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.

In our previous post, we took a look at crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in October; six were identified as people walking. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in November 2023. The information in the chart below is compiled from news reports, and was checked against the MassDOT Crash Portal Dashboard “Fatal Crash Information.” Any Google Street View images included below use the address listed in the crash portal.

• Of the 17 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in November in the MassDOT Crash portal, 6 were identified as people walking. There was at least 2 additional fatal incidents during November.
  • As reported by WCVB: On November 12th, Massachusetts State Police said a tractor-trailer struck an unidentified person shortly before noon on the southbound side of Interstate 95 at Exit 26, where the highway merges with Interstate 93. (Editor’s note: Since this crash is not listed in the crash portal, it is possible that MSP investigators ruled the person died prior to the crash or that it was a suicide, either of which would mean it would not appear in the FARS data.)
  • As reported by NBC10 Boston: On November 29th, North Reading police rushed an 80-year old woman to a hospital after emergency crews freed her from under her Buick Regal in her driveway, but she later died. Investigators believe the car rolled backward and hit her, and they don’t believe foul play was involved. (Editor’s note: Since this incident took place in a driveway and not in a public right of way, it may not appear in the FARS data.)
• Similar to last month, some of the pedestrian crashes had the ‘speed limit’ field blank in the Road Inventory Viewer. We are now also using the MassGIS-MassDOT Roads layer to check for speed limit information.
• The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in November was 37.8.

There is not much coverage of this crash. A Brockton resident shared that the pedestrian was hit while walking to Brockton High School and was transported to the hospital where she later died from her injuries. The Enterprise reached out to the school for more information:

“Sadly, a grade 11 student died as a result of injuries sustained in an accident that occurred last Friday, November 3,” said Brockton High School‘s Chief Communications Officer Jess Silva-Hodges in a statement to The Enterprise Thursday, Nov. 9.

“Students were informed of available supports this afternoon and our staff are working directly with the student’s friends to provide counseling services for as long as needed,” Silva-Hodges said.

“Several staff members have been in contact and supporting the family since we first learned of the accident last week. We remain in contact and will help them however we can,” she said.

The Brockton PD logs for that day indicate that the pedestrian was hit @ 6:35 am. 610 Pleasant Street is the address for the Walgreens on the south side of the street. Heading north on MA-27 west of Walgreens, there are additional travel lanes. This is the second reported pedestrian fatality in Brockton in 2023.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Pleasant Street is under local jurisdiction. It is a two-way road with one travel lane in each direction. There are sidewalks on both sides of the street. The speed limit is 30mph.

26-year old Noor Khan Zadran was hit while walking on Central Berkshire Blvd near his job site by the driver of a 2007 Hyundai Sonata. Pedestrian was transported by ambulance to Berkshire Medical Center and then by helicopter to Albany Medical Center, where the pedestrian died from their injuries.

CBS 6 Albany reports:

Police said, Judith Daly, 85, of Pittsfield, MA, was traveling north bound on Central Berkshire Boulevard when she struck a pedestrian. Daly allegedly kept driving after striking the pedestrian and continued to West Housatonic Street, where she proceeded east bound before being involved in a second crash with a 2019 GMC pickup truck driven by David Turner, 58, of Hancock, MA, at the intersection of Lebanon Avenue.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Central Berkshire Blvd is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a two-way road with one travel lane in each direction. There are no sidewalks on either side of the street. The speed limit is 45mph.

WCVB reports a truck operated by a 44-year-old Fall River man struck a 37-year old female pedestrian on Rt24 North near exit 8 in Fall River; she was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, SR-24 is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a divided highway with three travel lanes northbound and two travel lanes southbound. There are no sidewalks. The speed limit is unclear, with both 55mph (MassDOT Road Inventory) and 60mph (MassGIS-MassDOT Roads layer) listed.

MassLive reports 62-year old Angel Maestre was struck and killed when he was hit by 27-year old Yordani Rodriguez who was driving a motorcycle. Yordani was transported to the hospital where he also later passed away. 

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Blue Hill Ave & American Legion Highway are under local jurisdiction. American Legion is a median divided two-way road with two travel lanes in each direction. Blue Hill Ave is a median divided two-way road with three lanes in each direction at intersections. There are sidewalks on both sides of each street. The speed limit is 30mph.

A 38-year old woman was struck and killed on Foundry Street. We could not find any additional news coverage of this incident.

This is less than half a mile from where 84-year old Michael Ginsburg was struck and killed in February 2023, also on Foundry Street.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Foundry Street is under local jurisdiction. It is a two-way road with one travel lane in each direction. There no sidewalks. The speed limit is 40mph.

A 46-year old man was struck and killed on Belmont Ave. We could not find any additional news coverage of this incident.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Belmont Ave is under local jurisdiction. It is a two-way road with one travel lane in each direction. There are sidewalks on both sides of the street. The speed limit is 30mph.

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 2023 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 | 2023

Report: Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in MA (2021)
Report: Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in MA (2022)

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).