Tag: Springfield

Statewide Fatal Crashes in MA, January 2021

Each month in 2021, we plan to post about the fatal crashes in Massachusetts from the previous month, and share any trends that we see. Last month, we took a look at the year 2020 in review. In this post, we’ll look at crashes in MA in January 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 20 fatal crashes in Massachusetts in January in the MassDOT Crash portal, 5 were people walking.
3 of those 5 crashes were hit & runs.
The crash portal does not include names. The names of 2 of the people walking who died have not been made public yet.
The name of the person driving was only identified in 1 of the 5 crashes in news articles.

Date	1/2/2021, 11:00 PM
Location	200 Locust St.
Town	Springfield
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age
Sex	M

An unidentified man was killed in a hit and run crash on Locust Street in Springfield. There have been no follow up articles that we’ve seen identifying the person who died, or anything about the person that fled the scene. WesternMassNews says the Police Department has located the car and vehicle owner, and expects more from the District Attorney’s office.

Date	1/5/2021, 11:30 AM
Location	Chelsea St. + 13th St.
Town	Boston
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	92
Sex	M

Francis McGrath, a 92 year old man, was killed in a hit and run crash on Chelsea Street in Charlestown. The driver dragged him for nearly a mile. The crash location is listed as Chelsea St & 13th (entrance to the Charlestown Navy Yard), while StreetsblogMass reports the Boston Police said it happened even further back at Chelsea St & Terminal St. While there had been speculation that the driver of a large truck was involved, there have been no follow up articles that we’ve seen about the person that left the scene. We spoke to the Boston Herald about the safety issues large vehicles present for people walking/biking, and the increase of drivers speeding during the coronavirus pandemic.

Date	1/13/2021, 7:19 PM
Location	235 Main St.
Town	Oxford
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	55
Sex	F

Wendy Hibbard was crossing Main Street in Oxford when a driver hit and killed her. Based on Google Maps Street View, a crosswalk across Main Street was made ADA-compliant sometime between October 2018 and October 2019. The street is one lane in each direction with a sidewalk on each side, but it looks to be approximately 50 feet from curb to curb using the measuring tool on Google Maps. According to the MassDOT Road Inventory, Main Street/Rt12 is under MassDOT jurisdiction.

Date	1/19/2021, 9:30 PM
Location	38 Upland Rd.
Town	Belmont
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	35
Sex	M

District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office shared on January 25th that Dean Kapsalis, 54 of Hudson, will face additional charges of murder and leaving the scene causing death in connection with striking and killing Henry Tapia on Upland Road in Belmont. Kapsalis was previously arraigned on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a civil rights violation causing injury and leaving the scene causing injury. The Boston Globe reported that “since getting a driver’s license around 1987, Kapsalis has been cited for speeding at least 17 times, was involved in at least 7 surcharge crashes, and had his right to drive suspended at least 6 times, usually for a cluster of traffic violations in a short period of time, according to RMV records.”

Date	1/23/2021, 8:42 PM
Location	687 Ocean St.
Town	Marshfield
Type	PEDESTRIAN
Age	56
Sex	M

An unidentified 56 year old Marshfield man was hit and killed on Ocean Street in Marshfield. An article from 95.9 WATD quotes a police lieutenant that the “early investigation shows the victim was walking in the roadway along a dark stretch.” The street is one lane in each direction, but there is only a sidewalk on one side of the street.

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
DISCLAIMER: The compilation of data is based on preliminary data we receive from a variety of local sources. Some of the data may differ slightly from information provided by NHTSA as this dashboard does not use imputation methods. Information is subject to change when/if updated information becomes available. Data updated daily as reported by police departments.

Springfield Union Station Virtual Walk Audit

On October 6 and October 22, 2020, WalkBoston and MassINC conducted a virtual walk assessment with Springfield community members in the Union Station area as part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Mass in Motion grant program, with support from the Solomon Foundation. The two main goals of the Gateway Cities walk audit project are to effect change at the local level to work towards safer, more enjoyable streets and to inform state policy and legislation to prioritize budgetary investment in Gateway Cities across the Commonwealth.

Read the full report here.

Springfield Built Environment Study – Fall 2019

Between April 2013 to September 2017, WalkBoston conducted twelve walk audits in Springfield, Massachusetts. Seven of these walk audits were conducted around public schools as part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Mass in Motion (MiM) program. The other five were neighborhood walk audits funded through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS). After each walk audit, WalkBoston created and shared a report assessing safety, accessibility and comfort for people walking in these areas, and included short- and long-term suggestions for how the City of Springfield could make improvements along these walking routes. This study tracks the progress of WalkBoston’s recommendations in subsequent years, seeking to understand which factors made the City more likely to implement recommendations. The purpose of this study is to assess how WalkBoston can direct its efforts and project the success of different types of recommendations.

SpringfieldWalkingEnvironmentEvaluationFall2019

Walnut Street is transformed for a day in Springfield

WalkBoston participated in Springfield’s second Complete Streets Demonstration Day on Saturday, May 11 held in Barrows Park along Walnut Street. Hosted by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, WalkBoston and our partners (WalkBike Springfield and Wayfinders) provided visitors with information on the benefits of complete streets and walkable communities. MassBike provided free bike tune-ups and ValleyBike Share provided opportunities to test out the electric-assist ValleyBikes.

PVPC staff and volunteers were out early on Saturday morning taping down bike lanes, painting crosswalks, and using plants and cones to designate curb bump-outs – all strategies to calm vehicular traffic and make a complete street. They painted a crosswalk at the intersection of Walnut and Oak Street to provide a protected crossing for residents of the nearby senior housing complex to reach Barrows Park. Organizers hope that the demonstrated positive impacts of redesigning Walnut Street as a complete street will encourage the City to prioritize this corridor for needed safety improvements.

Announcing this year’s Golden Shoe Winners

PRESS ADVISORY – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Brendan Kearney, bkearney@dev.walkboston.org or 617-367-9255

FALL RIVER AND SPRINGFIELD GROUPS HONORED WITH GOLDEN SHOE AWARDS FOR MAKING STRIDES TO IMPROVE WALKING IN THEIR COMMUNITIES

BOSTON: Tuesday, March 12, 2019 – WalkBoston will present Golden Shoe Awards to groups from Fall River and Springfield at WalkBoston’s 29th Annual Celebration on March 18, 2019 to celebrate and reward those who have bettered the walking environment and exemplify the ideals that guide WalkBoston’s work. Golden Shoes are awarded each year to individuals, agencies, municipalities and companies. This year’s Golden Shoe Award winners:

Fall River

Fall River Walking Champions | Friends of the Quequechan River Rail Trail: Janice Velozo and many others | Bike Fall River: Al Lima and many others | Partners for a Healthier Community: David Weed, Marcia Picard | Fall River School Dept: Letourneau School Vice Principal, David Assad, Fonseca School Principal, Alicia Lisi | Fall River Dept of Community Maintenance: John Perry, Laura Ferreira and others | Fall River Dept of Health and SSTAR, Mass in Motion and 1422: Julianne Kelly, Eric Andrade, and Paula Beaulieu | Fall River City Planners and Engineers: Bill Roth | Fall River Police Dept: Officer Rick Saraiva | Fall River Fire Dept: Chief John Lynch | Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD): Jackie Jones

This diverse group of people and organizations from across Fall River have joined forces to create wonderful new walking opportunities and establish a base of activists who will ensure that Fall River is even more walkable in the years to come. A long-anticipated dream of residents to reconnect a City split by the building of Interstate 195 was realized with the planning and construction of the beautiful and well-loved Quequechan River Rail Trail (QRRT). It was then determined that a collaboration of City departments and volunteers was essential to promote, protect, and preserve the Trail.

Since 2016, the Friends of the Quequechan Trail have conducted clean-ups, maintained gardens, placed wayfinding signs, and organized events to keep the Trail a welcoming and safe resource for all residents and visitors to the City. In other locations around the City, all ages got involved: senior champions led walks around Senior Centers and worked to secure improvements for sidewalks and crosswalks, and a Safe Routes to School grant was awarded to protect the youngest pedestrians. Resident activists led the passage of the Community Preservation Act, and partnered with city staff for the adoption of a Complete Streets Policy.

Springfield

Springfield Walking Champions | City of Springfield Dept of Health and Human Services: Helen Caulton-Harris, Commissioner, Benjamin Bland, Mass in Motion Coordinator, Kiah McAndrew-Davis, 1422 Grant Manager | City of Springfield Dept of Public Works: Matt Sokop, Chief Engineer | Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Catherine Ratté | LiveWell Springfield, Jessica Collins | Wayfinders, Beatrice Dewberry | WalkBike Springfield, Betsy Johnson

This persistent, resourceful, and courageous group of walking champions shows the power of layering the efforts of local advocates, public health professionals, and city staff with resources from regional and state agencies. Their dedication to improving Springfield’s walking environment has resulted in real changes to the built environment stretching across the City. These changes took time and could not have happened without true, undying commitment.

Policies now exist to sustain these efforts – a crosswalk standard, pedestrian safety curriculum for elementary students, and a complete streets policy that looks to expand the biking and walking network in Springfield. The work of these champions has led to more students walking to school along safer routes, and neighborhood residents crossing streets in brightly painted, prominent crosswalks.

Keynote speaker

Eric Fleegler, MD, MPH, is a pediatric emergency physician and heath resources researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Fleegler has researched safety for pedestrians as a public health priority and will address ways of thinking about the many aspects and determinants of health from education to economics to the built environment. He will discuss ways to engage the health care community in the effort to make local streets safer, similar to his efforts to deal with gun violence as a major issue of street safety in our communities.

Event Details

WalkBoston’s 29th Annual Celebration & Golden Shoe Awards
March 18th, 2019 from 5-8pm
Fort Point Room – Atlantic Wharf, 290 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210

Schedule

5 – 6:15pm food & drinks
6:15pm speaking program & awards

Welcome | Emma Yashar, Board President
Year in Review | Wendy Landman, Executive Director
1 Minute Project Highlights | WalkBoston Staff
Golden Shoe Presentations | Fall River & Springfield
Keynote Speaker | Eric Fleegler, MD, MPH

Organizer: WalkBoston
Contact: Brendan Kearney bkearney@dev.walkboston.org 617-367-9255

Registration is open on Eventbrite at wbmarch18th.eventbrite.com

WalkBoston makes walking safer and easier in Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner environment and more vibrant communities. Find out more at walkboston.org