With good reason. Thousands of bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists converge each day at the intersection near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, where crowds of students on Vassar Street meet traffic on Massachusetts Avenue. Police say it’s a hazard.
“For the amount of volume that goes through that intersection … I would say it is one of our highest accident locations in the city,’’ said Police Deputy Superintendent Jack Albert.
Since 2007, Cambridge police responded to 55 accidents at the intersection, 24 of them involving cars and bikes, according to police reports. Many resulted in minor injuries, the records show, but last month one was fatal. MIT graduate Phyo N. Kyaw of Cambridge was riding a bicycle when he collided with a truck.
Police have targeted the intersection as part of a roadway safety campaign aiming to improve bicycle safety across the city by educating riders and cracking down on those who violate traffic laws.
At the crash site Friday, black cable secured a white bicycle on a signpost. Flowers, candles, and sheet music were placed around the wheels of the bike that bore a message to Kyaw, a 23-year-old native of Myanmar: “You are dearly missed.’’
Albert said Kyaw was wearing a helmet. But neither the police nor the Middlesex district attorney’s office released details about how the accident occurred, citing an ongoing investigation
Albert said accidents are bound to happen with so many people using the intersection.
Efforts have been made to improve it.
While road design enhancements were being made on Massachusetts Avenue last year, MIT urged the city to adjust the timing of traffic signals to be more pedestrian friendly.
But the Massachusetts Avenue and Vassar Street intersection - which had 16 accidents last year alone - remains a hot spot. It was second on the Police Department’s list of top five dangerous intersections in 2011, following closely behind Gardner Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Harvard Square.
Pete Stidman, who heads Boston Cyclists Union, urged improved traffic design and better awareness of cyclists and drivers who use the road.
