Photo: Getty Images
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A report from WalkBoston showed that though state pedestrian fatalities in car related crashes did not increase in 2021, they haven't gone down either. Of those crashes, most of them happened in a select dozen municipalities in Massachusetts.
According to WalkBoston, an organization that said they aim to make walking safer in the state, there were at least 75 fatal pedestrian crashes last year. The victims, the study found, mostly consisted of older adults, as they were killed at a higher rate than those in other age groups. WalkBoston said that 36 percent of fatal crash victims were over the age of 65, an age group that the United States Census estimated made up 16 percent of the state's population last year.
Over half of the state's fatal pedestrian crashes last year were on streets with speed limits of 30 to 35 miles per hour.
Read More: Shuttle Buses Replace Service On Multiple MBTA Lines This Weekend
37 Massachusetts communities had one fatal crash, while over half of the incidents were from twelve towns or cities.
According to WalkBoston, the most pedestrian crashes last year happened in the following communities:
- Springfield had nine pedestrian fatalities last year.
- Boston had nine pedestrian fatalities last year.
- Lowell and Brockton each had three pedestrian fatalities last year.
- Dedham, Framingham, Lawrence, New Bedford, Oxford, Saugus, Weymouth, and Yarmouth each had two pedestrian fatalities last year.
In November of last year, Springfield city officials laid out a memorial on the steps of the library to the 39 people that were killed in the city since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
WalkBoston went on to say that the data suggests that the Commonwealth is in need of better road design to slow traffic and make streets safer for people walking. The organization said that possible solutions would be narrowing lanes and lowering speed limits on busy streets.
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App