NEWTON, MA — It's not the first time a cyclist has found sharp thumbtacks along Winchester Street in Newton - in the bike lane - and in their bike tires, according to cyclists at Bike Newton.
But Tuesday a cyclist on Winchester Street said she found thumbtacks spread pointy side up in a bike lane, just days after the area was redone to keep cyclists safe.
Carrie Mosher was riding her bike near the Country Club and pulled over when she noticed there were tacks in her tires, and then spent the next several minutes picking up the tacks spread along the bike lane, she posted to Facebook.
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Mosher said she had a tubeless bike tire, so she didn’t get a flat. But in a Facebook post Tuesday, she shared a picture of the area where she found the tacks, the small objects dotting the street warning others to be careful.
“This makes me sad,” she wrote. “Do bikes riding in a bike lane on a nice wide street really bother you that much? . . . Someone took a lot of time and care to place them. I just don’t understand.”
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City Councilors said they were shocked by the news.
Winchester Street is situated in Ward 8 where Councilor-At-Large is based. This was the first he'd heard of anything like this.
"I think it's awful. It's mean spirited, it's dangerous. Unfortunately it's something that's almost impossible to point a figure at somebody. It could have ended up blowing a tire and killing someone. It's terrible." said Ward 8 Councilor-at-Large Rick Lipof in a phone interview.
Newton Police Department told Patch this morning no one has filed any report about tacks in the road.
So that means there's no investigation into whether this is malicious or there's a truck spilling a lot of tacks around town.
Updates to come:
Has this happened to you? Tell us about your experience: email Jenna.Fisher@Patch.com
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File Photo at top by Jenna Fisher/Patch
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