unfortunately, on another night you might have but not denied crash.
I'm sorry, man, It's all good.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
Don't sweated, but.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Those from our friends in college.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
But the Celtics lost.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Celtics to listen.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
To something good? Yeah, they did. Tonight one.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I mean, just game one.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
We'll beat the nurse.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Let's hope. Let's hope.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Good to you and God bless and just keep an
eye out. I'm dropping my left eye and I got
no peripheral hearing.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
All right, thanks, thanks Crash. I enjoyed that call. Where
we got to go neck. Let me go to Steve
and Brockton. Steve you next night side welcome, go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
Steve, Hi Dan, thanks for kind taking my call home.
Excuse me, excuse me. I just had to call because
when I was sixteen years old living in Brockton, and
we're talking in the seventies, put it right, about nineteen
seventy five.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
I was, I was.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
I had my shorts on, no shirt, no shoes. I
came over with the hill of the main street, downtown
Main Street, doing about thirty miles an hour, hit the hintersection,
got hit by a Lincoln Continental owned by one of
the boxing guys in Brocklyn too. He hit me.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
He hit me.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Yeah, the last the last thing I saw before I
hit the pavement was Lincoln Continental. Is he hit him
hit me with the front of the car. So I
ended up. I end up on the sidewalk passed out
without cold. I opened my eyes and it's all my
friends are all standing around like what happened? What happened?
This is like eleven o'clock at night.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
And so I.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Really dumb boy, sixty dumb question. What were you doing
riding a bike at eleven o'clock? You were on a bike,
I assume, right, yeah?
Speaker 6 (25:19):
What were a beautiful beautiful I'm beautiful. I love this bike.
It was a motor Pacan here of those.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Well, the question is eleven o'clock at night?
Speaker 6 (25:32):
Come on, well you know what do you what?
Speaker 4 (25:34):
What?
Speaker 6 (25:35):
What else was I doing at that at the time
of the night? You think.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Were you drinking? No?
Speaker 6 (25:42):
No, hell, we couldn't drink back then. It was eighteen eighteen.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
There were peanuts. He drank under the age of eighteen
back then. I hate to break it to you, stave.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Well, yeah you couldn't. You couldn't. It had to be
kind of yeah, you would come.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
You were coming home from your girlfriend's house, right, yeah, yeah,
I figured it out, okay, And and you were so
in love that they didn't see the car that hit you.
Did that? The thing is, did you let me ask?
I don't want to joke about it. First, did you
did you recover from whatever injuries you you sustained?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
I had.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
They took me in an ambulance to Brogden Hospital. I
had road burns over like eighty percent of my body.
I was I was unconscious, okay, and I woke up.
I tell my buddies there was like, am I in heaven?
He goes, no, this is Donnie. But Donnie, what are
you doing in heaven? What are you doing here? Is
goldna be here? So they dragged me off and took
(26:38):
care of me. But make a long story short. What
hit me about the situation is the guy who hit
me is just as to blame is me because he
jumped the light. I came. I came flying down the
hill doing like thirty miles an hour. Like you say,
good speed. I was that was traveling. Yeah, went right through.
He went right through the intersection, so I ignored the intersection.
(27:01):
He jumped the light of the other intersection coming the
other way.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
I was going southbound, he was going east. He jumped
in and he hit me and put me on the
on the sidewalk.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
How long were you in the hospital for?
Speaker 6 (27:16):
Uh, Well, it probably took like well six to seven
hours just to get seen in that at that time,
it was a horrible down barked in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Lucky you're alive.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, I know. No major damage, just road burns.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Did did they cover whoever hit or cover your injuries?
Medical bills?
Speaker 6 (27:34):
Yeah? I managed to do that. I managed to get
that covered. And I actually had him replace my bicycle,
which was a motive a cane. Like I told you,
it's like a three hundred dollars motiv a cane.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Three hundred dollars was really three hundred dollars.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Let me ask you, what's the lesson? What is the
lesson that you took from that incident? What's the lesson
did you leave with our audience tonight?
Speaker 6 (28:01):
Well, I would I would say that everybody has to
share the road, and if it takes putting an officer
of some sort like a parking we used to that.
We said what you called what you call you basic
registry officers back then. So not only did you have
to watch out for corps while you were driving, make
sure you were driving good for them, you had to
(28:22):
be careful for the registry officers too. But they did
away with them. I think it was Bill Weld. He
decided that we didn't need them anymore. Ever since Bill
Weld took over, the traffic situation in Massachusetts has gone downhill.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Okay, i'll word it was actually occurred. The consolidation of
the Registry and the state Police as well as police
occurred under Billy Vultup. But anyway, Steve, I'm glad you
and I'm glad you called in tonight, and I appreciate
you taking the time.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
What they want to do is we do need, we
do need better. What I'm getting at is what we
need is better. Uh, these people on the street keep
been keeping away.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
We tell you what we need. We need people to
be awake. We need people to be awake. Okay. We
need the bike riders not to feel that they own
the roads. And we need the drivers, the automobile drivers
to be aware that there were people out there who
do really dumb things and.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
You give them tickets.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
You give him tickets.
Speaker 6 (29:21):
One in my life should.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Take Thank you, Steve, appreciate your call. Be well, thanks
my friend. Talk to you soon. We'll take a quick
break back on night Side. Right after this.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Okay, we're going to try to get everybody in who's
on the line, So let's start it off with Robert
and Wellesley. Robert, you were next on Nightside. Welcome.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Oh, good evening.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Dan.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
I like to commend you for being a safe driver
and avoiding that accident.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
It scared the heck out of me, It really did.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Oh yeah, I was when I scared the heck out
of me too, and I want to commend you the
way you handle it. I sympathize with your feelings in
the more matter. I wonder if you'd be interested. And
I've also found it interesting listening to your callers and
their their perspectives, including UH, Stephen Brockton and crash and
(30:15):
Crash Gordon, and I sort of like to like that.
I'd sort of like to give the perspective of not
only a motorist and a pedestrian because I've had scares
that way from cyclists, but also as someone who's done
cycling and also also done running and has had some
interactions with with vehicles. Even though I was doing my
(30:37):
utmost to operate according to you know, the rules for
both cyclists and UH and monners.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Grow ahead, you don't have to ask permission. Go ahead, Broly.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Well, anyways, I think there's real misunderstanding antagonism on on
both sides, and and I think some of your callers
have said it's kind of a lack of safety education
on all sides. And we you I can I can
recall one time myne of my own business on a
(31:08):
on a on a bicycle and uh uh, some guy
came out of nowhere in a white undershirt and felt
the needs tell me that the bicycle belonged up on
the on the sidewalk, which as a vehicle it really
doesn't belong on. So I was not supposed to be there.
And I want to tell you that cyclist was way
(31:28):
out of out of wine and not only should have
been sided, but depending depending on perhaps depending on the municipality,
could have been cited for driving recklessly like that that citation.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I'll tell you he was flying and it wasn't a kid,
he was an older guy. Uh And he was flying
and I just thank God that I picked him up.
Because all of us have those moments when you're not
paying attention. I have had those moments.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
We all daydream something else, some other thought comes into
our mind. And we're not thinking about what we're doing,
and it could lead to a real problem, a real problem.
I can remember as young as a young dad pushing
my son in the baby carriage out in the roads
of Sherbourne and they would be these guys at ten
o'clock in the morning. I was working nights in TV
and I, you know, take my son. You know, he was,
(32:21):
I mean a year or two old in a baby
carriage and you know, the big cars coming down cut
through between Route sixteen and twenty seven, and they were crazy.
I mean they were. It was a cut through and
I can remember yelling slow down, and they want to fight.
It's like, okay, let me put the baby carriage on
the side of the road here, let's have at it.
You know, it's like it's insane. It's insane. Hey, robin
(32:44):
Ie got a whole bunch of calls. We're going to
try to sneak in. Be well, my friend, Thank you much,
Thank you, good I talk to you soon. Good night.
Let's go next to Dave in San Antonio, Texas. Dave,
are they as crazy as San Antonio is up here?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
No?
Speaker 5 (32:58):
No, they aren't. And uh well, I had my experience
on a cycle as in Michigan, and we didn't have
bike lanes for as cyclists, we traveled in the lanes
of the cars if we wanted to travel with the lanes,
and we traveled on the side of the road or whatever.
I got fast enough to travel with the lanes of
the car. I could average thirty five forty miles an
(33:21):
hour on the slow lane. I went to work every
day on a bicycle doing that, and I find that
the motorists were very courteous of me on there. I
mean I was hugging the edge of the slow lane,
you know what I mean, yep, and they go by,
and it was I was never any danger to them
because I was going about as fast as they were.
Fifty five was a speed limit. I could hold forty
(33:44):
forty five all the way to work.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
And how long in those days was your commute.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
Thirty miles there and thirty miles home, so.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Would take you? If you were doing what thirty thirty
five forty you were getting to work in a little
less than an hour.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
So that was good work, right, Yeah, And plus I
saved a lot of Guess why.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
I'll bet you a lot. I bet your weather down
there better, better weather pattern than we have a little
hot in the summertime, but but probably the rest of
the year.
Speaker 5 (34:19):
I don't blend you for your hostilities of the West.
That's the way cyclists are treated. Bike wings everywhere, and no,
that's not right. And if they if they want to
take a bicycle or you know, they should learn to
they should get you know, athletic enough to go as
I was fast enough on the road to weather, they're
not going to get hurt.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Well, this guy was flying, Dave. I'm telling you this guy.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
It was.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
It was, you know, not a steep hill, but he
came down an incline. He was flying, and I saw
the light change and I said, this guy's not stopping.
And I obviously had the right of way, but what
good did it do me to go through that intersection
and and either get hit by him him or have
him try to stop. There was no way he was
going to be able to effectively stop without killing himself.
(35:06):
But yeah, yeah, it's you know, I mean, he I
don't know what's going on in the guy's mind. It
wasn't some kid. This was a guy who was like
sixty sixty five years old, at least he looked that way.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
To me, so I beget he was seventy today to dad's.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Crazy thirty on a Sunday morning. What was he rushing
to go to church? I don't know, all right, Dave,
I got to keep rolling here, man, gotta keep rolling. Man,
have a good one. Get let me get Audrey and Cambridge.
I'd be welcome back. How are you?
Speaker 7 (35:38):
Oh, I'm fine. How were you?
Speaker 6 (35:39):
Dan?
Speaker 7 (35:39):
Oh my god, I kept calling because the line was busy.
You know, in Cambridge it's unbelievable. I mean, I know
it's everywhere, but I mean one night I might have
told you this before. We went up the city Hall
and there were hundreds, when I tell you, hundreds of
people like people with their helmets, with their little kids,
even they have little kids talking at the microphone to
(36:02):
the counselors that could barely speak right. And there were
only a few of us and.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Spandex.
Speaker 5 (36:10):
Oh all of them.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
That's a shame.
Speaker 7 (36:14):
And yeah, and it was just we just wanted to
get the little have a little delay before they put
more bike lanes on our main one of the main
streets here, Cambond Street, And oh my gosh, they just
went on and on.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
They heard a story today on BZY Radio that there's
some sort of a petition over there to say parking spaces.
Are you hip to that or no?
Speaker 7 (36:34):
I haven't heard of it yet. I know there's one
section on Broadway, but don't worry, I'll be signing it.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Well, it was. You can check out WBZ News go
to our website in Boston News, uh and you can
find it. And I'm telling you it was, Yeah, it was.
It sounded like a pretty interesting story. It was a
significant number of signatures to save parking spaces because the
loss of the parking spaces kills the business.
Speaker 7 (37:00):
It is it is and they don't care. And you know,
when you were talking about it before, I forget the
when you were saying, how you know the bicycles on
the sidewalks? What what they did here? There's a senior
housing development not too far from where I am and
they actually put the bike lane on the sidewalk in
front of the senior housing. A bike doesn't it. I mean,
(37:22):
it just gets more ridiculous every day, and it's just
it's infuriating, and yet people are fighting it and fighting it.
And now now what they do in Cambridge. You can
put a building up with no parking. I mean, not
too long ago, you could not build a building without
having attic of pocketing's a building going up.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
It's all part of a combined strategy, it really is.
It's a part of it.
Speaker 7 (37:44):
It's crazy, though, but I don't get it.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
I don't.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
I don't get it, because why don't. At least it's
the bicyclists, you know, obey the traffic law laws, but
they don't. And I call them the II group. Yeah,
well that's a good one, because that's all they talk,
think about it as themselves. I want to do this,
and I want to do that, and I want to
ride my bike. And some of them didn't even live
in cambers that were up at city Hall that night.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Well, I've told you how passed. And this goes back,
This goes back like thirty years. I'd be driving my
kids on Sunday morning to a soccer game or a
little league game, and I've had a few kids, you know,
a couple of their friends in the car, and out
on some of those roads in the western suburbs, you know,
in Westwood and Natick and places like that, you'd have
like these three guys dressed in the same sort of outfit.
(38:31):
It's like they were on some sort of professional sports team,
but they just had the same yellow spandex outfit. Yeah,
they would drive three abreast. If you come up on
them and you just beeped quietly, they'd turn it around,
flashing the broad atge with kids in the backseat of
the car.
Speaker 7 (38:45):
Really yeah, yeah yeah, And as other said, they so yeah,
oh yeah, and it's so elegant. I mean, they just
think that they own the road. I mean, one guy
one day, I mean, and I just halloed at him.
There's poor woman was trying to get out of the
arm there was like ann Chice store.
Speaker 5 (39:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
Well yeah, she's just trying to pull out a little bit.
And a bicycle is going by and saying, hey, you
your blocking the road. He went. I said, you're going
to a red light. The guy was going to a
red light. No, they don't care.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Unfortunately I got you in before you.
Speaker 7 (39:18):
Oh, I know, you got a kind of call us.
This is like a source spot with so many people.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Okay, well thanks Audrey, talk soon. All right, all right,
we're gonna stick with this into the eleven o'clock hour.
Angelo and Tim you stay there. I got lines at
six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty and at
six one, seven, nine, ten thirty
It's Night Side with Dan Ray w B Boston's new
video Dan Watkins.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
What station. I was trying to watch the game out
of the corner of my eye and I couldn't find it.
They were on TNT. You tn T tonight, TNT. Oh
missed it? Okay, if I had seen it, they would
have won. I'm kind of their good luck Tron. That's
that's what happened exactly. Maybe was it those three points?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Maybe they would have only missed forty four.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And they, oh, well, I'll get him again. I my
TV was pushing me to some pay per view deal
when it was like, I don't like that.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
That's strange.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, I got to get back to TNT. Okay, gotta
remember that one for Wednesday night. All right, Thanks Dan,
appreciate it as always. Thank you much, my friend, of course.
Thanks all right, Gonna change topics last hour again. My
thanks to Jamie Gass of the Pioneer Institute. It's a
great organization. It's really grown. It's called the Pioneer Institute
(01:02):
dot org. All one word, Pioneer Institute dot org. Check
them out. They are really smart people who want what
is best for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Most of the
politicians up there at the State House are not very
smart people, nor do they want what is best. They
want what is best for themselves, and that is the difference.
(01:24):
So whatever the Pioneer Institute lines up on an issue,
I'm generally on their side. So I would suggest that
you check them out. And well, that was a really
good hour. Jamie Gass is a really well spoken guy
and a representative of the Pioneer Institute. So I got
to tell you a story here. Okay, my best hours,
(01:45):
I think are experiences that I have had, and uh,
this was an experience which really bothered me. Yesterday I
was heading to the gym on Sunday morning and I
was stopped at the light. Again, it doesn't matter where,
but I will tell you in case you know the
(02:07):
area Lake Street and Washington Street. And I just went
by what's called Rogers Park, a ball field, big big
ball field in Brighton on my right and come up
to a red light. And it just so happened on
a Sunday morning that traffic's pretty light. So normally when
(02:28):
I missed that light on the fifth or sixth car,
but I was number one. I was the first waiting
for the light to change, and I am what you
call a fairly defensive driver. I like to try to
assume that there are other people on the road who
are not paying attention. And you know, again, I don't
(02:49):
want to jinx myself. Believe me. I'm I'm a little
still concerned about even talking about this issue. But I
think it's important, and if you think it's important, i'd
like to have you join me. So as the light
turns green, And before it turned green, I noticed in
(03:11):
the distance to my right on Washington Street heading towards
Lake Street, and it looked like a pretty good clip
and a guy on a bike. Now, I'm going to
tell you the guy in the bike was not a kid. Okay,
he probably was sixty years old, maybe more, I don't know.
He was flying, he was flying. He was dressed kind
(03:35):
of disheveled. It almost looked, you know, as I saw
him that it looked like he was wearing pajamas and
a bathrobe. I don't know, maybe it was maybe it was,
you know, I don't know. He looked a little disheveled.
And when the light turned green, I started to roll
(03:56):
into the intersection, but I rolled in more slowly than
I normally would again, I wasn't in a rush. This
guy on his bike blew through the red light. Never looked,
never looked, never slowed down. He blew through that red light.
(04:18):
I gotta tell you, if I had not noticed him,
I don't know why I did, but I did, and
and I was watching, and when the light turned, I
had I assumed that, well, this guy, maybe he was
going to stop, but I wasn't sure, so I waited.
And of course, as he flew by me, and again
(04:40):
the light had turned, now for three or four seconds.
This wasn't a light that turned quickly. I blasted him
on my horn. Okay, I mean I wanted to wake
the guy up because I was afraid he was going
to roll through another red light. The point of my
story is you have to be so concerned drive, but
(05:01):
you have to be so concerned with a lot of
the bicyclists who do not care about the lights. All
of us have sat at red lights patiently in our
cars when someone has slid by us on the right
in some cases slowed down or maybe even come to
a full stop, and they just proceeded through the red light. Which,
(05:22):
of course, if you did that or I did that,
there would be a police officer who would pull us
over and ride us a ticket immediately for running a
red light. But this guy yesterday, I don't know if
he realizes that maybe after I blasted my horn at him,
he did, he would have hit me broadside. I mean,
there would have been no way that I could have
(05:43):
even if I, well, I guess I could have if
I wasn't paying attention, I theoretically could have could could
have hit him. But the chances are that if I
had just proceeded through the red light and wasn't paying attention,
this guy would have hurt himself into my car and
he would not have survived it. I mean, at the
(06:05):
speed that he was going was really fast, never ever
slowed down. So the point of the story is to
emphasize to everybody that the bicyclists have taken over the roadways.
We have lost. Okay, those of us who drive vehicles,
we have lost. We did not come together and express
(06:31):
our rights as drivers to be able, which we pay
for the roads. Of course, the bicyclists don't pay for
the roads. Oh, we all pay taxes. I get that,
I get that, But we pay excise tax on our cars.
We pay insurance. We pay to register our cars every year,
(06:51):
we pay for inspections, none of which the bike riders
the bicyclists pay for. But look, the last thing any
of us want to do is find ourselves in an
accident with a bicyclist, because you were always going to
(07:12):
be blamed for it. And if I had gone through
that red light without that green light, I should say,
which I had without paying attention, he would have blown
through the red light and either hurtled himself over my car.
And I don't want that on my conscience. To be
really honest with you, I have a responsibility to other people.
(07:36):
I have to assume that when you go down the
street with cars on both sides, be careful. Someone's dog
might run out, some little kid might run out. But
the problem that I deal with all the time are
the bicyclist. They're out of control, they have been made
to feel the masters of the road, they have been
(07:59):
made to that they're impervious to any sort of an injury.
And because even if they do get injured, the insurance
for your car on my car will cover it. But
this guy yesterday, again, this is not some kid. This
is not some nineteen year old kid who was just
going as fast he was going, like they would say,
(08:19):
you know, that's out of hell. I mean, it was
as simple as that he was going. He was probably
going over the speed limit, the motor vehicle speed limit
that would require, which I assume is like probably twenty
five miles an hour. He was going at least thirty
miles an hour, maybe more, maybe more. He was on
a downhill, if you know the terrain that I'm talking about,
(08:41):
Lake Street crosses Washington Street, and maybe he lost control.
I don't know. He should have been out on a bike.
If he lost control, it was just insanity. And I
thought to myself, thank God, and I do mean thank God.
That's something in my head said give a peek to
(09:03):
the right, because once I saw him, I breaked. Slowed
down initially, and then I breaked in the middle of
the intersection because I wanted nothing to do with this dude.
Six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one
seven nine three one ten thirty. I know we haven't
talked about the bicyclist lately, but look, it's May fifth,
(09:25):
by the way, Happy sinker Tomaio. For those of you
who are celebrating the holiday, uh, and I just would
love to hear from you if you've had a near
death experience. I mean, it was scary. It was I
went to the gym, focused on my gym workout and said,
(09:45):
thank god that somebody was Something was in the back
of my mind that said check the right because I
don't know why normally I would anyway. Maybe other times
I've checked it and there was nothing. They are blowing
through the intersection. But this dude was doing twenty five
to thirty miles an hour on a bike. Look like
(10:07):
he was in a house code or pajamas or something
like that. I don't know. And if he's out there,
I saved your life yesterday, Powell, and you didn't care.
You did not care. And don't kill yourself on someone
else's car. Wake up and smell the coffee. Six seven
two thirty six one seven nine three one ten thirty.
(10:31):
It's it's just gotten worse every year. It's gotten worse.
The bicyclists, they will give you some hand signal and
then they just move. They don't wait and wonder if
you know what the what the hand signal meant or whatever.
They they are the kings of the Kings and queens
(10:51):
of the road and you drivers at Massachusetts, you are
a mere inconvenience they need to deal with. Join the conversation.
I love to hear from you six one seven two
thirty or six one seven, nine three, one ten thirty
back on night Side. If you had one of these
experiences lately, feel free to share. And if you're a
bicyclist and you feel that that some some driver did
(11:15):
not exercise sufficient care and caution and actually jeopardized you,
I'm willing to hear from you as well. I don't
want anyone to get hurt. Coming back on.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Nightside, you're on night Side with Dan Ray on you
B Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I was trying to describe this guy yesterday. I mean, uh,
he almost had that look of the nutty professor type look,
if you know what I'm saying. As I say, I
wasn't sure if he's in like a long coat or
a bathrobe or something in pajamas. But he was just
flying down Washington Street and if you know that part
of the uh the city in Brighton, heading towards Oak
(11:55):
Square just blew through that light, never slowed down. I
don't know, I just thank god I saw him. That's
all I can say. Simple as that. Let's go to
the phone. It's going to go to Phil in Boston. Phil,
welcome first this hour and night side.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Phil, how I made first? Dan, I'm so glad you
brought this up. I'm surprised you and that's never happened before.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Never this bad, Phil, Phil. To be honest with you,
I've seen plenty of bike rider. Absolutely this guy. This guy,
First of all, he didn't even recognize the red light. Phil.
He just was coming down there like he was at
the Indy five hundred or he thought he was five
hundred and just blew through the light. And I'm telling you, Phil,
(12:40):
if I had proceeded through that intersection as I normally would,
if I hadn't noticed him, I would have either had
him as a hood ornament, or he would have just
killed himself and hurled himself over the car.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
You know, because you're a bus owner and you're you're cautious,
and then chatting is you got the guy behind you?
You the goal, so you get hit, You hit the guy.
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
The funny thing about it, the traffic was so light.
I don't know if there was a guy behind me,
to be honest with you, I don't know. I get
what you're saying. I get what you're saying. But I
was so focused on this guy, and I thought, is
this guy gonna stop? And then I got a sense
that he didn't care about stopping. And when he was
at the front of my car, he probably blew by
my car, you know, five feet in front of me.
(13:25):
He had plenty of room. I hit that horn. Phil.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Let me tell you, jeez, they carried they carry things
to throw at you. They'll lock your wins you, they'll
lock your rear view me. I'm telling you it's they
don't even give poessions a break, like you say, the
King of the road. Eventually, they don't want anybody driving.
They don't want a driving bikes, absolutely no.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And they had been empowered by the politicians. The powered
by the way the politicians. You know, the politicians always
show up. When you know, someone tries to beat a
truck making a right hand turn and they end up
under the front wheels and they die, sadly, the politicians
will show up. The politicians really concerned that say hey, look, folks,
you know you got to back off a little bit here.
(14:09):
You're not the kings of the road.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
The weak or two. Yeah, the ends alone, I believe
ends Loan. Years ago, someone that office that got hit
by a bike, a ninja w a ninja, a courier
almost killed. I was not killed. And they had a
new law that was passed. A posy career is supposed
to have a number in their backs that can identify him.
That lasted about a week. Like you say, then, I
(14:33):
was walking on Necummings Highway on Washing Street on the
sidewalk going towards the post office. A person was on
a bike on the sidewalk. I was on the sidewalk,
which I did not know that my back was to them.
And it's happened before to me. He came with him
just on knocking me off the standing and I yelled
(14:57):
at him. And now I'm in a beaf with this guy.
Know who he was. He calls me the certain words
and then I'm saying, wait a minute, if I get
involved with this guy, I'm gonna be involved. I'm gonna
get total. He's gonna just walk on the bark and
I'll be I'm guessing though it's no one cares anymore.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Dan, that's the problem. Field and I'm trying to wake
people up here a little bit. I feel that that
the drivers, the people who drive automobiles, you know, pay
pay sales taxes, pay sales taxes, size taxes, insurance. The
politicians don't care about them. We have a group called
Triple A. I'm a member of Triple A, right, But
(15:37):
Triple A doesn't do anything about this. All they want
to do is collect my dues and hopefully and hope
that I don't call for Doe.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
That's a good prince. Yeah right, no, but no, but
I'm so glad it brought it up. I know nothing's
gonna be done about it. It's just almost just survival,
miss Dan. I saw several vehicles set pedal bikes. The
guy has his family and the back with a self
made cat. This gentleman has to be out. He's got
(16:05):
and I'm sure he's a good driver, you mine as
a lass, but he's gonna be a complete idiot. People
are driving and then they got the mopeds on the bike.
No one knows what the rules are. You'll seek to
a carpo. I don't know that. That's a simple thing.
We don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Oh no, no, I know what the rules are I'm
gonna give you the rules. Simple. The rules are that
people who drive automobiles better comply with every every traffic obligation.
If you drive a bike, do whatever the hell you want.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
That should be made for a good political statement for
someone who's running for some kind of an office. I'm
telling you, but it is getting out a hand in
and someone's gonna get cleaned or have your life rules.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
This guy almost bought the farm yesterday, and I gotta
tell you, I, you know, look, I Phil, I don't
want to be in that situation.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Got problems.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
It's as simple as that. You got it. Hey, Peil,
appreciate you calling me and we'll talk about Appreciate it
very much. All right, we got to take a quick
break here. We're coming up in the news, and I
want to short circuit anyone. I've got one line open
at six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty, and
I got a couple lines open at six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty. If you still drive a car, I'd
(17:18):
love to know what your experience has been and what
you would have done. I hoped that everyone would have
seen this guy coming and spared his life. I felt that,
you know, I could have been half asleep. I guess
I could have been not paying attention. I could have
been listening to the radio. But thank god I saw him,
(17:38):
and I just had a feeling. I said, this guy's
not going to stop, and I figured and I was right.
He didn't stop. He he may have lost his ear
drum because I blasted him. Because I hope he woke up,
and I hope he realized how close he came to
buy in the farm if someone hadn't paid attention. We'll
(17:58):
take a quick break coming right back on Nightside, right
after the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
It's night Side, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And by the way, I just want to emphasize, this
was not some kid driving the bike. This guy was
at least sixty, maybe more money. No helmet that I recognized,
and as they say, he looked like he was wearing
pjs A in a bathrobe. I don't know. Maybe he
was in a different sort of get up. I don't know,
(18:32):
maybe he was heading to church on a Sunday morning.
But I'll tell you, anyone who was not paying attention
could have easily hit the guy. He was not stopping,
and he had the red light for about five or
six seconds. It wasn't like the red. The light just
turned red. Now there was a younger person driving a
car who maybe wasn't as attentive. Could have been lights
(18:55):
out for this dude. And if he's listening, you were
very lucky. My friend Crash in Boston. Oh, I'm sure
with a name like Crash, this guy's going to be
a character. Go ahead, Crash.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Well, my last name is actually Gordon, so I'm not
Flash Gordon.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Crash.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
I am Crash Gordon. But honestly, the arrogance of the
majority of people. I've ridden my bicycles all over the country,
and I've driven my trucks. I'm waiting for a team suspension.
I've ridden my motorcycles. The majority of people are not
focused on what they're doing, no matter what they're operating.
(19:39):
It's like the three fingers shop teacher. Hey don't do this, well,
how did you do it?
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Show me and let me ask you this. I'm telling
this story straight up. Okay, I'm not saying that I've
never made a mistake driving, but I'm not an If
this guy's blowing through a red light on a Sunday.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Morn that is ignorant, and a lot of bicycle riders
that think they're impervious and you don't have enough patting.
You hit the wall, kid, and it fell down on
you after you hit it, because he knock it down.
This is the arrogance of the majority of what you're
going to encounter, and the biggest problem is half of
(20:21):
it's so distracted when in his own thinking doesn't even
have to be on the phone. Yeah, the guy probably
got kicked in ahead by a butterfly and he was
still following the flight. He went on the field drip.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Because I watched this guy and I just he caught
my eye. He was going so fast and I thought
to myself initially, he's never going to be able to stop.
So the light turns green. I roll into the intersection
really slowly. Normally I just would have proceeded through the intersection,
but I said, and at some point, I just at.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Least you took down one second of momentary reason to
realize anything can happen at any given time. But a
lot of people outplugged.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
In like that.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Well, I feel sorry. I don't know what sort of
trucks you drove, but often we'll hear in Cambridge, there's
been an accident of bicyclist drove under the front the
trucks taking a right and the bicyclist just tried to
blow by the truck on the right side and didn't fight.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Well, the one that ran in front of the trolley, Yeah,
luckless pedestrian in that respect.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, yeah, well that really did.
Speaker 5 (21:29):
So that luckless pedestrian I just wasn't paying it to
or I just didn't care. And the air again, a
lot of bicycle riders. Look at what they just did
in this little town down the road to Spin. They're
taking away sixty percent of the parking to make a
bicycle lane and have these idiots don't even use the
bike lane.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Well that will, we see that. But we've lost that
as drivers, we've lost the argument because the politicians basically
do whatever.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
The biketotical on this one. Yeah, and Michel Woo screwed
up every bicyclist in the city. She gave them the
sense of entitlement. Now they're encroaching upon parking spaces. Well,
there's more vehicles than they're all bicyclists.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And a huge by the way, by a huge multiple.
It's not like it's sixty forty, it's like.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
Oh, roll beyond reproach, all right, now it's like eighty twenty.
And the bicyclists do not own the road. Hell, the
carse the hell a lot bigger than you are, and
you want to get in the way of it.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, man, if they don't pay for the roads at all,
those are taxes. So don't they.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Get the driving fees or you're not saying any taxes?
No gas shore with the aggressive the aggressive scooter drivers too.
I mean I've ridden motorcycles, okay, and yeah, I never
got hit on my motorcycle because I didn't want to crash.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I know you've never called before because I've never had
a crash. The only person who I've ever known was
crash was Crash Davis uh In uh In the baseball
bull Durham uh And so we got to keep him
as a first time caller. Run of the Claws.
Speaker 5 (23:24):
Oh yay, Do I get a T shirt?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Unfortunately, on another night you might have but not denied crash.
I'm sorry, man, It's all good.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
Don't sweated, but.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Those from our friends in college.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
But the Celtics lost.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Celtics to listen.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
To something good? Yeah, they did. Tonight one.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I mean, just game one.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
We'll beat the nurse.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Let's hope. Let's hope.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Good to you and God bless and just keep an
eye out. I'm dropping my left eye and I got
no peripheral hearing.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
All right, thanks, thanks Crash. I enjoyed that call. Where
we got to go neck. Let me go to Steve
and Brockton. Steve you next night side welcome, go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
Steve, Hi Dan, thanks for kind taking my call home.
Excuse me, excuse me. I just had to call because
when I was sixteen years old living in Brockton, and
we're talking in the seventies, put it right, about nineteen
seventy five.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
I was, I was.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
I had my shorts on, no shirt, no shoes. I
came over with the hill of the main street, downtown
Main Street, doing about thirty miles an hour, hit the hintersection,
got hit by a Lincoln Continental owned by one of
the boxing guys in Brocklyn too. He hit me.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
He hit me.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Yeah, the last the last thing I saw before I
hit the pavement was Lincoln Continental. Is he hit him
hit me with the front of the car. So I
ended up. I end up on the sidewalk passed out
without cold. I opened my eyes and it's all my
friends are all standing around like what happened? What happened?
This is like eleven o'clock at night.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
And so I.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Really dumb boy, sixty dumb question. What were you doing
riding a bike at eleven o'clock? You were on a bike,
I assume, right, yeah?
Speaker 6 (25:19):
What were a beautiful beautiful I'm beautiful. I love this bike.
It was a motor Pacan here of those.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Well, the question is eleven o'clock at night?
Speaker 6 (25:32):
Come on, well you know what do you what?
Speaker 4 (25:34):
What?
Speaker 6 (25:35):
What else was I doing at that at the time
of the night? You think.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Were you drinking? No?
Speaker 6 (25:42):
No, hell, we couldn't drink back then. It was eighteen eighteen.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
There were peanuts. He drank under the age of eighteen
back then. I hate to break it to you, stave.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Well, yeah you couldn't. You couldn't. It had to be
kind of yeah, you would come.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
You were coming home from your girlfriend's house, right, yeah, yeah,
I figured it out, okay, And and you were so
in love that they didn't see the car that hit you.
Did that? The thing is, did you let me ask?
I don't want to joke about it. First, did you
did you recover from whatever injuries you you sustained?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
I had.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
They took me in an ambulance to Brogden Hospital. I
had road burns over like eighty percent of my body.
I was I was unconscious, okay, and I woke up.
I tell my buddies there was like, am I in heaven?
He goes, no, this is Donnie. But Donnie, what are
you doing in heaven? What are you doing here? Is
goldna be here? So they dragged me off and took
(26:38):
care of me. But make a long story short. What
hit me about the situation is the guy who hit
me is just as to blame is me because he
jumped the light. I came. I came flying down the
hill doing like thirty miles an hour. Like you say,
good speed. I was that was traveling. Yeah, went right through.
He went right through the intersection, so I ignored the intersection.
(27:01):
He jumped the light of the other intersection coming the
other way.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
I was going southbound, he was going east. He jumped
in and he hit me and put me on the
on the sidewalk.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
How long were you in the hospital for?
Speaker 6 (27:16):
Uh, Well, it probably took like well six to seven
hours just to get seen in that at that time,
it was a horrible down barked in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Lucky you're alive.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, I know. No major damage, just road burns.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Did did they cover whoever hit or cover your injuries?
Medical bills?
Speaker 6 (27:34):
Yeah? I managed to do that. I managed to get
that covered. And I actually had him replace my bicycle,
which was a motive a cane. Like I told you,
it's like a three hundred dollars motiv a cane.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Three hundred dollars was really three hundred dollars.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Let me ask you, what's the lesson? What is the
lesson that you took from that incident? What's the lesson
did you leave with our audience tonight?
Speaker 6 (28:01):
Well, I would I would say that everybody has to
share the road, and if it takes putting an officer
of some sort like a parking we used to that.
We said what you called what you call you basic
registry officers back then. So not only did you have
to watch out for corps while you were driving, make
sure you were driving good for them, you had to
(28:22):
be careful for the registry officers too. But they did
away with them. I think it was Bill Weld. He
decided that we didn't need them anymore. Ever since Bill
Weld took over, the traffic situation in Massachusetts has gone downhill.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Okay, i'll word it was actually occurred. The consolidation of
the Registry and the state Police as well as police
occurred under Billy Vultup. But anyway, Steve, I'm glad you
and I'm glad you called in tonight, and I appreciate
you taking the time.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
What they want to do is we do need, we
do need better. What I'm getting at is what we
need is better. Uh, these people on the street keep
been keeping away.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
We tell you what we need. We need people to
be awake. We need people to be awake. Okay. We
need the bike riders not to feel that they own
the roads. And we need the drivers, the automobile drivers
to be aware that there were people out there who
do really dumb things and.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
You give them tickets.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
You give him tickets.
Speaker 6 (29:21):
One in my life should.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Take Thank you, Steve, appreciate your call. Be well, thanks
my friend. Talk to you soon. We'll take a quick
break back on night Side. Right after this.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Okay, we're going to try to get everybody in who's
on the line, So let's start it off with Robert
and Wellesley. Robert, you were next on Nightside. Welcome.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Oh, good evening.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Dan.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
I like to commend you for being a safe driver
and avoiding that accident.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
It scared the heck out of me, It really did.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Oh yeah, I was when I scared the heck out
of me too, and I want to commend you the
way you handle it. I sympathize with your feelings in
the more matter. I wonder if you'd be interested. And
I've also found it interesting listening to your callers and
their their perspectives, including UH, Stephen Brockton and crash and
(30:15):
Crash Gordon, and I sort of like to like that.
I'd sort of like to give the perspective of not
only a motorist and a pedestrian because I've had scares
that way from cyclists, but also as someone who's done
cycling and also also done running and has had some
interactions with with vehicles. Even though I was doing my
(30:37):
utmost to operate according to you know, the rules for
both cyclists and UH and monners.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Grow ahead, you don't have to ask permission. Go ahead, Broly.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Well, anyways, I think there's real misunderstanding antagonism on on
both sides, and and I think some of your callers
have said it's kind of a lack of safety education
on all sides. And we you I can I can
recall one time myne of my own business on a
(31:08):
on a on a bicycle and uh uh, some guy
came out of nowhere in a white undershirt and felt
the needs tell me that the bicycle belonged up on
the on the sidewalk, which as a vehicle it really
doesn't belong on. So I was not supposed to be there.
And I want to tell you that cyclist was way
(31:28):
out of out of wine and not only should have
been sided, but depending depending on perhaps depending on the municipality,
could have been cited for driving recklessly like that that citation.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I'll tell you he was flying and it wasn't a kid,
he was an older guy. Uh And he was flying
and I just thank God that I picked him up.
Because all of us have those moments when you're not
paying attention. I have had those moments.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
We all daydream something else, some other thought comes into
our mind. And we're not thinking about what we're doing,
and it could lead to a real problem, a real problem.
I can remember as young as a young dad pushing
my son in the baby carriage out in the roads
of Sherbourne and they would be these guys at ten
o'clock in the morning. I was working nights in TV
and I, you know, take my son. You know, he was,
(32:21):
I mean a year or two old in a baby
carriage and you know, the big cars coming down cut
through between Route sixteen and twenty seven, and they were crazy.
I mean they were. It was a cut through and
I can remember yelling slow down, and they want to fight.
It's like, okay, let me put the baby carriage on
the side of the road here, let's have at it.
You know, it's like it's insane. It's insane. Hey, robin
(32:44):
Ie got a whole bunch of calls. We're going to
try to sneak in. Be well, my friend, Thank you much,
Thank you, good I talk to you soon. Good night.
Let's go next to Dave in San Antonio, Texas. Dave,
are they as crazy as San Antonio is up here?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
No?
Speaker 5 (32:58):
No, they aren't. And uh well, I had my experience
on a cycle as in Michigan, and we didn't have
bike lanes for as cyclists, we traveled in the lanes
of the cars if we wanted to travel with the lanes,
and we traveled on the side of the road or whatever.
I got fast enough to travel with the lanes of
the car. I could average thirty five forty miles an
(33:21):
hour on the slow lane. I went to work every
day on a bicycle doing that, and I find that
the motorists were very courteous of me on there. I
mean I was hugging the edge of the slow lane,
you know what I mean, yep, and they go by,
and it was I was never any danger to them
because I was going about as fast as they were.
Fifty five was a speed limit. I could hold forty
(33:44):
forty five all the way to work.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
And how long in those days was your commute.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
Thirty miles there and thirty miles home, so.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Would take you? If you were doing what thirty thirty
five forty you were getting to work in a little
less than an hour.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
So that was good work, right, Yeah, And plus I
saved a lot of Guess why.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
I'll bet you a lot. I bet your weather down
there better, better weather pattern than we have a little
hot in the summertime, but but probably the rest of
the year.
Speaker 5 (34:19):
I don't blend you for your hostilities of the West.
That's the way cyclists are treated. Bike wings everywhere, and no,
that's not right. And if they if they want to
take a bicycle or you know, they should learn to
they should get you know, athletic enough to go as
I was fast enough on the road to weather, they're
not going to get hurt.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Well, this guy was flying, Dave. I'm telling you this guy.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
It was.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
It was, you know, not a steep hill, but he
came down an incline. He was flying, and I saw
the light change and I said, this guy's not stopping.
And I obviously had the right of way, but what
good did it do me to go through that intersection
and and either get hit by him him or have
him try to stop. There was no way he was
going to be able to effectively stop without killing himself.
(35:06):
But yeah, yeah, it's you know, I mean, he I
don't know what's going on in the guy's mind. It
wasn't some kid. This was a guy who was like
sixty sixty five years old, at least he looked that way.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
To me, so I beget he was seventy today to dad's.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Crazy thirty on a Sunday morning. What was he rushing
to go to church? I don't know, all right, Dave,
I got to keep rolling here, man, gotta keep rolling. Man,
have a good one. Get let me get Audrey and Cambridge.
I'd be welcome back. How are you?
Speaker 7 (35:38):
Oh, I'm fine. How were you?
Speaker 6 (35:39):
Dan?
Speaker 7 (35:39):
Oh my god, I kept calling because the line was busy.
You know, in Cambridge it's unbelievable. I mean, I know
it's everywhere, but I mean one night I might have
told you this before. We went up the city Hall
and there were hundreds, when I tell you, hundreds of
people like people with their helmets, with their little kids,
even they have little kids talking at the microphone to
(36:02):
the counselors that could barely speak right. And there were
only a few of us and.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Spandex.
Speaker 5 (36:10):
Oh all of them.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
That's a shame.
Speaker 7 (36:14):
And yeah, and it was just we just wanted to
get the little have a little delay before they put
more bike lanes on our main one of the main
streets here, Cambond Street, And oh my gosh, they just
went on and on.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
They heard a story today on BZY Radio that there's
some sort of a petition over there to say parking spaces.
Are you hip to that or no?
Speaker 7 (36:34):
I haven't heard of it yet. I know there's one
section on Broadway, but don't worry, I'll be signing it.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Well, it was. You can check out WBZ News go
to our website in Boston News, uh and you can
find it. And I'm telling you it was, Yeah, it was.
It sounded like a pretty interesting story. It was a
significant number of signatures to save parking spaces because the
loss of the parking spaces kills the business.
Speaker 7 (37:00):
It is it is and they don't care. And you know,
when you were talking about it before, I forget the
when you were saying, how you know the bicycles on
the sidewalks? What what they did here? There's a senior
housing development not too far from where I am and
they actually put the bike lane on the sidewalk in
front of the senior housing. A bike doesn't it. I mean,
(37:22):
it just gets more ridiculous every day, and it's just
it's infuriating, and yet people are fighting it and fighting it.
And now now what they do in Cambridge. You can
put a building up with no parking. I mean, not
too long ago, you could not build a building without
having attic of pocketing's a building going up.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
It's all part of a combined strategy, it really is.
It's a part of it.
Speaker 7 (37:44):
It's crazy, though, but I don't get it.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
I don't.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
I don't get it, because why don't. At least it's
the bicyclists, you know, obey the traffic law laws, but
they don't. And I call them the II group. Yeah,
well that's a good one, because that's all they talk,
think about it as themselves. I want to do this,
and I want to do that, and I want to
ride my bike. And some of them didn't even live
in cambers that were up at city Hall that night.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Well, I've told you how passed. And this goes back,
This goes back like thirty years. I'd be driving my
kids on Sunday morning to a soccer game or a
little league game, and I've had a few kids, you know,
a couple of their friends in the car, and out
on some of those roads in the western suburbs, you know,
in Westwood and Natick and places like that, you'd have
like these three guys dressed in the same sort of outfit.
(38:31):
It's like they were on some sort of professional sports team,
but they just had the same yellow spandex outfit. Yeah,
they would drive three abreast. If you come up on
them and you just beeped quietly, they'd turn it around,
flashing the broad atge with kids in the backseat of
the car.
Speaker 7 (38:45):
Really yeah, yeah yeah, And as other said, they so yeah,
oh yeah, and it's so elegant. I mean, they just
think that they own the road. I mean, one guy
one day, I mean, and I just halloed at him.
There's poor woman was trying to get out of the
arm there was like ann Chice store.
Speaker 5 (39:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (39:03):
Well yeah, she's just trying to pull out a little bit.
And a bicycle is going by and saying, hey, you
your blocking the road. He went. I said, you're going
to a red light. The guy was going to a
red light. No, they don't care.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Unfortunately I got you in before you.
Speaker 7 (39:18):
Oh, I know, you got a kind of call us.
This is like a source spot with so many people.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Okay, well thanks Audrey, talk soon. All right, all right,
we're gonna stick with this into the eleven o'clock hour.
Angelo and Tim you stay there. I got lines at
six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty and at
six one, seven, nine, ten thirty
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