Author: WalkMassachusetts

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, February 2022

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, February 2022

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Each month, we post about the fatal crashes in Massachusetts from the previous month, and share any trends that we see. For the full list of monthly posts, head here. Earlier this month, we released a year in review for 2021 to highlight common issues.

Last month, we took a look at the nine fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in January. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in February 2022. The information in the chart below is compiled from news reports, and was checked against the MassDOT Crash Portal Dashboard “Fatal Crash Information.” The Google Street View images included below use the address listed in the crash portal.

  • Of the 31 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in February in the MassDOT Crash portal, seven were identified as people walking.
  • The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in February was 47.1.
  • We could not find any news coverage from three of the crashes. If you have any information, please let us know.
  • At least two of the crashes were hit & runs (as referenced in news articles).
Date 2/3/2022, 8:52 PM
Location South St. EAST + Jubinville St.
Town Holyoke
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 37
Sex F

We could not find any news coverage of this crash. If you have any information, please let us know.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, both South Street and Jubinville Street are under local jurisdiction. Jubinville Street Avenue is two-way, with 1 travel lanes in each direction. South Street is two-way on one side of the intersection with Jubinville Street, with 1 travel lanes in each direction, and one-way with one travel lane on the other side of the intersection. There is a sidewalk on one side of South Street and no crosswalks are present. The speed limit is not indicated for either street in the Road Inventory.

Holyoke adopted a 25 mph default speed limit in 2018 in “an effort to keep the city’s streets safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and other motorists” according to a MassLive story at the time.

Date 2/6/2022, 8:28 PM
Location I-90 WEST, MM 117
Town Natick
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 26
Sex M

Ryan Connearney, age 26, was struck and killed by the driver of a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze after he exited his own vehicle, a 2018 Ford Fiesta, which for reasons still under investigation, went off the roadway into a ditch on the right side of at the beginning of the off ramp for exit 117, according to the Mass State Police’s preliminary investigation.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a limited access highway, with 3 travel lanes in each direction, separated by a median. There is an off ramp at this location. The speed limit is listed as 65mph. (The location is listed as Natick, while the Google Street View displays Framingham; municipal boundaries of Natick, Framingham, and Wayland all meet near this exit ramp.)

Date 2/18/2022, 4:11 AM
Location 36 Boylston St.
Town Worcester
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 52
Sex M

Edward Geddis, age 52, was struck and killed in a hit and run crash. The driver of a gray Ford truck left the scene. When police arrived on the scene, they found Mr. Geddis in the roadway with a heavily damaged wheelchair nearby.

The Worcester Police Crash Reconstruction Unit determined that “a gray Ford truck was traveling Northeast on Boylston St when it struck the male in a wheelchair. The operator exited his vehicle and remained on scene for about a minute and fifteen seconds before fleeing. After further investigation, officers developed probable cause for the arrest of Charles Brant, forty-years-old of Boylston. Officers went to his residence in Boylston and observed damage to the front right end of the vehicle, and other evidence consistent with having been involved in a crash. Mr. Brant was placed under arrest and is charged with Leaving the Scene of a Collision Causing Death.”

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Boylston Street is under local jurisdiction. Boylston Street is two-way, with 2 travel lanes in each direction. There is a sidewalk on one side of the street, and a partial sidewalk / grassy curb that is not wheelchair accessible on the side of the street where Mr. Geddis was struck. The speed limit is 30mph in the Road Inventory.

The closest crosswalk across Boylston Street from 36 Boylston St is ~900 feet away at the intersection with Lincoln Street; there are no crosswalks at Chino Ave (~550 feet), Tacoma Street (~330 feet) or Plantation Street (~900 feet).

Date 2/22/2022, 8:50 PM
Location 345 Massachusetts Ave.
Town Amherst
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 19
Sex F

Elena Lucore, age 19, was struck and killed on Mass Ave on the UMass Amherst Campus while walking with a friend. She was struck and killed by another student at UMass Amherst, according to Boston 25 News.

Western Mass News reported on March 11th:

Campus officials told us that since the accident, a UMass Police Officer has been stationed around the clock near the location where the accident occurred. And they said the university is taking added steps to improve safety on Mass Ave. Those include a covered walkway on the south side of the street that is expected to be finished by this Friday. The addition of push-button flashers across all cross walks on the east and west side of the street. And a speed limit reduction from 30 mph to 20 mph.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Massachusetts Avenue is under State college or university jurisdiction. Massachusetts Avenue is two-way, with 2 travel lanes in each direction and a large grassy median and sidewalks on each side. The speed limit is 30 mph in the Road Inventory.

Date 2/24/2022, 7:17 PM
Location 33 Montvale Ave
Town Woburn
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 70
Sex M

John McGuinness, age 70, was struck and killed by Elmer Coreas, age 57, who was driving a Honda Pilot. WCVB reported that it was a hit and run crash, as Coreas fled the scene; Woburn police said they were able to identify fluids from the suspect motor vehicle which they were able to follow back to an apartment building on Montvale Avenue, where they located a maroon Honda Pilot with heavy front-end damage.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Montvale Avenue is under local jurisdiction. Montvale Avenue is two-way, with 1 travel lanes in each direction. There is a sidewalk on both sides of the street. The speed limit is 25 mph in the Road Inventory.

WCVB also talked to people who knew John:

“Nice guy, very generous. Always took care of everybody,” the Woburn VFW’s Becky Higgins said of John McGuiness, 70.

His photo now hangs on the wall at the VFW in Woburn, where McGuinness was a fixture, and friend.

“Any time you asked him, he was always doing great, always had a positive attitude,” Higgins said.

Date 2/24/2022, 10:30 PM
Location 35 Washington St.
Town Peabody
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 65
Sex M

We could not find any news coverage of this crash. If you have any information, please let us know.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Washington Street is under local jurisdiction. Washington Street is two-way, with 1 travel lanes in each direction. There is a sidewalk on both sides of each street. The speed limit is not indicated for Washington Street in the Road Inventory.

WalkBoston conducted a walk audit in downtown Peabody in the fall of 2018 which notes “excessively wide vehicular travel lanes lead to high traffic speeds on Washington Street.” The report also states:

Even though the City of Peabody has reduced its default speed limit to 25 miles per hour, the posted speed limit on parts of Washington Street is 30 miles per hour, creating a complicated regulatory issue.

Date 2/27/2022, 6:04 PM
Location 780 South Main St.
Town Sharon
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 61
Sex F

We could not find any news coverage of this crash. If you have any information, please let us know.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, South Main Street is under MassDOT jurisdiction. South Main Street is two-way, with 1 travel lane in each direction. There is a sidewalk on one side of the street. There is a shopping plaza at this location, with signs for accessing I-95 along the roadway. The speed limit is 40 mph in the Road Inventory.

Updates

If you have an update about a community member who was killed in one of these crashes, please contact Brendan so we can update our 2022 list. WalkBoston has maintained a list each year since 2016, pulling the information from news reports, social media, and from people like you that share the information with us.

Yearly trackers:  |  |||| | 2022

Report: Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in MA (2021)

Reminder about the data from the MassDOT portal

MassDOT makes no representation as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, availability or completeness of the crash records or the data collected from them and is not responsible for any errors or omissions in such records or data. Under no circumstance will MassDOT have any liability for any loss or damage incurred by any party as a result of the use of the crash records or the data collected from them. Furthermore, the data contained in the web-based crash report tool are not an official record of what transpired in a particular crash or for a particular crash type. If a user is interested in an official copy of a crash report, contact the Registry (http://www.mass.gov/rmv/). The City of Boston Police Department may be contacted directly for official copies of crash reports and for crash data pertaining to the City of Boston. In addition, any crash records or data provided for the years after 2018 are subject to change at any time and are not to be considered up-to-date or complete. As such, open years’ of crash data are for informational purposes only and should not be used for analysis. The data posted on this website, including crash records and other reports, are collected for the purpose of identifying, evaluating or planning the safety enhancement of potential crash sites, hazardous roadway conditions or railway-highway crossings. Under federal law, this information is not subject to discovery and cannot be admitted into evidence in any federal or state court proceeding or considered for other purposes in any action for damages that involves the sites mentioned in these records (see 23 USC, Section 409).

A step in the right direction

A step in the right direction

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BY WENDY LANDMAN / WALKBOSTON SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR

Over the last year WalkBoston has been working with the Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on an innovative project to engage hospital injury prevention professionals (IPPs) in pedestrian advocacy. WalkBoston initiated this effort after learning that all Level 1 Trauma Hospitals are required to undertake community-facing injury prevention efforts, but that nowhere in the US have these programs focused on pedestrian safety improvements to the built environment. We believe that engaging with hospitals and bringing the voices of health care professionals into the pedestrian safety movement holds great potential to strengthen our effectiveness. WalkBoston worked with staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Tufts Medical Center to set the stage for each hospital to develop pedestrian injury reduction projects as one element of their overall injury prevention efforts. The primary component of the project was a workshop training course on pedestrian safety and injury prevention to provide the IPPs with the necessary information and tools to determine how such an effort would be incorporated into the hospital’s injury prevention programs. Our interaction with the IPPs identified what the key safety issues are that they might address and how they could work within their hospitals to develop support among hospital leadership and staff. Based on the positive reception of the effort, WalkBoston and our Stepping Strong partners have joined forces to apply for funding to continue the effort and expand it to include partners in Chicago’s pedestrian advocacy and hospital communities. If successful, the grant would allow us to deepen the work with Boston hospitals, expand the program to the Chicago metro area, and lay the groundwork for a national effort. Stay tuned for more!

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s Spring 2022 newsletter.
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Building Social Infrastructure in the Gateway Cities

Building Social Infrastructure in the Gateway Cities

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BY AYESHA MEHROTRA / WALKBOSTON PROGRAM MANAGER

From September 2020 to August 2021, WalkBoston and MassINC conducted virtual walk audits in five Gateway City downtowns: Springfield, Fitchburg, Brockton, Haverhill, and Fall River. Our teams worked alongside residents, municipal officials, and other community leaders to not only improve pedestrian safety and access, but also to consider the quality of each downtown’s social infrastructure — the physical infrastructure that fosters community connections and a sense of belonging, like seating, plazas, parks, stoops, libraries, and recreational facilities.

People in communities across the Commonwealth have shifted the way they spend their time since the pandemic began. The Gateway Cities are no different. Our walk audit participants often told us that they were eager to be a part of this process because their experiences during the pandemic had made them realize how important it was to have streets on which they could safely and comfortably go for walks, access rich and plentiful outdoor public spaces, find family friendly activities closer to home, and support beloved local businesses struggling to stay open.

Yet, their downtowns mostly lacked enough activity and inviting, pedestrian-oriented spaces to make them destinations. Too much paved space allocated for car parking coupled with inadequate tree cover also meant downtowns are uncomfortably hot and barren for a large portion of the year. Despite this bleak picture, many of these downtowns have the bones of great walkability. They have small parks and plazas scattered throughout that could become wonderful community spaces with some investment and maintenance.

Several small business owners also participated and were excited to establish pop-up venues in empty ground-floor retail locations or weekend stalls in vacant plazas. And we know that there is immense desire for these types of rich public spaces in all five communities. Time and again, walk audit participants expressed eagerness to see multi-purpose community gathering spaces that could be used for farmers markets, seasonal arts and music events, and recreation.

On Zoom calls, participants exchanged contact information and made plans to join committees or build partnerships to start campaigns to celebrate the cultural fabric and history of their city through historical notices, wayfinding signage, and public art. At a point in time when people could not easily gather in person or meet new people in their neighborhoods, our walk audit conversations became spaces of connection where neighbors came together to set aspirations for their city and for the types of spaces they could share.

So, what’s next for the Gateway Cities project? Our partners at MassINC are currently working on case studies of the five downtowns that participated in this project, conducting land use analyses for each to help answer the question: Why aren’t people walking and spending time here? The case studies evaluate how active a downtown’s streetscape is, how lack of tree cover and car-centric spaces make the environments less inviting to walk, and what types of policies and programs cities can use to create more active downtowns. The case studies will be presented to decision makers at the respective municipalities. We presented some of our project’s initial findings at MassDOT’s Moving Together Conference in December 2021 with Andre Leroux, our partner at MassINC.

We’ll also be taking the important lessons learned through these five case studies of the Gateway Cities and applying them to advocacy at the state level. Like all communities across the state, our mid-sized cities need funding that prioritizes quality public realms, from improved traffic safety to seasonal walkability to social infrastructure that fosters community ties. We hope to continue our work with these cities to support each community’s vision for creating streetscapes and public spaces that foster a lively, welcoming, and thriving downtown.

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s Spring 2022 newsletter.
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Executive Director’s Letter, Spring 2022

Executive Director’s Letter, Spring 2022

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2022 finds WalkBoston poised to begin two major new projects in the City of Boston and thrilled to continue our Age-Friendly walking work across Massachusetts. We have partnered with GreenRoots — an environmental justice organization working in Chelsea and East Boston — to work with residents to make walking routes to several of East Boston’s parks safer and more attractive. And, as part of a 5-year research project, WalkBoston is working with Boston Medical Center to study the impact of signed walking routes and printed maps on residents’ decisions around physical activity. Through walking advocacy workshops, we will support the residents as they identify and work to get sidewalks fixed and crosswalks painted around their developments. Our Age-Friendly walking work will continue with a new focus on working with disability professionals — those who train people with disabilities to use public transit and those who provide care to older adults. Look for updates in our e-news and blog posts highlighting our work on these projects throughout the year. To get all this new work done, we now have two amazing Program Managers, Miranda Briseño and Ayesha Mehrotra. Miranda is a Tufts Urban and Environmental Planning program (UEP) grad and comes to us from the Planning Department at the City of Medford. Ayesha is a Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) grad who started as an intern with us in 2019, and thankfully, is now on staff full time. After 21 months of being a fully virtual organization, we are now back in Boston sharing space with our transportation advocacy friends —just down the street from our old office space on School Street. It’s a place to come, meet, and reconnect with people we have not seen in person since all this began. We, like many with office jobs, are trying to figure out what a hybrid office environment looks like for WalkBoston. We’ll keep you posted and would love to hear how all of you are managing new commuting patterns and navigating new office policies. We look forward to hosting our 32nd Annual Celebration on March 30, 2022, which will be our third virtual celebration. While we wish we could all come together in person, we have gotten pretty good at putting on a virtual show! I hope to see you all there. Until then, stay safe and shovel your sidewalk!

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s Spring 2022 newsletter.
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Like our work? Support WalkBoston – Donate Now!

Fitness challenges to get ready for November 

Fitness challenges to get ready for November 

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Can’t wait for Beat the Bay State to return in November? Check out these partner events to keep you occupied this spring!

MassBike’s 30 Days of Biking Challenge (Month of April)

All you have to do is ride every day in April, even if it’s just once around your block, and you’ll have a chance to win a Rover Rain Cape from Cleverhood. The April 30 Days of Biking is a great way to kick off your riding season before Bay State Bike Month starts in May!

Mattapan Walks Spring 2022 Walking Challenge (starting April 6)

Track your steps per day and be entered to win prizes for new & returning walkers per week for each theme. Challenge starts April 6th and will last for 5 weeks (Wednesday, April 6th to Wednesday, May 11th). Each week is a different theme:

  • Week 1: Buddy Week

  • Week 2: Adventure Week

  • Week 3: Pets and Family Week

  • Week 4: Kindness Week

  • Week 5: Whacky Week

MA Councils on Aging’s Walk Massachusetts Challenge
(registration now open, challenge goes May 1 – October 31)

Lace up your sneakers! The Walk Massachusetts Challenge is back and better than ever! This year, we are opening up the challenge to everyone age five and up. Anyone under 60 can sponsor an older adult to walk with or for. You can sponsor your parent, grandparent, neighbor, teacher, Council on Aging employee, etc. What are you waiting for? Your participation helps your local Council on Aging/Senior Center win money for fitness programs and gives you the chance to win one of several prizes!

Choose one of four challenges based on a Commonwealth of Massachusetts fun fact:

  • The 1788 Challenge – Walk 88 Days (at least 30 minutes per day) 

    • Complete 88 days to celebrate the year Massachusetts became the sixth state! It is only a 30 minute walk every other day for the duration of the promotion.

  • The Turnpike Challenge – Run, Jog, Walk 126.6 Miles(or about 253,000 steps)

    • Complete 126.6 miles to celebratethe length of the Massachusetts Turnpike from Boston to Lee! It is only about 0.7 miles or about 1,380 steps a day for the duration of the promotion.

  • The Shoreline Challenge – Run, Jog, Walk 192 Miles(or about 384,000 steps)

    • Complete 192 miles to celebrate the length of the Massachusetts shoreline! It is only about 1.1 miles or about 2,090 stepsa day for the duration of the promotion.

  • The Commonwealth Challenge – Run, Jog, Walk 351 Miles(or about 702,000 steps)

    • Complete 351 miles to celebrate the number of cities and towns in the Commonwealth!

The challenge runs May 1 to October 31, 2022. During this time, you will have chances to be entered into a drawing to win a $50 Visa, $25 Amazon or $10 Dunkin’ gift card. The more you walk, the more chances you have to win. Reach each milestone and receive a total of five entries. By completing the challenge, your local Council on Aging gets a raffle entry to win up to $1000 for fitness programming.

Safe Roads Alliance Global Road Safety Week Relay (starting May 15)

In this primarily virtual event, we are asking participants to run the width of our Commonwealth to help raise awareness of road safety. The event will take place May 15-22, 2022 during Global Road Safety Week. It will start in Lenox on May 15th and end at the Marathon Finish Line in Boston on May 22nd.

Most of the relay legs are 5 miles long and participants can run, walk, bike, or roll their leg that they have selected. The number of people completing each leg is unlimited and we set a goal of raising $500 for each leg for a total of $16,500.

Where and when is the event?

The first leg will kick off on May 15th at 10am in Lenox, MA and the last leg will be on May 22nd with a ceremony at the finish line in Boston. The legs in between will be mapped and tracked but participants will be able to complete them at the leisure virtually during that week.

For a few sections of the route, we are recommending that people opt to do a virtual run/walk/bike due to the safety of the roads in some areas. We tried to create a route that would have sidewalks or wide shoulders and a low speed limit, but in some parts of the state, this was not possible. We highlighted over nearly two dozen virtual options around MA that are on bike paths or rail trails and these can easily substitute for a leg along the route where we recommend a virtual option. Massachusetts has many beautiful, connected off-road paths that we want more people to know about, so check these out too when you are selecting your leg. Just make sure to log your finish so we can see if we successfully relayed across our Commonwealth!