Sunday Is the World Day of Remembrance

This weekend, communities all over Massachusetts are hosting events to honor this year’s World Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic crashes. 

The World Day of Remembrance is an international day of mourning when communities gather to remember friends, neighbors, and family members who have been killed by cars and trucks, and to demand safer streets and roadways.

According to MassDOT crash records, at least 300 people have died on Massachusetts roadways so far in 2025.

There have also been over 1,874 crashes that inflicted serious injuries to at least one victim.

The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition’s website has a full listing of planned events happening this weekend. Here are a few of the larger memorials:

Massachusetts State House

In Boston, WalkMassachusetts and the Boston Cyclists Union are hosting a “Walk and Ride for Our Lives” event that will convene at a noon rally in front of the Massachusetts State House. RSVP here.

The walk will meet in Boston Common at 11 a.m., and the bike ride, organized by the Cyclists Union, will set off from Cambridge Common near Harvard Square at 11, and bike to the State House.

Ride participants should plan to arrive in Cambridge Common between 10:30 and 10:45 am for a prompt departure at 11 am and bring bike locks for the rally.

At the State House, those organizations will join Families for Safe Streets Massachusetts, MassBike, Cambridge Bicycle Safety, and the Safe Roads Alliance to call on state legislators to pass new safety legislation, including automated enforcement safety cameras and improved safety equipment requirements for large trucks.

Springfield

WalkBike Springfield will host a memorial at 1 p.m. Sunday on the steps of the Central Library at 200 State Street, steps away from the site where a driver struck and killed city librarian Gayle Ball as she crossed State Street in November 2021.

On a per-capita basis, the Springfield area regularly ranks among the most dangerous places in the state for roadway violence.

According to WalkBike Springfield, drivers have killed 35 people on Hampden County roadways in the past year, including 12 pedestrians, and 5 people riding bikes.

“For our Ceremony of Remembrance, we will have 35 pairs of yellow-painted shoes upon which we will place a ribbon with the date of the crash and a flower,” explains Deborah Huber of WalkBike Springfield. 

The organization expects State Senator Jake Oliveira and others from Hampden County communities to be in attendance for a discussion about current efforts to redesign local streets roadways and other policy changes to improve safety.

Worcester

Worcester safety advocates will host a march and vigil starting at 3 p.m. from the intersection of Park Avenue and Chandler Street, the site of a recent fatal crash.

From there, the march will proceed to Peace Park at the corner of Pleasant and Winslow Streets, where there will be a vigil with statements from local officials and crash survivors.

South Coast

There will be several events scattered around the New Bedford region early in the afternoon on Sunday, in East Fairhaven, Acushnet, New Bedford, and Taunton.

After those events, each group plans to convene on Pope’s Island, located in the harbor between New Bedford and Fairhaven, for a regional ceremony at 2:30 p.m.

Pope’s Island was the site of two deadly crashes over the 4th of July weekend this summer.

On the morning of July 2, Gregory Crook McGuire, 41, of New Bedford, died in a head-on crash on the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge.

On July 4th, another driver struck 16-year-old Raphaela Cristeli, who was walking to visit a friend on Pope’s Island. Cristeli suffered serious head injuries and was hospitalized in a coma for several weeks.

Additional events

Several other organizations are planning additional events in the coming week. For a full listing, consult the MassBike events calendar.