Friends and family members of people who have been killed in violent traffic crashes are "channelling the pain into something productive" by starting a Massachusetts chapter of Families for Safe Streets, an influential advocacy organization founded in New York in 2014.
"The goals are twofold. One is to provide support for each other, victims and families. And then connecting those families with the types of advocacy that they feel comfortable with, whether that’s testifying on legislation or doing events like the World Day of Remembrance," explained Eric Olson, one of the founders of Massachusetts Families for Safe Streets.
Olson lost his 5-year-old daughter, Sidney Mae Olson, in May 2023, when a truck driver struck and killed her in a downtown Andover crosswalk while she and her family were walking to an art class.
Since then, Olson and his family have started a new foundation in Sidney's memory – the Rainbow Fund – and they've become prominent advocates for safer streets in Andover and across the state.
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A few months after Sidney's killing, Andover formally adopted a Vision Zero policy that called on town staff to design "streets and transportation systems to move all people safely" and work towards a goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries from roadway crashes.
The town is also redesigning the downtown intersection where Sidney died to mitigate the threats from reckless drivers and shorten pedestrian crossings. That project could begin construction next year.
'Together we can support each other'
With the new Massachusetts Families for Safe Streets chapter, Olson is now hoping to bring that kind of advocacy statewide, and to the State House.
"Everyone lives through their pain alone. You get in this situation and you want to make it mean something, but many of the people that this happens to don’t have the skills to do that. But together we can support each other," says Olson.
One of the people Olson met after Sidney's death was Amy Cohen, whose son, Sammy, died because of a reckless driver near Prospect Park in Brooklyn in 2013.
It is lifesaving to connect with other people and know we’re not alone, and also channel this pain into something productive."
Amy Cohen, founder of Families for Safe Streets
Cohen founded Families for Safe Streets in 2014, and the organization quickly became a commanding force in enacting safer speed limits and other life-saving policy changes in the New York state legislature.
"For me, and for many others, it is lifesaving to connect with other people and know we’re not alone, and also channel this pain into something productive," Cohen told StreetsblogMASS in a phone conversation earlier this week.
Last year, Families for Safe Streets successfully lobbied for "Sammy's Law," named for Cohen's son, to let New York City set 20 mph speed limits on many of its streets.
Now, Cohen is helping advocates in other states to establish a national network of Families for Safe Streets chapters. The new Massachusetts chapter will have some organizational support from MassBike and the Rainbow Fund.
“Losing a family member is a club that nobody should have to join,” Cohen told StreetsblogMASS earlier this week. “We share our stories to push back against complacency and fight for change – this is a preventable public health crisis.”
In addition to their advocacy work, Families for Safe Streets also makes it part of their mission to support other families who have suffered through the loss of a loved one, with peer support groups and gatherings.
Olson says that meeting other people who had also lost loved ones "gives you hope and perspective, to see where they are. And you feel less alone in the world. We’ve become so desensitized to traffic violence, but you meet these people and see the strength they have, and then you can become that person to someone else."
Finishing Sidney's walk
To launch the new organization in Massachusetts, Olson and his neighbors in Andover are hosting "Sidney's Rainbow Day" this weekend, on Saturday, August 30th.
"We’re going to finish Sid’s walk, the walk through Elm Square. She didn’t make it, but we're going to retrace her route in a way that celebrates Sid and what her spirit was," says Olson. "The walk is going to be fun. Like a second line parade, New Orleans style, with a jazz band, big and loud.”
After the walk, from 10 am to 2 pm, there will be a "party with a purpose" with live music, food, and activities at the Town Park, located a few blocks east of Elm Square.
The event will also be a fundraiser for the proposed Sidney Mae Olson Bike Park, a proposed pump track and mountain bike loop designed for kids.
"A big part of what our advocacy has been is giving kids the freedom to move. It’s not only about the thing that gets headlines – the death and injury – but also how safety limits our kids from living healthy, independent lives," says Olson. "Creating safe spaces, creating places for healthier lifestyles, and more connection with their community – the event is really built around that ethos."
Learn more about Sidney's Rainbow Day here.
To get involved with Massachusetts Families for Safe Streets, visit www.safestreetsmass.org/joinus.
