Category: Announcement

Statewide Fatal Crashes In MA, April 2023

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.

Last month, we took a look at crashes listed in the MassDOT Crash Portal in March; six were identified as people walking. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in April 2023. The information in the chart below is compiled from news reports, and was checked against the MassDOT Crash Portal Dashboard “Fatal Crash Information.” Any Google Street View images included below use the address listed in the crash portal.

Of the 23 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in April in the MassDOT Crash portal, 5 were identified as people walking.
The average age of pedestrians hit & killed in April was 41.2.
3 of the fatal crashes took place at intersections.

Date	4/3/2023, 2:43 PM
Location	Lawrence St. + Erving St.
Town	Lawrence
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	64
Sex	F

According to a press release from the Essex District Attorney’s Office, 64-year old Silvana Seabra was struck by a van about 2:43 p.m. on April 3 at the intersection of Lawrence St and Erving [Avenue] in Lawrence. She passed away over a week later at Boston Medical Center. A man who also was struck suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was treated at Lawrence General Hospital.

The intersection is a street crossing for the Spicket River Greenway and is adjacent to the Hayden Schofield Playstead park; Google Street View from October 2019 shows a faded crosswalk.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, each road at this intersection is under local jurisdiction. Erving Avenue is a two-way street, with 1 travel lane in each direction. There is a sidewalk on both sides (note: road inventory says 1 side). The speed limit is unclear, as it is unlisted and not viewable nearby on street view. Lawrence Street is a two-way street, with 1 travel lane in each direction. There is a sidewalk and street parking on both sides of the street. The speed limit is unclear, as it is listed as 99 and not viewable nearby on street view.

Date	4/6/2023, 3:34 PM
Location	Road Rd. at Lot 6
Town	Dartmouth
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	19
Sex	M

WBZ/CBS Boston reports that 19-year old UMass Dartmouth freshman Frank Petillo, Jr. was struck and killed by another student on the campus’ Ring Road. As of this posting, a petition for pedestrian safety improvements on the campus had over 7,000 signatures.

From WBZ:

His death quickly drew attention to the perceived lack of safety on Ring Road, the school’s main thoroughfare and Chancellor Mark Fuller on Monday announced several steps to make it safer, either right away or by the end of the academic year.
They include portable speed bumps, flashing speed limit signs, additional patrol cars, elevated speed tables and crosswalks, and concrete barriers to protect some walkways.
UMass also said it plans to build a new pedestrian walkway to connect the school to a nearby apartment complex.
Students say these changes are long overdue. “The speed limit is supposed to be 25,” student Kyrillos Kedees said. “We really don’t want that to happen again.”

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under state college or university jurisdiction. It is a two-way street, with 1 travel lane in each direction. There are no sidewalks on some sections of the roadway, with a sidewalk on one side for other sections. The speed limit is 25mph.

Date	4/8/2023, 9:23 PM
Location	Daniel Shays Hwy.
Town	Athol
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	29
Sex	M

WWLP reports 29-year old Kyle Bezio was struck and killed after being hit by a car on Route 202 in the area of 150 Daniel Shays Highway. The 20-year old driver and his passenger stopped and tried to help Bezio before he was taken by ambulance to Athol Hospital.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a two-way street, with 1 travel lane in each direction. There is shoulder on each side and no sidewalks. The speed limit is listed as 35mph in one direction and 45mph in the opposing direction.

Date	4/9/2023, 8:21 PM
Location	258 Jefferson Ave.
Town	Salem
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	41
Sex	F

41-year old Tammi Lyn Guy was struck and killed as she was crossing Jefferson Avenue at Wilson Street on the night of Easter Sunday.

Boston.com spoke to Salem City Councilor Patti Morsillo about the crash:

“My heart breaks for Tammi Guy’s family,” Salem City Councilor Patti Morsillo told Boston.com in an email. “This was a tragedy, and happened right in her own neighborhood.”
Morsillo said that after years of accidents on the residential and school-area street, the Salem Police Department is gathering crash data from the intersection. She also said that Salem will conduct a city meeting “within a week or two” after the collection process is complete. She says the meeting would include the acting mayor, the Director of Traffic and Parking, the Police Chief, the Lieutenant in charge of the Traffic Division, the City Engineer, the City Electrician, and herself.
“Instead of prioritizing efficient throughput of vehicles, we need to create safer roads for everyone: pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. The goal for every road should be zero crashes,” she said.
“We will look at the effectiveness of the street lights, road markings, crosswalk visibility, and geometry of the road, to determine what needs to be done to make the area safer,” Morsillo added. “Salem has been working on intersection design upgrades in the area, and I am hoping to accelerate that work. The issue of road safety requires a team approach, which is how this work will move forward.”

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, this road is under local jurisdiction. It is a two-way street, with 1 travel lane in each direction; Google Street View shows that drivers create a second lane on Jefferson through the intersection where parking is prohibited, but not restricted. There is a sidewalk on both sides of the street and a crosswalks for 2 of the 3 legs of the intersection. The speed limit is 25mph.

Date	4/23/2023, 9:35 PM
Location	Gallivan Blvd. + Dorchester Ave.
Town	Boston
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	53
Sex	M

53-year old Torrance Hodges was struck and killed by the 52-year old driver of a 2006 Chevrolet Express van who was driving southbound with the green light on Gallivan Boulevard at Dorchester Avenue.

According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Gallivan Boulevard is under MassDOT jurisdiction. It is a two-way street, with 2 travel lanes in each direction. There is also a slip lane to Dorchester Avenue in each direction. There is a sidewalk and street parking on both sides of the street; street parking is restricted closer to the intersection. The speed limit is 30mph.

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 2023 list. 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: | ||||| 2022 | 2023
Report: Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in MA (2021)
Report: Fatal Pedestrian Crashes in MA (2022)

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).

Thanks for coming on the 2023 Bob Sloane Walk

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us yesterday for our 2023 Bob Sloane Walk! It was a pleasure to gather with friends, learn from our speakers, and enjoy a walk (despite the rain!) through downtown, Boston Common, and the South End. WalkMassachusetts has a yearly tradition of leading a free walk each spring along a short route that includes stops where we hear from guest speakers. This was our second year hosting a springtime walk in honor of Bob Sloane, a co-founder of WalkBoston who passed away in May 2021. He was a true pioneer in walking advocacy and a pillar of our organization. We thank those who shared loving memories of him throughout the event.

We’d also like to say a big thank you also to our wonderful speakers! Shawn Quigley, a Park Ranger with the National Park Service, gave a moving account on the history of the 54th Regiment, one of the first Black regiments of the American Civil War, at their memorial just across the street from the State House.

Nathan Frazee, a Project Manager from Boston Parks and Recreation Department shared about the process and implementation of the Boston Common Master Plan.

The last talk was given under the arms of ‘The Embrace’ Memorial by Brian Sandford, a designer with MASS Design Group, the nonprofit architecture firm behind the memorial’s design and realization for their client, Embrace Boston. We ended the evening with drinks at MASS Design Group’s office space in the South End while perusing their “Making the Embrace” exhibit. Thank you to MASS for welcoming us into your fantastic space.

(We even glimpsed a rainbow before the sun set.)

Thank you for helping us honor Bob Sloane’s legacy and continue his advocacy work. Keep an eye out for more events this summer!

Catching up on all things East Boston!

Yesterday, May 21st, Senior Program Manager Iolando Spinola and Program Coordinator Ava Dimond tabled for WalkMassachusetts at the Boston Athletic Association Neighborhood Fitness Series, presented by Boston Children’s Hospital. The walk/run took place at East Boston Memorial Park and featured a free 1 mile and 2 mile run/walk course for participants of all ages and abilities. The event was lively with music and lawn games, and especially well-attended by families with young children.

Senior Program Manager Iolando Spinola tabling for WalkMassachusetts

B.A.A.’s Neighborhood Fitness Series’ walk/run participants headed out at noon for their 1 or 2 mile course

We also had the opportunity to connect with participants and say hello to some walkers from Caminatas Seguras, a walking group in East Boston that convenes each Tuesday to enjoy local parks and green spaces and discuss ways to improve their neighborhood. WalkMassachusetts is partnering with Caminatas Seguras and GreenRoots on a three year grant program to improve accessibility to East Boston Parks called Connecting Kids and Families to Parks and Open Spaces. This grant is funded by Boston Children’s Hospital.

Last Tuesday, Iolando joined Caminatas Seguras for their first post-winter meeting at the American Legion playground to share food and new initiatives. GreenRoots and WalkMassachusetts then attended Mayor Wu’s Neighborhood Coffee Hours at Noyes Park in East Boston to discuss community concerns, open space and their neighborhoods (and enjoy some Dunkin’ Munchkins and ice coffee!)

Caminatas Seguras and Iolando Spinola following their walk last Tuesday

Event – 2023 Bob Sloane Walk

Please join us on Wednesday, May 24th at 5:30pm for this year’s Bob Sloane Walk.

Sign up today!

This walk is in honor of Bob Sloane. Bob was a co-founder of WalkBoston (now WalkMassachusetts) and passed away in May 2021. He was a true pioneer in walking advocacy and a pillar of our organization, and we honor his legacy by hosting a walk each year in his name.

Each spring, we lead a free walk with a ~1-1.5 mile route that includes ~2-4 stops along the way where we hear from a guest speaker. We start or end near public transit, and usually end at a place where people can mingle/have a drink if they’d like to continue conversations.

Since this is a point-to-point walk, we encourage you to use public transportation, walk, or bike to the start so that it is easy for you to head out afterwards.

SPEAKERS & TOPICS

City Hall Plaza Redesign
Park Ranger, National Park Service; Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial
Nathan Frazee, Project Manager, Boston Parks and Recreation Dept.; Boston Common Master Plan
Chris Scovel, RA, LEED; Design Director, MASS Design Group; The Embrace

ROUTE

We’re starting behind the Government Center MBTA Station (corner of Cambridge St and Court St), which is also where our first speaker will talk about the redesign of Boston’s City Hall Plaza.

From there, we’ll walk along Tremont St, take a right on Beacon and get to the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial across from the State House, where a National Park Service Ranger will join us to talk about the monument and the renovations.

Next, we’ll head to the Frog Pond in the Boston Common, where we’ll be joined by Boston Parks to talk about the Boston Common Master Plan. We’ll then stop at The Embrace to hear from MASS Design Group about the memorial. From there, we will then continue on to MASS Design Group’s office in the South End where they currently have an exhibition called “Making the Embrace.” We’ll end with a drink on their outdoor deck, or invite you to check out one of the many bars and restaurants near their office in the South End!

The walk route is fully accessible. Since the Boston Common entrance at the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial only has stairs, we will use the sidewalk on Park Street toward Park St Station, and enter the Boston Common at the corner of Park and Tremont.

View the tentative route on Google Maps here.

We hope to see you on May 24th at 5:30pm. Please RSVP today!

WalkMassachusetts presents at BARI Conference 2023

Last Friday, WalkMassachusetts’ Deputy Director of Advocacy Brendan Kearney presented at the Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) Conference 2023: Greater Boston’s Annual Insight-to-Impact Summit. The BARI Conference aims to be a unique forum for community leaders, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to share how they advance data-driven research and policy in Greater Boston—and how we could do even more through collective action. The conference took place at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, an inspiring space to listen to impactful talks, network with others, and imagine innovative ways to collect and utilize data.

Pictured right to left: Ava Dimond, Iolando Spinola, Althea Wong-Achorn, Brendan Kearney.

Brendan was one of four speakers on the topic of “Redesigning Transportation.” Brendan and Bonnie Polin of MassDOT co-authored the talk, entitled “MassDOT’s Impact Crash Portal (And How WalkMassachusetts And Other Advocates Use It).” MassDOT created the IMPACT (Interactive Mapping Portal for Analysis & Crash Tracking) portal to make crash data that is reported by police departments more readily available to the public. IMPACT allows you to look at data through pre-built reports or conduct your own self-driven analysis; dashboards allow for interactive analysis & data exploration. The talks were moderated by Liz Williams, Ph.D., Director of Data and Policy at MassDOT‘s Office of Transportation Planning, while Jarred Johnson, Executive Director at TransitMatters, acted as provocateur asking follow up questions of the speakers before opening it up to the audience.

WalkMassachusetts has used IMPACT to help communities identify high risk locations & encourage residents to push for safety changes. Using IMPACT, we published a report last March examining spatial and demographic patterns in fatal pedestrian crashes statewide.

We would like to thank Bonnie and her team at MassDOT for making this data accessible to the public and for seeking feedback to continually improve the portal. Thank you to Liz and Jarred for a thought-provoking discussion following the talks, and to BARI for inviting WalkMassachusetts to discuss our experience with IMPACT.