Sidewalks/Walkability in Massachusetts

[themissinglink]

Fatal pedestrian crashes up sharply in Mass. last year, AAA says - The Boston Globe

The number of pedestrian deaths in the United States declined slightly overall from 2023, the association said.

www.bostonglobe.com

In a statement, AAA said 7,148 pedestrians were killed in crashes last year in the United States, down 4.3 percent from 2023.
But in Massachusetts, 78 pedestrians died in crashes in 2024, up 16 percent from a year earlier, AAA said. The association puts out the numbers annually.
“Walking should be a safe and easy way to get around town, but on average, a pedestrian is killed every 72 minutes and injured every 8 minutes across the country,” Mark Schieldrop, a spokesperson for AAA Northeast, said in a statement.
“To ensure pedestrians get to their destinations safely, drivers should ditch the distractions, slow down near crosswalks, and never get behind the wheel impaired,” it continued.

 

[dshoost88]

Fatal pedestrian crashes up sharply in Mass. last year, AAA says - The Boston Globe

The number of pedestrian deaths in the United States declined slightly overall from 2023, the association said.

www.bostonglobe.com

Vision Zero is the goal, obviously, and it's refreshing to hear that pedestrian fatalities fell nationally year-over-year. What I'm curious to know, though, is what the location quotient of pedestrian mode share is in MA relative to other states/nationally, and how the number of deaths stacks up relative to mode shifts to walking. 16% year over year is a big raw number jump, but if that aligns with a 16% increase in people walking as their primary travel mode, then it's a wash. Maybe I'll study this further.

 

[bigeman312]

Vision Zero is the goal, obviously, and it's refreshing to hear that pedestrian fatalities fell nationally year-over-year. What I'm curious to know, though, is what the location quotient of pedestrian mode share is in MA relative to other states/nationally, and how the number of deaths stacks up relative to mode shifts to walking. 16% year over year is a big raw number jump, but if that aligns with a 16% increase in people walking as their primary travel mode, then it's a wash. Maybe I'll study this further.

I'd love to hear what you find! Food for thought for your study: is mode share the relevant statistic or is pedestrian miles traveled (which is obviously very hard to come by) the relevant statistic?

 

[themissinglink]

Is Boston’s use of concurrent signals putting pedestrians at risk?

A third of Boston intersections let pedestrians in crosswalks cross at the same time as traffic.

www.wgbh.org

Most Boston intersections are designed so that pedestrians are the only group that can legally be in the crosswalk. But the city also uses what’s known as “concurrent signaling” at a third of intersections, meaning that vehicle traffic runs parallel to pedestrians — and cars can legally turn into the crosswalk while people are crossing and have a walk signal.
[…]
City Councilor Ed Flynn, concerned about the danger to pedestrians, has been pushing the city to stop using concurrent signals over the last two years. Despite support from the other city councilors, he says, the city’s traffic department hasn’t budged. Flynn cited an incident in April when a driver hit a group of preschoolers in the South End in a crosswalk, when the driver had a green light.

 

[HBH]

Is Boston’s use of concurrent signals putting pedestrians at risk?

A third of Boston intersections let pedestrians in crosswalks cross at the same time as traffic.

www.wgbh.org

Ed Flynn continuing his incessant misunderstanding of how the world works. You can't just walk in and flip a magic switch and make signals exclusive, and even if you could it makes delay significantly worse for everyone, including for pedestrians. There's a time and a place for it.

If we're serious about reducing conflicts we need to city wide install a lot of dedicated turn lanes and turn signals. That's the only way you're going to get separated pedestrians phases at most Boston intersections.

 

[Charlie_mta]

Ed Flynn continuing his incessant misunderstanding of how the world works. You can't just walk in and flip a magic switch and make signals exclusive, and even if you could it makes delay significantly worse for everyone, including for pedestrians. There's a time and a place for it.

If we're serious about reducing conflicts we need to city wide install a lot of dedicated turn lanes and turn signals. That's the only way you're going to get separated pedestrians phases at most Boston intersections.

Not really. All that has to be done is add a separate cycle for pedestrian traffic, in which all vehicular traffic is stopped, and all crosswalks are open for unimpeded movement. No added turn lanes and signals are needed.

 

[HBH]

Not really. All that has to be done is add a separate cycle for pedestrian traffic, in which all vehicular traffic is stopped, and all crosswalks are open for unimpeded movement. No added turn lanes and signals are needed.

That makes delays significantly worse for everyone, including pedestrians (and buses of course). If you just do that you end up with pedestrian delays exceeding 120 seconds at many Boston intersections. There are extremely few pedestrians willing to wait 2 minutes to cross the street, most will just go on the green instead and you're back to square one.

For context the HCM would define a pedestrian delay of 60 seconds as failing, 120 is laughably bad.

 

[RandomWalk]

Repeal the default right on red. It doesn’t directly address the concurrent signal problem, but it does reduce the number variables in the mechanics of how intersections operate.

 

[KCasiglio]

Leading pedestrian intervals, curb bump outs, refuge islands (when there's 4+ lanes), raised crosswalks/intersections...there's plenty of treatments that can be done that are proven effective without needing to go through the herculean effort of retiming half the city's signals (since it would require more than just the third Ed describes when you factor in nearby synchronized signals)