As a recent transplant to Boston, and a Boston University graduate student, I am shocked at how many people lose their lives on Commonwealth Avenue (“Bicyclist dies in crash in city: BU grad student becomes 5th such victim this year,” Metro, Dec. 7). I am also shocked by the propensity of many people to blame the victims for their own deaths, rather than the horrid city planning that facilitates it.
Commonwealth Avenue is a death trap. All on the same street, there is a major university campus with classroom buildings on either side, a major east-west transportation artery, one of the most heavily traveled overground transit lines, one of the most cycled routes in the city, and a hub of restaurants and shops requiring delivery services. And I do not even mention Red Sox games, when Comm. Ave. becomes the Thunderdome.
The question I would respectfully like to pose to the mayor and the city’s transportation services is: In which universe is this ok?