walkboston

MA Vision Zero Coalition Statement on Commonwealth Ave Fatal Crash

Statement from the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition:

The Commonwealth Avenue crash that claimed the life of Theodore J. Schwalb, age 80, an arts teacher at Stoneham High School for more than 40 years, is disturbing on many levels. The driver, Phocian Fitts, acknowledges that he drove the car that struck and killed Mr. Schwalb in the middle of the day and then fled the scene. He stated this in an interview with Boston 25 News after he was released from police custody:

“People hit and run people all the time, it just happened to be an unfortunate situation where I was driving.”

Mr. Fitts’ comments, although brazen, reflect the low bar we’ve set when it comes to holding people accountable for reckless driving behavior.

A culture that accepts fatal crashes as a fact of life means law enforcement isn’t holding drivers accountable. We are deeply disturbed that the alleged suspect was initially questioned and released without charges despite fleeing the scene of a fatal crash. An arrest was only made after the Boston 25 News interview, in which he admitted to “driving too quick to the point where I couldn’t really stop” before running over and killing a fellow Boston resident.
A culture that accepts fatal crashes as a fact of life means lawmakers don’t realize the urgency of safety legislation. A hands free driving bill, which has passed the Senate and is backed by broad public support and Governor Baker, has languished in the House for years and now is awaiting action in the House Ways and Means Committee.
A culture that accepts fatal crashes as a fact of life means that thousands of people are seriously injured on Massachusetts streets every year. In 2017, there were 4,537 injury crashes on Boston’s streets, which is up ten percent since 2015. Across Massachusetts, at least 133 people have been killed on our roads in the first 5 months of 2018.

While we are brokenhearted that another life has been lost on our streets, we are hopeful that the culture is beginning to shift around designing and building safer streets. In 2015 Mayor Walsh committed Boston to Vision Zero, an effort to eliminate serious and fatal crashes. Cambridge and Somerville soon followed suit.

Each of these cities have worked to make good on their Vision Zero commitments by redesigning dangerous corridors and intersections, and Boston recently announced a major investment in its Transportation Department’s safety efforts.

To ensure our streets are safe and accessible for everyone, design is important. We also need law enforcement and elected leaders to step up and make it clear that reckless driving deserves severe consequences.

Wendy Landman, Executive Director, WalkBoston
Emily Stein, President, Safe Roads Alliance
Stacy Thompson, Executive Director, LivableStreets Alliance
Becca Wolfson, Executive Director, Boston Cyclist Union

Additional Sources

A 2018 AAA study found that “Hit-and-run crashes in the United States are trending in the wrong direction,” according to Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The report found that most victims of fatal hit-and-run crashes are pedestrians or bicyclists. Over the past 10 years, nearly 20 percent of all pedestrian deaths were caused by hit-and-run crashes, meanwhile just one percent of all driver fatalities in that same time period were hit-and-run crashes.
The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition maintains a map of fatal crashes involving people biking or walking across Massachusetts.
WalkBoston tracks fatal pedestrian crashes across Massachusetts. This is compiled manually via news & social media alerts in order to give communities more information to help push for safer streets.

Longfellow has come a long way!

WalkBoston is thrilled that after many years of advocacy, planning and design – and five years of construction – the Longfellow Bridge is open to all users. People on foot, on bikes, on the Red Line and in vehicles are all in motion. We celebrate the comfortable sidewalks, the beautifully restored ironwork and stonework, and the elegant new lighting. We are anticipating the fully accessible new bridge to the Esplanade which will open this summer. Just a quick glance at the pictures below tell the sidewalk story!

Before (photos taken between 2007-2011):

After (photos taken June 2018):

We are continuing to work with our many advocacy partners to make biking across the bridge even safer than it is today, and are pleased that MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack has committed to a pilot test of a separated bike lane on the inbound to Boston uphill portion of the bridge. We urge everyone to take a walk across the Longfellow Bridge this summer to enjoy the fabulous views and the cool river breeze. Support your local advocacy organizations (like WalkBoston) to keep state and local decision makers moving in the right direction on transportation in order to make our Commonwealth the best it can be!

Cambridge Day – Divisions made clear, Inman Square plan okayed by City Council to go to Legislature

Cambridge Day: “Divisions made clear, Inman Square plan okayed by City Council to go to Legislature”
By Marc Levy

In the past three years, Inman Square has seen five pedestrian crashes, 10 bicycles crashes including Phillips’s death, and 50 vehicle crashes, said Wendy Landman, executive director of WalkBoston, a nonprofit founded in 1990 that has worked with Cambridge in Inman Square since 2014.

Posted June 5, 2018

Maintaining access for people walking around construction projects

With Massachusetts’ booming economy, pedestrians encounter construction sites on streets large and small. WalkBoston recently led a lunch-n-learn at Commodore Builders, (a WalkBoston corporate supporter) focused on construction site management strategies that provide safe spaces for people to continue walking during construction.

Key points:

Maintain a safe path of ACCESSIBLE travel.
Match the solution to the setting – if there are a lot of walkers and busy streets, do not force pedestrians to cross the street. Find space for pedestrians on the same side of the street.
Provide advance warning at a safe crossing if the sidewalk is closed mid-block.

We shared good and bad examples of local construction sites and links to some good resources. If your company is interested in a similar presentation, please get in touch. Stay tuned: later this summer, we’ll be leading a construction access walk in Allston!

Not good. No space for people walking for a whole block on one side of street. Yet 5 lanes for vehicle travel and another reserved for parking.

This works: temporary ramp, newly painted crosswalk and bike lane around closed sidewalk.

Not good. No advanced warning, no temporary ramp!

This works: temporary ramp and barriers to maintain access on same side of street.

If you see a construction site that blocks access for pedestrians, we encourage you to report it to your city or town. In more and more municipalities across MA, you can dial 311, or use a reporting app like Commonwealth Connect. You can also tag us in photos @WalkBoston on Twitter.

Check out WalkBoston funder Bill Cummings’ new book “Starting Small and Making It Big”

Last summer, WalkBoston was fortunate enough to receive a $100,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation to fund our work to train and empower residents to be change agents for safe streets. Earlier this month, we kicked things off with a Ped101 Training Session and neighborhood walk audit in Lowell with the Coalition for A Better Acre. We’re excited to engage with people that want to make their communities more walkable!

The Cummings Foundation’s $100K for 100 program supports nonprofits that are not only based in but also primarily serve Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties – the area where the Foundation owns commercial buildings, all of which are managed, at no cost to the Foundation, by its affiliate Cummings Properties. Want to know more about the people behind the Foundation? We’d encourage you to check out Bill Cummings’ newly published autobiography, “Starting Small and Making It Big,” in which he shares his story and the dedication to giving back to the communities and institutions so vital to his success.