“Dollars & sense”
“Small change has big impact: The Quincy Adams gate”
By Michelle Deng/Quincy-Penn’s Hill Neighborhood Association Gate Committee Member
“New state Pedestrian Plan is a positive step”
By Adi Nochur/Project Manager, WalkBoston
“WalkMA Network connects towns”
By Brendan Kearney/Communications Director, WalkBoston
Download the February 2019 Newsletter PDF
March 28, 2019
Joint Committee on Transportation
Joseph A. Boncore, Senate Chair
State House, Room 112
Boston, MA 02133
Joint Committee on Transportation
William Straus, House Chair
State House, Room 134
Boston, MA 02133
Re: Comments on H3126/S2069 An Act Relative to Mobile Carry Devices
Dear Chairman Boncore and Chairman Straus,
WalkBoston is Massachusetts’ main pedestrian advocacy organization, working to make walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and more vibrant communities. LivableStreets Alliance advocates for innovative and equitable transportation solutions that create safe, affordable and convenient options for everyone in Metro Boston. We write to provide the Committee with our comments on H3126/S2069, “An act relative to mobile carry devices.”
If we are to continue to build more livable cities and towns across Massachusetts, we must ensure the sidewalks are made for people of all ages and abilities. A 90-lb device that can carry up to 45-lbs of goods traveling at 12.5 miles per hour does not belong on the sidewalk, and instead should be in the street.
At a high level, we are also concerned that these regulations could open the door to the privatization of the public way: our sidewalks. The most sought-after space in our cities is at the curb. Cities on the West Coast continue to grapple with transportation technology issues a few months in advance of us, including the testing of autonomous delivery robots. The latest example we’ve heard from Walk San Francisco includes a proposal from a tech food delivery company to use robots to continuously operate on a sidewalk route to pick up multiple orders from a store and deliver them 2-3 blocks away to a waiting delivery driver in a car.
This legislation leaves many questions:
We appreciate the opportunity to comment, and would be happy to work with any proponent to offer feedback.
Thank you,
Brendan Kearney
Communications Director, WalkBoston
Stacy Thompson
Executive Director, LivableStreets Alliance
Below are the “One Minute, One Slide” presentations shared by members of the WalkBoston staff at the March 18, 2019 Annual Celebration.
Below is a “One Minute, One Slide” presentation shared by a member of the WalkBoston staff.
Text provided is as prepared for this year’s annual event on March 18, 2019.
Language matters when talking about crashes: A recent study shared at the TRB (Transportation Research Board) Conference titled “Editorial Patterns in Bicyclist and Pedestrian Crash Reporting” examined ways that media coverage of crashes could influence public perception, looking at word choice and agency.
An example from a crash in Boston: You wouldn’t know someone was driving this truck by the initial news report, since “a city-owned truck struck a pedestrian.”
We (politely) reached out to the reporter and station on Twitter, and asked them to clarify that a person driving was behind the wheel in this crash. The news station was responsive, & made changes to the story.
Just as road design influences behavior, media coverage & local reporting influences public perception.
About 40,000 people in the United States die as a result of car crashes each year. This isn’t just about drivers hitting people walking, it includes people both in and outside cars – roughly 350 people die in crashes each year in Massachusetts alone, while many thousands more are injured. We need to reduce illegal speeding to help prevent and/or reduce the severity of these crashes. So a big THANK YOU to all the reporters and news organizations that are willing to take a look at how they are presenting crashes. Local reporting helps shine a light on common-sense ways we can make our streets safer for people: fixing the way our roads are designed.
WGBH News: “As Boston Aims To End Traffic Deaths, Deadliest Streets Often Go Overlooked”
Brendan Kearney of the pedestrian group WalkBoston worries the city isn’t taking on the bigger, more complicated roadways where most crashes are actually happening. “These are happening on fast arterial streets,” said Kearney, not on the residential streets that are the primary focus of the Neighborhood Slow Streets program. “We want to make sure they’re addressing the root cause.”
Aired March 11, 2019