walk audit academy Archives - WalkMassachusetts

WalkMassachusetts releases MA pedestrian crash report and tools to advocate for safer streets

BOSTON, March 29, 2024 – In 2023, one in every five (20%) fatal motor vehicle crashes in Massachusetts involved a person walking getting hit by the driver of a car. Forty cities and towns experienced at least one fatal pedestrian crash over the course of the year, with eight municipalities seeing multiple crashes. More than half (54%) of the deaths occurred in environmental justice communities.

These insights come from Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in MA (2023) WalkMassachusetts’ third annual report tracking pedestrian deaths from motor vehicles around the Commonwealth. Along with calculating the number of pedestrian deaths, the report provides time-of-day, geographic, and other insights to inform solutions for safer streets.

“We are heartbroken each year learning the stories of people walking who lose their lives in these senseless, and largely preventable, crashes,” said Brendan Kearney, co-executive director of WalkMassachusetts. “One factor emerges again and again in these crashes: vehicle speed. Our roads are designed for people to drive too fast. We witness residents across the Commonwealth wanting to advocate for changes in the streets in their own community – and we stand ready to help.”

Older adults (people aged 65 or older) continue to be disproportionately harmed, making up 31.9% of victims while representing only 18% of the state’s population.

“People of all ages deserve to be safe as we move within and between our communities,” said Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative (MHAC) Executive Director James Fuccione. “For older adults to be active, engaged and included in community life means having infrastructure that prioritizes safety and connection to things we all find meaningful. This data is proof that there is more to be done as we collectively need to advance and quicken the progress being made.”

With over three-quarters of fatal pedestrian crashes in 2023 happening on local streets controlled by a city or town (76.8%), WalkMassachusetts is introducing a new resource to educate and empower people to create safer streets in their own communities: the Walk Audit Academy video series. This series will provide guidance on the elements of what creates a safe street and how to organize a group of friends and neighbors to take action on specific streets.

In addition, WalkMassachusetts is offering a Walk Audit Academy training program, where staff will work with a cohort of three to five groups within a community in a hands-on manner.

People can learn more about both programs here or at www.walkmass.org/waa

“Las auditorías peatonales y los días de demostración con intervenciones temporales permiten a las personas dar su opinión y ver posibles cambios en una calle,” said Noemy Rodriguez, Waterfront Initiative Organizer with GreenRoots in Chelsea.

[Translation: Walk audits and demonstration days with temporary installations allow people to give feedback and see possible changes to a street.]

WalkMassachusetts’ efforts align with other promising programs being led by MassDOT, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and local cities, including:

At least 10 Regional Vision Zero planning efforts are just starting, with funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary grant program. This is a sign that planning investments on a regional level have happened since our report in March 2023 to respond to safety issues on our roadways.
MassDOT has provided 281 school zone assemblies to 130 communities, and is developing a multi-year program to enhance bus stop crossings where pedestrian risk is high or there is a high potential for walking; they are starting with State-owned roadways (reviewing 212 bus stop locations).
The City of Boston has rolled out a “Safety Surge,” which focuses on three main areas: Speed Humps, Safer Intersections, and Safer Signals.

Other key crash data from the report

While total pedestrian deaths have dipped slightly from last year’s all-time high of 101 deaths, this year’s total of 69 deaths sits at the average of pedestrian deaths over the past 22 years. Other key insights include:

Boston, Springfield, and Brockton have had at least three fatal crashes each year that WalkMassachusetts has released a report.
More than three quarters (76.8%) of the fatalities took place on streets controlled by municipalities. Less than 20% (18.8%) were on MassDOT roads.
Almost 70% of the fatal pedestrian crashes occurred in the dark (before sunrise or after sunset).
More than half (54%) of fatal pedestrian crashes took place in Environmental Justice Census Block Groups.
70.8% of the vehicles people were driving in these fatal crashes were passenger cars, while 21.5% were light trucks. (All vans, minivans, pickups, and SUVs are combined into the “light truck” category.)
7 crashes were hit-and-run resulting in 8 deaths, where the driver left the scene of the crash.

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About WalkMassachusetts

WalkMassachusetts makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment, and more vibrant communities. Founded in 1990 as WalkBoston, the organization envisions a Massachusetts where people walking – no matter their race, identity, age, ability, or lived experience – feel safe, connected, and valued on our streets and sidewalks.

RSVP for Springfield Walk Audit Academy Community Report Out – November 9 (5-7pm)

Please join us on November 9th 5-7pm to hear about the “Walk Audit Academy – Springfield” effort and what participants found during their walk audits in Fall 2023. Food will be provided.

This project was led by WalkMassachusetts and sponsored by AARP as part of a Community Challenge Grant.

As part of the evening, we’ll highlight a little about each of the group’s walk audits. There will be a group presentation shared that night. Each group will send a few updates in advance – similar to the info we talked about during the Zoom sessions throughout the fall. (Group coordinators: we’ve sent an email with the details we’d like you to send in! Please let us know if you need it re-sent.)

Location
Neighborhood Resource Center, 437 Bay Street, Springfield

RSVP
Send an email to Jonny – jgp@walkboston.org – if you will be attending.

Who is invited?
This event is open to anyone in the Springfield community (and beyond) that is interested in learning more about walk audits and safe streets efforts – just make sure to RSVP! Doing so will help us plan and ensure that we are able to provide enough food for all attendees. As you RSVP to Jonny, please let him know if you have any questions, a need for Spanish interpretation, or dietary restrictions: jgp@walkboston.org

AARP 2023 Community Challenge Grant Announcement!

“AARP is thrilled to include Walk Massachusetts as part of our Community Challenge Grants this year. Their project in Springfield will empower residents to make their community more accessible and livable for people of all ages.” – Mike Festa, State Director AARP Massachusetts

We are excited to announce that WalkMassachusetts is one of 310 recipients (out of over 3,600 applicants!) of an AARP Community Challenge grant! AARP Community Challenge is a grant program to make tangible improvements in communities that jump-start long-term change. It is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas to become great places to live for people of all ages. To learn more, visit aarp.org/Livable.

This grant will fund the Walk Audit Academy (WAA), a walk audit training program that we will lead with WalkBike Springfield. WAA was piloted in Worcester with the REACH program, UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center, Health Resources in Action, and funds from the CDC. WAA is an experiential learning theory-based curriculum that guides learners in: 1- discovering and documenting their local transportation and land use decision making context; 2- learning walk auditing basics; 3- developing an action plan; and 4- implementing the action plan.

WAA includes a video series, produced by WalkMassachusetts, that guides learners in the process of planning, conducting, and summarizing walk audits. It employs a “flipped classroom” model to extend the capacity of WalkMassachusetts and WalkBike Springfield, and enable community groups to engage in co-learning that benefits the entire Springfield community, with emphasis on environmental justice block groups (minority, income, English isolation). WAA walk audits are intended to build community, and collect information about infrastructure conditions that can be shared with elected/appointed officials to improve walking safety, convenience, and comfort. WAA will allow Springfield residents to better participate in their planning and transportation processes, ensuring that local voices are heard. WAA will also help to improve the safety and walkability of Springfield, which in 2021 had 9 fatal pedestrian crashes, the same number as Boston which has a population over 4x that of Springfield.

Safer streets benefit everyone— however, older adults will benefit from safety improvements the most, as people ages 50+ make up the vast majority (69%) of crash victims in MA (2021, WalkMassachusetts Fatal Pedestrian Crash Report). Improved neighborhood walkability also results in better physical, social and cognitive health for the whole community, and more accessible streetscapes mean more independence for people with disabilities, whose mobility options are most limited.

Thank you again to AARP for their generous support! To learn about the other Community Challenge grantees, visit: www.aarp.org/CommunityChallenge

Walk Audit Academy (Worcester)

We embarked on a new project that built on our virtual walk audit process and expanded our digital training opportunities: The goal of the “Walk Audit Academy” video series was to help people feel comfortable enough to perform their own walk audit, and to expand the number of people that we can reach. Karin Valentine Goins and the UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center (PRC) sees the video series as a way to create a sustainable training model based on the Capabilities for Public Health Agency Involvement in Land Use and Transportation Decision Making that PRC created through the CDC’s Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN) and the National Cancer Institute’s Speeding Research tested INTerventions (SPRINT) program.

In the “Walk Audit Academy” video series, we describe what goes into performing a walk audit and things to consider when planning a walk audit in a community. Modules in the series cover preparing for, conducting, and distilling results of a walk audit. The small, bite-sized videos are also less intimidating than one long video, and relevant segments can be shared on social media or for different audiences.

WalkBoston staff members lent their talents in front of the camera to share what goes into putting together a walk audit: including looking at crash data, creating a route, and what to remember to include on an invitation.

In November 2022, we piloted it with a cohort of volunteers in Worcester to train community leaders on how to lead walk audits and implement change, in a ‘flipped classroom’ style. People were able to learn at their own pace with the short videos and supporting materials. The five groups created their own routes, invited participants, and led their own walk audits. We offered sessions on Zoom for group feedback and discussion as well as drop in Zoom ‘office hours’ throughout the month of November to answer questions.

In January, we gathered again, and this time it was in person at the Worcester Senior Center! The participants gave an overview of each of their groups, where they led their walk audit in the city, and the findings and recommendations that came out of it. Some groups shared slides, others photos, and one group even put together a short video of their own with amateur drone footage from their walk audit.

There was a great energy in the room that night, and a real sense that something special is happening in Worcester right now. As we reflected on the evening, we realized that we were able to help teach 5x the amount of people compared to a traditional walk audit through this process. We look forward to rolling it out further in the coming months.