A hit-and-run driver apparently struck and killed 59-year-old Jeffrey Richardson of Brookfield, CT on Monday evening on Route 6 in the center of Wellfleet, according to local police.
At 9:41 pm on Monday, July 10, 2023, Wellfleet police found Richardson lying unresponsive on the side of Route 6 with severe head trauma, according to a police department press release.
Emergency responders reportedly took Richardson to Cape Cod Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.
The crash happened near Nauhaught Bluff Road, about half a mile south of Main Street. This segment of Route 6 is lined with small businesses, including the town's post office, and is within walking distance of Wellfleet's historic village center, but the roadway lacks any sidewalks.
The site of the crash is also just 500 feet away from the proposed terminus of the Cape Cod Rail Trail and the ghost bike that memorializes Miles Tibbetts, a local 16-year-old who died of injuries inflicted by another driver in 2013.
For most of its length along Cape Cod, Route 6 is a four-lane, divided highway with cloverleaf interchanges.
When it reaches Wellfleet, though, Route 6 narrows to a more traditional 2-lane road, lined with homes and businesses, with a posted 45 mph speed limit.
The average probability of death for a pedestrian who's been hit by a driver going 50 mph is 75 percent, according to research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
For several years now, MassDOT has been planning a repaving project for Wellfleet's section of Route 6 whose design includes new accessible bus stops and new sidewalks through the town center, between Main Street, Nauhaught Bluff Road, and Cove Street.
However, the project won't go under construction until 2024 at the earliest, and the scope of the project has shrunk over time. In October 2022, the Provincetown Independent reported that safety improvements in the vicinity of the Main Street intersection would be put off for a future project.
Wellfleet Police, the Massachusetts state Police, and the Barnstable County Sherriff’s Office are still investigating Monday's crash, and are seeking any information about the incident from potential witnesses. Police are looking for a vehicle with damage to the passenger side, and possibly on the passenger side mirror.
