World Day of Remembrance is this Sunday, November 20th

In 2022 so far, over 2,000 lives have been lost to, or seriously injured by, a traffic crash in Massachusetts — not including the countless friends, family, and loved ones impacted as well. On November 20th, we’ll recognize each person impacted during this year’s World Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic crashes. The MA Vision Zero Coalition is marking the occasion by laying down yellow flowers at the Massachusetts State House, one blossom for each person killed or seriously injured in a crash in 2022, and supporting events across the state to remember those lost in traffic deaths.

We invite you to join WalkBoston and the rest of the MA Vision Zero Coalition in recognizing World Day of Remembrance by taking individual action or joining/planning events in your community. Please see our World Day of Remembrance 2022 Toolkit to learn more about how you can recognize World Day of Remembrance. Here are the list of events happening across the state:

• The MA Vision Zero Coalition will be laying down yellow flowers at the Massachusetts state house, one blossom for each person who was killed or seriously injured in a traffic crash in 2022. The display will be out from 10am through the rest of the day. The following buildings and structures will be lit up in yellow on the night of the 20th: Government Center MBTA Station, Boston City Hall, the Zakim Bridge, the Fore River Bridge, the Burns Bridge, and the Longfellow Bridge.
• Walk Bike Springfield & the Holyoke BikePed Committee will host an event on November 20th at 2pm at the Springfield Library (220 State Street).
• WalkMedford will be hosting a vigil on November 18th at 11am with Mayor Lungo-Koehn. Exact location in Medford Square TBD
• WalkBike Worcester and District 5 City Councilor, Etel Haxhiaj, are hosting a Worcester World Day of Remembrance event on Sunday, November 20th in front of Chandler Magnet School, 525 Chandler Street, at 3:00 pm.
• The City of Pittsfield will light-up facades at all downtown locations in yellow in honor of World Day of Remembrance.

For more information and a complete list of events, visit https://www.visionzerocoalition.org/wdr.

Additionally, to address this public health crisis, the Coalition is urging our legislators to take action that could save lives. We have sent a letter to legislators demanding the passage of H.5103, An Act to reduce traffic fatalities — crucial legislation that could drastically improve traffic safety. This is a common-sense bill that would improve the safety standards for large trucks and protect vulnerable road users sharing the road with them. You can send a letter using our sample script below.

SAMPLE COMMENT LETTER

To: Representative William Straus (William.Straus@mahouse.gov), Senator William Brownsberger (William.Brownsberger@masenate.gov)

CC: info@visionzerocoalition.org

Recommended email subject: Please take action on H.5103 An Act to reduce traffic fatalities

Sample script: 

Dear Representative Straus and Senator Brownsberger,

Please support the swift passing of H.5103 An Act to reduce traffic fatalities — a common-sense bill that would improve the safety standards for large trucks and protect vulnerable road users sharing the road with them. This legislation will save lives on our roadways, and I encourage you to take rapid action to pass this law to make our roads safer now, not later.

[Talk about why this issue matters to you: how you get around the city, how you or someone you know has been impacted by a crash, etc]

The World Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic violence is this Sunday, November 20th. I hope that come that day, we can celebrate the passing of this significant step toward safer roadways.

Thank you,

[full name

street address

city/town, state, zip

phone:

email: ]