Councilor Ed Flynn requested a hearing about pedestrian safety and pedestrian crossing signals at a recent city council meeting.
“I want to make sure our roads and sidewalks are as safe as they can be,” he said.
Last week two pedestrians were struck by a van in Fort Point, and one of them passed away due to her injuries.
“As our city becomes more developed and densely populated, our neighborhoods have more vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and many areas of our streetscape need improvement and change in order to ensure that our pedestrians are safe in our community,” said the order for hearing.
One of Flynn’s biggest priorities as a councilor is pedestrian safety. He said many residents tell him they don’t feel safe walking throughout the city because cars are speeding so fast through some city streets.
“We need to do more,” he insisted.
Flynn wants to see more raised crosswalks, speed bumps, and stop signs throughout the city.
Councilor Kim Janey agrees.
“As our city becomes more dense with development, there is an opportunity to put things in place,” she said.
Janey mentioned some residents in her district (District 7 – Roxbury, South End and Fenway) have been working on getting a crosswalk for seven to ten years.
“We need to cut through more red tape,” she said.
Janey said the city often thinks of transportation and getting through the city by cars only, but their mindset needs to widen.
“It’s important to understand that there are many other people traveling on our streets who are not in cars,” she said.
Councilor Annissa Essaibi George believes the time for studying traffic needs to come to an end. “We don’t need to study this issue anymore. We need to make significant improvements,” she said.
She too wants to see more raised crosswalks in the city.
There will be a hearing scheduled at a later date over this matter. Representatives from the Boston Transportation Department will be asked to attend.
Gee I wonder what’s the over/under on how many people have to lose their lives or are seriously injured before this group of idiots finally address this problem?You walk your dog or take a walk or go to the store and you risk your life.
How about just plain old enforcement of laws? Ticket people who go through red lights (I see 4-6 per light cycle every time on Cross or N. Washington multiple times a day). I haven’t seen someone pulled over for a moving violation in YEARS.
Crosswalks are just paint on the street. They are no form of protection. No one stops at pedestrian crossing and all the crosswalk does is provide a false sense of security. an invitation to get run over. I remember the Boston police ran sting operations some years back using a woman with a baby cartridge. If they start doing this periodically and laying down good sized fines, they will get attention. Reporting these violations to insurers will really get attention.
Several individuals over the past few years have been struck by vehicles on commercial Street nothing ever done about it except to put up that green sign in the middle of the street stating it’s a state law to stop when someone is in the crosswalk really.
Crosswalks do prevent people jaywalking — a bit. On the other hand, I have witnessed mothers with strollers strut right out there. As T Mobile writes, they do give us a false sense of security. They certainly are not safety nets for us . The responsibility falls on both pedestrians and vehicles to watch out.
most people don’t even use the crosswalks, and most people cross whenever they feel like it anyway…. it is hard for drivers trying to watch out for people crossing in the middle of street and then you got the bikers who have no rules, and what about fixing up the sidewalk,,, it’s like walking on minefields….
and let’s not forget Hanover St…. at night time it’s like a drag race… motorcycles, cars speeding down Hanover St… I never
saw anyone pulled over…. or is this another one of those laws/fines geared at the residents ..?
Streetkid, you are right on target. Why does somebody always have to die or get
seriously hurt before something is done by the City. Marty Walsh cut the ribbon at
North Sq. Yippee. What about the serious Rat problem, the Absentee Landlords,
some are just Slumlords, not giving a damn about the neighborhood, only the cash
they can bring in from some of their deplorable properties. Most of the No. End
Property has been cleaned up, but there are still buildings that need more than a
paint job. Who said you can’t fight city hall? Trump did it in N.Y.C. & won, I
think Koch was the Mayor at the time. Some people will say, Trump had the money to fight, but for me, Strength is in Numbers. The Eliot School is on
Commercial St. instead of an 88 ft. condo complex because of people fighting for their beliefs & rights.
Mark B is right…There is absolutely no point in lowering City wide speed limits if there is no mandate for BPD to issue moving violations.
Having laws that are never enforced is like having no laws at all! It’s true for every quality of life issue there is:
trash/litter, speeding, jaywalking, illegal parking, noise violations, public urination, illegal construction sites.
The City desperately needs to step up enforcement across the board or the lawlessness will only get worse.
Dan G, Mark B your absolutely correct . Enforcement :: It’s that simple. If you have children and you set rules and not follow thru when they break the rules you end up with chaos. That’s what we have in this city and neighborhood.