News

New bike safety measures start after fatalities

BOSTON (AP) - Boston will implement new safety measures to help protect bicyclists near Boston University after recent collisions.

BU officials say there will be new caution signs, enhanced bike lane markings and reflectors in pavement along a stretch of Commonwealth Avenue.

The university says the measures grew out of a working group they participated in with city officials.

In December, a 23-year-old BU graduate student died in an accident while bicycling to school.

The accident followed another fatality a month earlier, when a 21-year-old BU student from Taiwan died after his bicycle came into contact with an MBTA bus.

City officials say bicycle commuting increased 82 percent in Boston from 2007 to 2011, following measures that included installation of miles of bicycle lanes.