Author: WalkMassachusetts

Statewide Fatal Crashes in MA, January 2021

Statewide Fatal Crashes in MA, January 2021

By |

Each month in 2021, we plan to post about the fatal crashes in Massachusetts from the previous month, and share any trends that we see. Last month, we took a look at the year 2020 in review. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in January 2021. The information in the chart below is compiled from news reports, and was checked against the MassDOT Crash Portal Dashboard “Fatal Information by Year.” The Google Street View images included below use the address listed in the crash portal.

  • Of the 20 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in January in the MassDOT Crash portal, 5 were people walking.
  • 3 of those 5 crashes were hit & runs.
  • The crash portal does not include names. The names of 2 of the people walking who died have not been made public yet.
  • The name of the person driving was only identified in 1 of the 5 crashes in news articles.
Date 1/2/2021, 11:00 PM
Location 200 Locust St.
Town Springfield
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age
Sex M

An unidentified man was killed in a hit and run crash on Locust Street in Springfield. There have been no follow up articles that we’ve seen identifying the person who died, or anything about the person that fled the scene. WesternMassNews says the Police Department has located the car and vehicle owner, and expects more from the District Attorney’s office.

Date 1/5/2021, 11:30 AM
Location Chelsea St. + 13th St.
Town Boston
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 92
Sex M

Francis McGrath, a 92 year old man, was killed in a hit and run crash on Chelsea Street in Charlestown. The driver dragged him for nearly a mile. The crash location is listed as Chelsea St & 13th (entrance to the Charlestown Navy Yard), while StreetsblogMass reports the Boston Police said it happened even further back at Chelsea St & Terminal St. While there had been speculation that the driver of a large truck was involved, there have been no follow up articles that we’ve seen about the person that left the scene. We spoke to the Boston Herald about the safety issues large vehicles present for people walking/biking, and the increase of drivers speeding during the coronavirus pandemic.

Date 1/13/2021, 7:19 PM
Location 235 Main St.
Town Oxford
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 55
Sex F

Wendy Hibbard was crossing Main Street in Oxford when a driver hit and killed her. Based on Google Maps Street View, a crosswalk across Main Street was made ADA-compliant sometime between October 2018 and October 2019. The street is one lane in each direction with a sidewalk on each side, but it looks to be approximately 50 feet from curb to curb using the measuring tool on Google Maps. According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Main Street/Rt12 is under MassDOT jurisdiction.

Date 1/19/2021, 9:30 PM
Location 38 Upland Rd.
Town Belmont
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 35
Sex M

District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office shared on January 25th that Dean Kapsalis, 54 of Hudson, will face additional charges of murder and leaving the scene causing death in connection with striking and killing Henry Tapia on Upland Road in Belmont. Kapsalis was previously arraigned on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a civil rights violation causing injury and leaving the scene causing injury. The Boston Globe reported that “since getting a driver’s license around 1987, Kapsalis has been cited for speeding at least 17 times, was involved in at least 7 surcharge crashes, and had his right to drive suspended at least 6 times, usually for a cluster of traffic violations in a short period of time, according to RMV records.”

Date 1/23/2021, 8:42 PM
Location 687 Ocean St.
Town Marshfield
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 56
Sex M

An unidentified 56 year old Marshfield man was hit and killed on Ocean Street in Marshfield. An article from 95.9 WATD quotes a police lieutenant that the “early investigation shows the victim was walking in the roadway along a dark stretch.” The street is one lane in each direction, but there is only a sidewalk on one side of the street.

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 . 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:  |||||

Reminder about the data from the MassDOT portal

DISCLAIMER:  The compilation of data is based on preliminary data we receive from a variety of local sources.  Some of the data may differ slightly from information provided by NHTSA as this dashboard does not use imputation methods.  Information is subject to change when/if updated information becomes available. Data updated daily as reported by police departments.

Walk on State Street? Public Works wants to make it safer. Make sure to weigh in!

Walk on State Street? Public Works wants to make it safer. Make sure to weigh in!

By |

In January 2020, Boston’s Public Works Department announced they would be taking a look at State Street in downtown Boston for major upgrades. This effort builds on previous planning projects and initiatives that the City of Boston has rolled out over the last few years: GoBoston 2030, Vision Zero, Complete Streets guidelines, and Connect Historic Boston. As the Boston Globe’s Adam Vaccaro put it at the time:

[O]fficials say there’s one primary goal: to make State Street much better for walking. That’s not just a matter of urban idealism: State Street is overwhelmingly used by pedestrians, with more than 29,000 each day compared with about 10,700 cars and trucks.

Everyone can agree there has long been a need to expand the narrow/uneven sidewalks, which especially during lunchtime can be wholly inadequate.

However, there is also a need to make the street easier to cross. In November 2019, a driver struck a 86-year old woman just after the morning rush hour; the woman suffered life-threatening injuries.

One-way streets with multiple lanes of vehicle traffic are inherently dangerous for people walking. When a driver stops for a pedestrian to let them cross at an unsignalized crosswalk, a driver in the second lane may not see the person trying to walk across the street, resulting in a dangerous scenario called the “double threat.”

Over the last year, the Public Works team steadily moved the project along using pre-COVID-19 traffic and parking data for modeling. They convened a group to meet with their team remotely each month throughout the summer to discuss and react to options for this stretch of street that connects the Rose Kennedy Greenway to the Old State House.

In the fall, State Street became one of the locations for a “Healthy Streets” pilot project, in which cones were deployed to create temporary wider-sidewalks and a bike lane to allow for social distancing. It is great that the Transportation and Public Works departments collaborated to test concepts here for a future redesign.

In October, Boston’s Public Works Department (PWD) presented four design options for long-term improvements to State Street. (You can see a PDF of the presentation here, watch a narrated video of the presentation here, and fill out the survey here.)

The Public Works Department is responding to the need to make streets safer for pedestrians, and they need to hear from you now!

The project status is listed as “in design,” and a design survey is currently open. We highly encourage you to weigh in on making this a street that is safer for people walking. More sidewalk space, a protected bike lane, and space for loading zones means less exposure to moving vehicle traffic for people walking, resulting in safer street crossings. There has been pushback that reducing space for people driving is a bad idea, with a claim that these plans are based on pandemic traffic volumes. However, data that informed the concepts are pre-pandemic, as the Public Works Department made clear in the presentations.

Here’s what you can do

Counterpoint to Ageism

Counterpoint to Ageism

By |

BY ALTHEA WONG-ACHORN / DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

When November comes around in New England, even when we aren’t in the midst of a pandemic, our instinct is to hibernate until the springtime when the weather thaws. But last November, WalkBoston created a way to keep us moving, motivated, and connected.

Beat the Bay State (BTBS), a virtually-hosted team fitness challenge to run/walk “around” the 900-mile perimeter of Massachusetts, encouraged friends and families to come together to stay active through friendly competition. WalkBoston was thrilled to see people across the state sharing their photos and experiences, but was surprised to discover how many participants were older adults!

COVID-19 recommendations have been more restrictive for older adults, making them appear feeble compared to younger people. While responsibly practicing social distancing and wearing masks, however, this group also finds solace, community, and health benefits from outdoor activities.

Running, It’s Not Only For the Young

More than 450 people signed up for the inaugural BTBS Team Challenge. While many of our competitors were younger, a higher-than-anticipated number of older walkers and runners brought the average age up to 44, with the average age among the top 20 finishers being 48. Of the top 20 performers, in terms of miles logged, two were under the age of 30 and two were 65+. To top it off, the second-place winner was a 56-year-old man from Gardner who logged 404 total miles and averaged over 13 miles a day!

The State of Running, a 2018 report published by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and RunRepeat.com, breaks down how the age of runners is steadily climbing. It found that runners have never been older, increasing from an average age of 35.2 in 1986 to 39.3 in 2018.

Staying Active and Fit as You Age

BTBS highlights a common misconception about the link between increased age and decreased activity levels. Demographics are shifting: Running—and walking—are sports accessible to all ages, and the average age of runners is getting older with every passing year.

Running and walking are fantastic ways to stay fit, regardless of age. Anyone can get started with just a pair of shoes. You can walk or run by yourself, with your grandkids, or with a running club like the Greater Framingham Running Club (GFRC Growlers), which took first place in the Beat the Bay State Team Challenge.

As the evidence shows, motivation for daily walking and running has shifted from recording the fastest times or longest distances to staying social, keeping moving, and seeing your community on foot. So lace up and hit the pavement!

If you’re looking for new and interesting places to explore on foot, check out the nearly 80 walking maps available on the WalkBoston website at walkboston.org/resources/maps/. Each one features places that are wonderful to walk, easy to navigate, and convenient to get around, and most are transit accessible.

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s January/February 2021 newsletter.
————————————————————————————————
Join WalkBoston’s Mailing List to keep up to date on advocacy issues.
Like our work? Support WalkBoston – Donate Now!
Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook

New Virtual Walk Audits: Worcester and Framingham

New Virtual Walk Audits: Worcester and Framingham

By |

BY LEIGHANNE TAYLOR / WALKBOSTON PROGRAM MANAGER

Walk audits—one of WalkBoston’s most effective tools to change the built environment and build a constituency of walking advocates—face an obvious hurdle during the pandemic: we can’t meet in person. With more people walking than ever before, we could not hit pause and wait until it is safe to gather again. We adapted our walk audit process to be virtual to continue improving walking conditions. We have conducted four virtual walk audits since the pandemic began: in Salem, Springfield, Fitchburg, and Worcester—we wrapped up the latter two in January and discuss them below.

Fitchburg’s Intermodal Center Virtual Walk Audit is the second walk audit in a statewide project examining the connections between social infrastructure and walkability within transportation-oriented development (TOD) areas. Neighborhood data and resident perspectives will be captured in virtual conversations and self-led walk audits in five Gateway Cities in Massachusetts. This project is co-hosted by WalkBoston and MassINC, with support from the Solomon Foundation.

The Worcester Virtual Walk Audit was conducted by WalkBoston, WalkBike Worcester, and the Worcester Department of Public Health Mass in Motion Program. Residents requested the virtual audit, which is serving as a pilot program for Worcester’s upcoming Complete Streets Prioritization process.

How We Made Our Walk Audits Virtual

  • Session 1: Participants convene on Zoom for a Ped101 workshop to share their walking concerns, learn about walkability basics, and review the self-led walk audit process.
  • Self-led walk audit: Participants have two weeks to walk the specified route, and document photos and written observations about the walking environment.
  • Session 2: Post-walk, participants reconvene on Zoom to discuss and set plans for next steps.

We use Google Sites to share recordings of our Zoom meetings so those unable to attend the first session can watch and provide feedback on their neighborhood’s walkability. The recommendations made during the second session are summarized into a PowerPoint report and memo for participants to use and turn into actions.

Virtual walk audits have served as a valuable tool for conducting our community-partnered work in a socially- distanced world. While we look forward to resuming our in-person walk audits, we plan to leverage these digital engagement strategies in the future to hear from those unable to attend in-person. If you’re having success with virtual community engagement, we’d love to trade notes —get in touch!

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s January/February 2021 newsletter.
————————————————————————————————
Join WalkBoston’s Mailing List to keep up to date on advocacy issues.
Like our work? Support WalkBoston – Donate Now!
Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook

Save the Date: Annual Celebration – 3/24, 5pm

Save the Date: Annual Celebration – 3/24, 5pm

By |

Join us on March 24th (on Zoom) to celebrate & honor this year’s Golden Shoe winners!

Each March, we hold our Annual Celebration to honor achievements in walkability and to highlight the contributions of our wonderful volunteers, board members, and the many individuals and corporations who support us each year.

Our Golden Shoes Awards recognize individuals, agencies, municipalities and companies exemplifying the ideals of WalkBoston’s mission.

Congratulations to our 2021 Golden Shoes!

  • Frank Caro (in memoriam)
  • Kate Fichter and the MassDOT Shared Streets Grant Program Team (with special recognition to the Barr Foundation and Solomon Foundation)
  • Karen Cord Taylor

This year, we’re featuring a panel of speakers instead of a standard keynote address. The panel will be moderated by WalkBoston’s executive director Stacey Beuttell. Speakers include:

  • Tracy Corley, PhD – Director of Research and Partnerships at the Conservation Law Foundation
  • Mike McGinn – Executive Director at America Walks
  • Jodie Medeiros – Executive Director at Walk San Francisco
  • Alex Train, AICP – Director, Department of Housing and Community Development for the City of Chelsea

Registration is on a pay-as-you-can basis. Suggested donation $30.

Registration is open!