Tag: Boston

Statewide Fatal Crashes in MA, June 2021

Statewide Fatal Crashes in MA, June 2021

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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 8 fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in May. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in June 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 38 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in June in the MassDOT Crash portal, 4 were identified as people walking.
  • The crash portal does not include names. The names of 2 of the people walking who died have not been made public yet.
  • The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in June was 63.5.
  • At least 2 of the crashes were hit & runs (as referenced in news articles).
  • The name of the person driving was not identified in 3 of the crashes in news articles that we found.
Date 6/8/2021, 6:34 AM
Location SR-2 EAST, MM 38.4
Town Shelburne
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 45
Sex F

45 year old Rhonda Thompson was out on a morning walk along the breakdown lane of Mohawk Trail / Rt 2 in Shelburne Falls when she was struck and killed by Peter Toomey. The Hampshire Franklin Daily Voice reports that he has pleaded not guilty to charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death; negligent motor vehicle homicide; and failure to stay in marked lanes. The district attorney said the defendant told police his truck had struck a deer the previous evening; once placed under arrest, he said he did not stop since the woman he with was with someone whom he assumed would summon help.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under MassDOT jurisdiction. This stretch of road is one lane in each direction with shoulders on each side. The speed limit is 50 mph and there are no sidewalks.

Date 6/17/2021, 3:31 PM
Location 46 Daggett Dr.
Town West Springfield
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 34
Sex F

An unidentified 34 year old woman was hit and killed in West Springfield on Daggett Drive. The West Springfield Police Department were asking witnesses to come forward to help their investigation.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. The speed limit is 30 mph, and there is a sidewalk on one side of the street. Streetview on Google Maps shows two lanes in each direction, and that the sidewalks, curb ramps, and street were repaved in October 2019. There is one crosswalk to cross over Daggett Drive at the major intersection of Rt 5 / Riverdale Street. There are no crosswalks to cross over Daggett Drive throughout the rest of the shopping plaza.

Date 6/20/2021, 8:00 PM
Location Columbia Rd. + Kosciuszko Cir.
Town Boston
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 84
Sex M

An unidentified 84 year old man was hit and killed at Columbia Rd + Kosciuszko Circle in Boston. We have not been able to find any news articles related to this crash.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this section of the street and circle adjacent to Moakley Park is under MassDCR jurisdiction. According to a Road Safety Audit conducted in March 2019, this area includes Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) high crash clusters for people walking, driving, and biking. A HSIP-eligible location is a crash cluster that ranks within the top 5% of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) based on crash incidence and severity. In March 2021, City and state agencies announced a Kosciuszko Circle /Morrissey Boulevard planning study to improve mobility and climate resiliency.

Date 6/23/2021, 6:59 PM
Location Normandy Rd. WEST + Rose Kennedy Ln.
Town Framingham
Type PEDESTRIAN
Age 91
Sex M

91 year old Huiman Ping was struck and killed by an unidentified 62 year old driver of a Honda Civic on Normandy Road in Framingham. The MetroWest Daily News reported that the Framingham Police said the driver from Holliston remained at the scene after the crash. According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. Framingham has a default speed limit of 25 mph.

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

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).

Cambridge Street signals walk

Cambridge Street signals walk

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Recently, Brendan Kearney and Wendy Landman joined the Boston Transportation Department’s Stefanie Seskin and Vineet Gupta for a walk down Cambridge Street from City Hall Plaza to Charles Circle (but not including the Circle) to talk everything signals. It was a great chance for WalkBoston to give Stefanie and Vineet some detailed input about the way a number of intersections work (or don’t work) for people on foot. There are a wide variety of intersection types, some that are very complicated with many turning movements and lots of vehicles, people walking and people on bikes, and others that are very simple T-intersections where the signals could be simplified and much more WALK time added. We’re looking forward to BTD’s next steps in thinking about how to make Cambridge Street work more safely for people walking, biking and driving. We will post again as the project progresses over the next 6 months.

Prepping for a Fields Corner walk audit later this summer in Dorchester

Prepping for a Fields Corner walk audit later this summer in Dorchester

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This week, we walked around Fields Corner in Dorchester and some of the surrounding streets in the neighborhood with the executive director of Fields Corner Main Street to scout out a walk audit route for later this summer. Fields Corner Main Street (FCMS) is one of twenty Main Street organizations established by the City of Boston to promote neighborhood business districts. Fields Corner is home to a diverse community of Vietnamese, African-American, Cape Verdean, Irish and Latino businesses, and residents. FCMS’ mission is to safeguard and advance the diverse character and economic vitality of Field’s Corner to better serve its residents and attract visitors.

Along the way, we stopped in to speak with a few business owners and others we met on the street while walking through the area, especially around the intersection of Adams Street and Dorchester Avenue. Please send Brendan a message if you live or work in the area and want to take part in the walk audit later this summer.

Don’t live or work in the area, but know it well? Do you know people that we should be reaching out to in order to include in this effort? We’d love to hear from you, and are also happy to incorporate any feedback and suggestions you may have. Thank you!

   

where we’ve been lately – May 2021 update

where we’ve been lately – May 2021 update

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As summer approaches, we’ve been ramping up our work all over the Commonwealth!

Here are a few places we’ve been working with people lately, either in person or virtually, to help make their community more walkable:

  1. Blandford
  2. Boston
  3. Brockton
  4. Cambridge
  5. Chelsea
  6. Concord
  7. Cummington
  8. Egremont
  9. Haverhill
  10. Huntington
  11. Medford
  12. New Bedford
  13. Quincy
  14. Springfield
  15. Worcester
Read the Boston Vision Zero Progress Report – Year Five (2019 & 2020)

Read the Boston Vision Zero Progress Report – Year Five (2019 & 2020)

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BOSTON VISION ZERO PROGRESS REPORT

YEAR FIVE – 2019 & 2020

Read Full Report

In 2015 the City of Boston committed to Vision Zero, a data-driven effort to eliminate serious and fatal crashes on city streets by 2030. Nearly six years later, the City of Boston has demonstrated consistent and measurable progress toward its goals, and has much to be proud of, including continuing to reduce pedestrian fatalities during a year when they skyrocketed across the country.

This year’s report includes a summary and evaluation of the City’s progress in both 2019 and 2020, along with specific recommendations for how Boston can continue moving toward its goal of eliminating traffic fatalities by 2030.

Read the full report here.

Boston has proven itself to be a national Vision Zero leader. The challenge moving forward will be maintaining momentum as the City recovers from COVID-19, addresses systemic racism, and continues to adapt to an ever-changing context.

Now is the right time for the City to revisit its Action Plan, reflect on how the landscape has changed, and present an updated roadmap to Vision Zero. The City should incorporate an emphasis on decreasing the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road by increasing mode shift, as well as focus on removing police enforcement from the scope of its plan.

The MA Vision Zero Coalition (of which WalkBoston is a member) believes the City is positioned well to execute these recommendations and to continue on the right path toward meeting Vision Zero and Go Boston 2030 goals. The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition looks forward to continuing our strong relationship with the City of Boston to achieve our shared goals.

Read the full report here.