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. For the full list of monthly posts, head here.

Last month, we took a look at the 6 fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in July. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in August 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 49 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in August in the MassDOT Crash portal, 5 were identified as people walking.
• The crash portal does not include names. The name of 1 of the people walking who died have not been made public yet.
• The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in August was 48.4.
• 2 of the crash victims were people who had stopped their vehicle to investigate a problem, and then were hit by other drivers.
• At least 1 of the crashes were hit & runs (as referenced in news articles).
• 4 of the crashes involved SUVs or large pickup trucks.
• The name of the person driving was identified in 1 of the crashes in news articles that we found.

Rolando Escobar struck and killed 58-year-old Lisa Rocha as she was getting into her car on Main Street in Taunton. The Taunton Daily Gazette reports that he left the scene, then struck a vehicle on Summer Street causing his SUV to flip over in front of the police station.

The Gazette spoke to Lisa’s friends, family, and co-workers:

Lisa put [her passion for gardening] to work as activities director at Marian Manor nursing home at 33 Summer St. in Taunton. At Marian Manor, she spread her love for flowers by planting a garden, Shantel said. Three times a day Lisa would pick a resident to help her with the garden, said Connie Coelho, Lisa’s co-worker.

Escobar has been charged with operating under the influence of drugs/felony homicide, OUI-drugs second offense, manslaughter, OUI resulting in death, leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, and leaving the scene of property damage.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. This stretch of road is two-way, with a travel lane in each direction and parking on each side. The road is 30 feet wide. There is a posted 20mph speed limit.

The Boston Globe reported that a 30 year-old man driving a tractor trailer pulled over to the side to inspect his truck and was struck and killed by another driver who crashed and pinned him into his truck on the MassPike in Allston-Brighton. CBS Boston shared that the driver who struck and killed the man was a 17-year old driving a Chevy Cruze.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this is an interstate highway under MassDOT jurisdiction. The westbound stretch of I-90 is one-way, with a 2-foot left shoulder, 4 12-foot travel lanes, and an 8-foot right shoulder at this mile marker. The speed limit is 55mph.

69 year-old Daniel Rindge was struck and killed by the 65-year old driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee on Graf Road in Newburyport. The driver was not identified.

The Newburyport News reports:

Rindge was a well-known illustrator and caricature artist who worked for the former Port Planet newspaper in Newburyport. He also was an artist, illustrator and graphic designer at Gulls Brewery, according to his LinkedIn profile.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. This stretch of road is one lane in each direction. The road is 24 feet wide. The speed limit is 35mph.

Newburyport Police Lt. Matthew Simons said it is unknown if Rindge was crossing the street but said he was in the travel lane when the accident occurred. (There are no sidewalks on either side of the street, and there do not appear to be any crosswalks on Google Streetview.)

The Bourne Enterprise reports that 41-year old Caitlyn Sprague was struck and killed on Main Street in Bourne by the driver of a Chevy Silverado pickup.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. This stretch of road is one lane in each direction with shoulders on each side. The speed limit is 40mph. Google Streetview shows a crosswalk and bump outs at this address.

NBC Boston reports that a 51 year-old driver of a Chevy Sonic drifted into the breakdown lane on Route 2 in Leominster and struck and killed 44-year old Daniel Levangie. Levangie was changing a tire in the breakdown lane when he was struck.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Route 2 / Concord Turnpike is under MassDOT jurisdiction. The westbound stretch of road is two 12-foot lanes with a 10-foot shoulder. The speed limit is 55 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).