Tag: Safe Roads Alliance

Fitness challenges to get ready for November 

Fitness challenges to get ready for November 

Can’t wait for Beat the Bay State to return in November? Check out these partner events to keep you occupied this spring!

MassBike’s 30 Days of Biking Challenge (Month of April)

All you have to do is ride every day in April, even if it’s just once around your block, and you’ll have a chance to win a Rover Rain Cape from Cleverhood. The April 30 Days of Biking is a great way to kick off your riding season before Bay State Bike Month starts in May!

Mattapan Walks Spring 2022 Walking Challenge (starting April 6)

Track your steps per day and be entered to win prizes for new & returning walkers per week for each theme. Challenge starts April 6th and will last for 5 weeks (Wednesday, April 6th to Wednesday, May 11th). Each week is a different theme:

  • Week 1: Buddy Week

  • Week 2: Adventure Week

  • Week 3: Pets and Family Week

  • Week 4: Kindness Week

  • Week 5: Whacky Week

MA Councils on Aging’s Walk Massachusetts Challenge
(registration now open, challenge goes May 1 – October 31)

Lace up your sneakers! The Walk Massachusetts Challenge is back and better than ever! This year, we are opening up the challenge to everyone age five and up. Anyone under 60 can sponsor an older adult to walk with or for. You can sponsor your parent, grandparent, neighbor, teacher, Council on Aging employee, etc. What are you waiting for? Your participation helps your local Council on Aging/Senior Center win money for fitness programs and gives you the chance to win one of several prizes!

Choose one of four challenges based on a Commonwealth of Massachusetts fun fact:

  • The 1788 Challenge – Walk 88 Days (at least 30 minutes per day) 

    • Complete 88 days to celebrate the year Massachusetts became the sixth state! It is only a 30 minute walk every other day for the duration of the promotion.

  • The Turnpike Challenge – Run, Jog, Walk 126.6 Miles(or about 253,000 steps)

    • Complete 126.6 miles to celebratethe length of the Massachusetts Turnpike from Boston to Lee! It is only about 0.7 miles or about 1,380 steps a day for the duration of the promotion.

  • The Shoreline Challenge – Run, Jog, Walk 192 Miles(or about 384,000 steps)

    • Complete 192 miles to celebrate the length of the Massachusetts shoreline! It is only about 1.1 miles or about 2,090 stepsa day for the duration of the promotion.

  • The Commonwealth Challenge – Run, Jog, Walk 351 Miles(or about 702,000 steps)

    • Complete 351 miles to celebrate the number of cities and towns in the Commonwealth!

The challenge runs May 1 to October 31, 2022. During this time, you will have chances to be entered into a drawing to win a $50 Visa, $25 Amazon or $10 Dunkin’ gift card. The more you walk, the more chances you have to win. Reach each milestone and receive a total of five entries. By completing the challenge, your local Council on Aging gets a raffle entry to win up to $1000 for fitness programming.

Safe Roads Alliance Global Road Safety Week Relay (starting May 15)

In this primarily virtual event, we are asking participants to run the width of our Commonwealth to help raise awareness of road safety. The event will take place May 15-22, 2022 during Global Road Safety Week. It will start in Lenox on May 15th and end at the Marathon Finish Line in Boston on May 22nd.

Most of the relay legs are 5 miles long and participants can run, walk, bike, or roll their leg that they have selected. The number of people completing each leg is unlimited and we set a goal of raising $500 for each leg for a total of $16,500.

Where and when is the event?

The first leg will kick off on May 15th at 10am in Lenox, MA and the last leg will be on May 22nd with a ceremony at the finish line in Boston. The legs in between will be mapped and tracked but participants will be able to complete them at the leisure virtually during that week.

For a few sections of the route, we are recommending that people opt to do a virtual run/walk/bike due to the safety of the roads in some areas. We tried to create a route that would have sidewalks or wide shoulders and a low speed limit, but in some parts of the state, this was not possible. We highlighted over nearly two dozen virtual options around MA that are on bike paths or rail trails and these can easily substitute for a leg along the route where we recommend a virtual option. Massachusetts has many beautiful, connected off-road paths that we want more people to know about, so check these out too when you are selecting your leg. Just make sure to log your finish so we can see if we successfully relayed across our Commonwealth!

Support of S.2553 An Act Relative to Automated Enforcement

Support of S.2553 An Act Relative to Automated Enforcement

March 10, 2020
24 Beacon Street, Room 319
Massachusetts State House
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Senator Brownsberger,

We are writing in strong support of S.2553, An Act relative to automated enforcement. As a coalition of advocacy organizations devoted to creating safer roadways, we appreciate your efforts to move forward a bill to introduce Automated Enforcement in Massachusetts. We believe this bill will have enormous safety benefits to the residents of the Commonwealth.

Automated enforcement is one of the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition’s top legislative priorities. Speed, school bus and red light cameras have been proven to reduce speeding and unsafe driving, prevent crashes, and reduce repeat offenders — an encouraging sign of behavior change. In one study in Maryland, speeding by 10+ mph or more fell by 70% in places with new automated enforcement measures. Nationally, 400 cities and towns have installed red light cameras, and 130 have speed cameras.

We see this legislation as an important tool to reduce speeding and unsafe driving in a way that requires no direct interaction with police officers, and that includes privacy safeguards (i.e., cameras capture only license plates, not faces; data is deleted after 48 hours after final disposition of a violation).

Sincerely,
Stacey Beuttell
Executive Director, WalkBoston

Galen Mook
Executive Director, MassBike

Eliza Parad
Interim Executive Director, Boston Cyclists Union

Emily Stein
President, Safe Roads Alliance

Stacy Thompson
Executive Director, LivableStreets Alliance

WBZ NewsRadio: “Vigil Held At Mass. State House For Victims Of Traffic Accidents”

WBZ NewsRadio: “Vigil Held At Mass. State House For Victims Of Traffic Accidents”

WBZ NewsRadio: “Vigil Held At Mass. State House For Victims Of Traffic Accidents”

Legislation was a focus this year for the group. On Friday, a committee of lawmakers reached an agreement on the distracted driving bill, which has been in the works for years.

“This is the first time that we feel really excited to say we’re looking at a hands-free bill that is almost about to pass,” Stein said.

The bill is set to be filed on Monday morning.

Walk Boston Executive Director Stacey Beuttell said the end goal is to save lives.

“This is a day for both promoting legislation and a rallying cry to make sure that our state legislators and all of us are still working toward safe streets, but it’s also a day to remember those who have fallen that didn’t have to,” Beuttell said. “These are crashes, not accidents. And we need to change that.”

However, according to Beuttell, there is still a lot advocates want to see get done.

“Until we have safe crosswalks, until we have protected bike lanes, and networks that allow people to move throughout the city, we won’t consider our job finished,” Beuttell said.

Posted November 17, 2019

Great Day of Action for Road Safety on Beacon Hill

Great Day of Action for Road Safety on Beacon Hill

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us at the Statehouse for the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition’s Road Safety Day of Action! Thank you to Governor Baker & Lt. Governor Polito for also filing legislation focused on road safety and getting the conversation started.

A packed room heard from Governor Baker, Text Less Live More, Children’s Hospital, AAA, SADD, and co-sponsors of three important bills:

  1. The Hands-Free Bill(s)

    • Chairman Wagner & Representative Donato are sponsoring HD1534
    • Chairman Straus is sponsoring HD1420
    • Representative Provost is sponsoring HD1346
    • Senator Montigny is sponsoring SD1383
    • Senators Creem & Brownsberger are sponsoring SD897

  2. Automated Enforcement Bill

    • Senator William Brownsberger is sponsoring SD1461

  3. An Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities

    • Senator William Brownsberger is sponsoring SD847
    • Representative Hecht and Representative Rogers are sponsoring HD1653
WalkBoston Executive Director Wendy Landman explains an aspect of the bill.

The morning was organized by the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition (WalkBoston, Safe Roads Alliance, MassBike, LivableStreets Alliance, Boston Cyclists Union, Transportation for Massachusetts & more) & Text Less Live More. After info packets were distributed, people were off to meet with their legislators and talk about why these efforts would make MA roads safer in their own communities. Thank you to everyone who came together today to work towards safer streets, and thank you to all of the legislators and staff that attended and listened throughout the day!

Were you unable to make it to Beacon Hill, but want to get involved with WalkBoston’s efforts?

ACTIVISTS CALL FOR FASTER ACTION: 4,500 PEOPLE INJURED IN CAR CRASHES ON STREETS OF BOSTON IN 2017

ACTIVISTS CALL FOR FASTER ACTION: 4,500 PEOPLE INJURED IN CAR CRASHES ON STREETS OF BOSTON IN 2017

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  STACY THOMPSON at 651-206-1068 or stacy@livablestreets.info

ACTIVISTS CALL FOR FASTER ACTION: 4,500 PEOPLE INJURED IN CAR CRASHES ON STREETS OF BOSTON IN 2017

Event details for third annual vigil released; Zakim Bridge and Boston City Hall to be lit yellow; loved ones, advocates, and elected officials gather to remember the hundreds of people who have died across the state; Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition calls on City of Boston leaders to prevent deadly crashes by investing in safe, equitable streets

BOSTON: Friday, November 16, 2018 – Following a slew of fatal crashes in Metro Boston, the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition announces a day of actions on World Day of Remembrance on Sunday, November 18, 2018. Planned events include a vigil to memorialize the human toll of traffic crashes suffered across Massachusetts and the world. The vigil will be preceded by a Ghost Bike Dedication Ceremony for Meng Jin, who was killed by a dump truck while biking near the Museum of Science on November 9, and followed by a silent walk of remembrance to City Hall Plaza to call on Boston leaders to take faster action on making city streets safer.

“We know what works – streets that are properly designed to keep people safe,” said LivableStreets Alliance executive director Stacy Thompson. “The hard work is implementing these designs in cities and towns across Massachusetts. Tackling these issues through the lens of Vision Zero means changing how communities manage their streets.”

In 2016, 37,461 people were killed in car crashes across the U.S., a 6% increase in deaths compared with 2015 and the highest number of traffic deaths since 2007.On Boston streets, 4,521 people were injured in 2017.

To broaden public awareness of traffic deaths, the Coalition has coordinated with the City of Boston and MassDOT to light up Boston City Hall and the Zakim Bridge in yellow on the night of November 18th. In the week leading up to World Day of Remembrance, activists across the state have placed cutouts of human figures near crash sites, including in Boston, Cambridge, Springfield, Worcester, and other cities with high crash rates.

“People in the metro region do not stay within one municipal boundary, so we need cooperation between city and the state agencies,” said Becca Wolfson, executive Director of the Boston Cyclists Union. “We have bridges that are unsafe, and leave dangerous gaps in the bike network. We also know that injury crashes are occurring at a disproportionate rate in lower income communities and want to see prioritization of projects based on crash data. This is an issue of public health, public safety, and equity.”

The Coalition invites crash survivors and their loved ones, members of the public, and local and state leaders to gather at the vigil and reflect upon those who have been injured or killed on our communities’ streets. Attendees are encouraged to wear yellow, the color connected with victims of traffic crashes across the globe.

After the vigil, attendees will be invited to join a Silent Walk of Remembrance to raise awareness of the thousands of injuries from car crashes in Boston each year, and to call for faster action from City leaders. Participants in the silent walk to Boston City Hall Plaza can write messages in chalk to City leaders. Coalition members will lay out more than 1,100 yellow blossoms on the Plaza, signifying the enormous death and injury toll on Boston streets in 2017.

The vigil and silent walk are one of hundreds of events taking place internationally as part of the World Day of Remembrance, a United Nations-recognized movement to commemorate lives lost or injured on roads.

The Coalition will soon be rolling out its third annual progress report, reviewing and rating Boston’s Vision Zero efforts over the past year. The Coalition is committed to reviewing the City’s progress annually to ensure public accountability in reaching its goals.

Earlier this year, Mayor Walsh announced a new annual $5 million investment to advance the projects and policies in Go Boston 2030, adding 20 new staff to the Transportation Department.

“Four years after the launch of Vision Zero, the City of Boston is not making fast enough progress towards eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030,” said WalkBoston executive director Wendy Landman. “Each serious injury and life lost on Boston streets continues to be an occasion to reflect on the urgency of Vision Zero.”

On the state level, the Coalition is gearing up for a Day of Action on January 23rd for the 2019 legislative session. The Day of Action, led by Coalition member Emily Stein, president of Safe Roads Alliance, will bring constituents to the State House to advocate for distracted driving and hands-free bills.

“Massachusetts is a leader in so many fields,” said Stein, “but it falls behind other states in New England when it comes to addressing the public safety issue of distracted driving. The passage of distracted driving legislation will save countless lives across the Commonwealth.”

Event Details:

World Day of Remembrance

November 18, 2018 from 12:30-3:30pm

Schedule of events:

  • 12:30pm: Ghost Bike Dedication Ceremony for Meng Jin at Charles River Dam Road and Museum Way
  • 1:45pm: Gather on the steps of Massachusetts State House for a Memorial Vigil
  • 2:00pm: Program for Memorial Vigil Begins
  • 2:45pm: Silent Walk of Remembrance to Boston City Hall Plaza
  • 3:30pm: Event ends

On the evening of Sunday, November 18th, the following landmarks will be lit yellow, the color associated with traffic fatalities, in recognition of World Day of Remembrance:

  • Zakim Bridge, Boston
  • Boston City Hall
  • South Station, Boston
  • Government Center T Station, Boston
  • Burns Bridge, Worcester

Memorial Organizers: Members of the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition, including Safe Roads Alliance, LivableStreets Alliance, MassBike, WalkBoston, Boston Cyclists Union, among others.

Crash sites where cutouts will be placed

World Day of Remembrance Facebook Event Page

MA Vision Zero Coalition website

Contact

Stacy Thompson, LivableStreets Alliance, 651-206-1068 or stacy@livablestreets.info
Brendan Kearney, WalkBoston, 617-960-6037 or bkearney@walkboston.org
Emily Stein, Safe Roads Alliance, 617-417-3689 or emily@saferoadsalliance.org
Rebecca Wolfson, Boston Cyclists Union, 315-345-6532 or bwolfson@bostoncyclistsunion.org
Galen Mook, MassBike, 703-395-4232 or galen@massbike.org

The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition advocates for the implementation of Vision Zero in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, and for the reduction of traffic injuries and deaths across Massachusetts. The new and growing coalition includes community-based organizations, nonprofits, businesses, civic groups and individuals representing communities across the state. visionzerocoalition.org/

LivableStreets Alliance is an advocacy organization working to create a world where streets are safe, vibrant public spaces that connect people to the places where they live, work and play. LivableStreets advocates for innovative and equitable transportation solutions that create safe, affordable and convenient options for everyone in Metro Boston. http://www.livablestreets.info

The Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition (MassBike) promotes a bicycle-friendly environment and encourages bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation. http://www.massbike.org

WalkBoston makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and more vibrant communities. https://walkmass.org

The Boston Cyclists Union is helping Bostonians lead healthier lives by promoting the everyday use of the bicycle for transportation. Among other things, they repair bikes, educate new riders, and organize neighborhood residents who would like to voice support for friendlier street designs, bike paths, and public spaces. http://bostoncyclistsunion.org

Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. http://visionzeronetwork.org

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