Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Vision Zero

An uninjured driver stands next to the SUV she flipped over while driving on Route 1 in Peabody on March 18, 2020. Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts State Police.

MassDOT Data Show Less Traffic, but Higher Odds of Dying on Streets

By Christian MilNeil | May 4, 2020 | No Comments

MassDOT data show that while traffic is down by half on major state highways, drivers still killed more people in crashes in April 2020 than in April 2019. 28 people died in crashes in April while Governor Baker’s stay-at-home order was in effect, compared to 27 people killed in the same month last year. That’s […]

Massachusetts Avenue passes under the Boston Medical Center near Harrison Street in this 2019 Google Street View image. The City of Boston is planning a capital project that would provide a protected bikeway on this section of Mass. Ave., between Harrison Ave. and Melnea Cass Blvd.

City, State Collaborating on Safety Fixes for Mass. Ave. in Boston’s South End

By Christian MilNeil | May 4, 2020 | No Comments

A City of Boston capital project could install protected bike lanes on Massachusetts Avenue through the Boston Medical Center campus in 2021.

A diagram of potential pedestrian collision detection system in a new car.

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Watchdog Agency Calls for Stronger Pedestrian Safety Standards in New Cars

By Kea Wilson | Apr 30, 2020 | No Comments

Current U.S. safety standards protect drivers in crashes, but make no effort to protect the people they hit.

Boston Council to Host Hearing on Pandemic Street Safety Improvements

By Christian MilNeil | Apr 28, 2020 | No Comments

"This is very much about safeguarding everyone's health in the immediate term. We are finding it impossible to practice distancing on narrow sidewalks," said Councilor Michelle Wu.

The Town of Brookline has deactivated beg buttons at 55 traffic signals across the town in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mixed Signals: ‘Beg Buttons’ and the Pandemic

By Christian MilNeil | Apr 21, 2020 | No Comments

In the past month, several municipalities in the region, including Brookline, Cambridge, Arlington and Providence, RI, have acknowledged the uselessness of push-to-walk buttons at crosswalks, and have reprogrammed traffic lights to make walk signals automatic. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, those “beg buttons” were merely one of the hundreds of inconveniences that engineers forced upon pedestrians […]

Traffic congestion on I-93 southbound in downtown Boston, pictured around 2 pm on Thursday, August 8, 2019.

Study: Highway Pollution Contributes to Higher COVID-19 Death Rates

By Christian MilNeil | Apr 7, 2020 | No Comments

The study's results are especially concerning for many of communities of color in Massachusetts, where the legacies of racist planning policies expose Asian, Latinx and black neighborhoods to higher levels of tailpipe pollution.

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