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. With a full year’s worth of posts now complete from 2021, we will be releasing a year in review in the coming weeks to highlight common issues.

Last month, we took a look at the nine fatal crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in November. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in December 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 35 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in November in the MassDOT Crash portal, four were identified as people walking.
• The crash portal does not include names. The name of one of the people walking who died have not been made public yet.
• The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in December was 45.
• The name of the person driving was not identified in any of the crashes in news articles that we found.

WWLP reports that a 39-year old man was struck and killed after a 42-year-old man from Ludlow was traveling on I-291 westbound in a 2009 Toyota Matrix struck him in the left travel lane/center median. The male pedestrian was then struck by a 2015 Chevrolet Sonic driven by a 29-year-old man from Springfield in the left travel lane.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a limited access highway, with a median and 3 travel lanes in each direction. The speed limit is 55mph.

16-year old Springfield Central High School student Alexangeliz Medina died after the driver of a school bus struck and killed her near the MassMutual Center at Dwight & State Street in Springfield.

Western Mass News spoke to Alexangeliz’s parents, Sorangel Ayala and Alex Medina:

“She was the life of the party always making everyone laugh,” said mother Sorangel Ayala.

“That’s why it makes it even harder because she did the right thing, why did it happen, why? She didn’t try to run a light nothing, she crossed the street when she was suppose to,” said Ayala.

Her parents detailed Alexangeliz’s love for art and what it meant to her. “This was just her hobby and her way of expressing herself and being who she is,” said Ayala.

Now, as they learn to navigate life without Alexangeliz, her family has ways they remember her bright energy.

“She wanted to be a teacher, she wanted to change, she wanted to cause change and that we don’t have to hate each other because of our differences, we need to celebrate each other becasue we have differences,” said Medina.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Dwight Street and State Street are both under local jurisdiction. State Street is two-way, with 2 travel lanes in each direction. Dwight Street is one-way, with 3 travel lanes. There is a sidewalk on both sides of each street. The speed limit is listed as 35mph in the Road Inventory.

This was the fourth fatal pedestrian crash on State Street in Springfield in 2021, and followed two fatal pedestrian crashes in November (see last month’s post).

Ann O’Flaherty, a nurse at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, was struck and killed by a driver at Washington and Cambridge Street in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood while on her way to work at the hospital.

Irish Central shared that Ann was originally from Ireland and had been a nurse at St. Elizabeth’s since 1988. Boston 25 News spoke to people that lived nearby:

Locals say this stretch of Washington Street is very fast.

“It can be because you have cars coming from both ways and coming off the section right there they are coming from three different ways,” said Everett Mills who lives nearby.

Jim Long also a resident of the area said “A lot of times cars just go through here real quick and don’t slow down. Particularly when they come down the hill.”

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under local jurisdiction. It is two-way, with 1 travel lane in each direction. There is a sidewalk on each side. The speed limit is listed as 30mph.

63-year old Marguerite Scanlon was hit and killed by a driver on Bridge St (Route 109) in Dedham near the Doggett Circle senior and elderly housing community. Boston 25 News talked to people near the scene:

“I was almost hit the other day going out. They don’t care how they drive. This is a senior citizen place. They don’t care if they’re going 100 mph,” said Janet, who didn’t want to use her last name.

Neighbors are recalling their own close calls with vehicles on Route 109, also known as Bridge Street.

Police have not said if speed was a factor in Monday night’s deadly accident.

“They drive quickly. I think this is a dangerous area because there’s a curve in the road, and you can’t see the cars coming,” said neighbor Jo-Ann Burnett.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this street is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is two-way, with 1 travel lane in each direction. There is a sidewalk on each side. The speed limit is listed as 35mph.

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).