No Longer a Survivor of Traffic Violence

NO LONGER A SURVIVOR OF TRAFFIC VIOLENCE

On 9/29/18, my 82-year-old mother, Virginia Clemans, was catastrophically injured by a speeding, distracted driver, as she walked out of the McDonald's on Everett St and Route 1. She died from those injuries on Christmas.

She was attempting to cross Everett St. mid-block. That area is a hot spot for traffic violence and according to some reports, #26 on the list of the top 50 crash clusters in Massachusetts. Everett St. is also where one of the fine Norwood Housing Authority complexes, Brookview Circle, is located.

Many seniors and disabled people live there, in the midst of quite a few businesses, such as Progressive Insurance, Mercedes Benz, Frugal Fannie’s and Burger King. Also Roche Bros., where quite a few elderly ladies can be seen leaving Brookview to walk on up to Washington St., where Roche Bros. is located. Next time you’re there, going to work, waiting for a light so you can pass under the bridge, try and remember those ladies.

Be careful. Where my mother tried to cross, there are no crosswalks. I do not count the Route 1/University Ave. crosswalks. They are the devil's creation, born from a car-obsessed culture that devalues and marginalizes pedestrians, most of whom are poor and elderly. I myself wouldn't use them. They terrify me. And I'm not 82 and not poor and not elderly.

McDonald's reinvented itself a year or two ago and flipped its entrance doors from the back to the front, now facing Everett St. Presumably because it creates a friendlier welcome to the neighborhood. Now one exits through those new, big, shiny doors of McDonald’s that directly spill you out onto Everett St. I don’t believe there are any signs cautioning pedestrians to not use that convenient exit and instead go all the way up to Route 1. You know, those crosswalks, that creation of the devil. Get out of your car sometime and try it. Tell me then I'm exaggerating.

Mom was 82, remember – but still desperately trying to retain her independence enough to at least go to McDonald's and back - on her own, independent, no Senior Bus (which she loved, but not for going to McDonald's - McDonald's was her thing).

Mom was wearing dark clothes (maybe, they have not been released yet by police). According to the police report, there was copious blood that was soaked up by the hood of her jacket, making that jacket even darker, right? There were also sticky remnants - of Mom - in the windshield. Imagine the scene.

Maybe McDonald's could put up a sign cautioning against pedestrians wearing dark clothes - or hey, even offer yellow jackets to their regular Brookview ladies leaving McDonald's. Hey, McDonald's! Marketing opportunity here! Be nice to seniors month!

The penalty - when enforced, if it ever has been - for jaywalking is $1.00 (one dollar). When combined with dark clothes, the penalty is apparently death. When was the last time you heard of anyone getting that $1.00 (one dollar) ticket for jaywalking?

Stop blaming the victim. The police say the “accident” was unavoidable. Excuse me? How about not speeding? How about not fixating on that green light that we all want to make as we approach Route 1? How about not driving your car recklessly? How about slowing down as you approach that intersection, knowing full well that kids and adults run across there all the time?

WalkBoston is an organization that advocates for pedestrian safety. They are associated with CompleteStreets and Vision Zero. They keep a pedestrian fatality count for towns and cities in Massachusetts. For Norwood, my mother was at least the second pedestrian death for 2018.

WalkBoston encourages focusing on pedestrian infrastructure. Keep in mind there are no midblock crosswalks on Everett. Go one street over on Ellis, a residential street, and you see two new midblock crosswalks. If Ellis has two, why doesn’t Everett have any? Please explain the reasoning behind the discretionary funding decisions made there by our representatives.

How about funding Senior Citizen Safe Zones, like the City of Quincy? Appropriate signage, markings and a speed limit of 20 mph. I don't know if Everett St. - the "Gateway to Norwood" - is a minor arterial road or a major arterial, or if that makes a difference. But what would make a difference, in so many ways, is for the people of Norwood to pass Senior Citizen Safe Zones, even on Everett St., and so make their voices heard that the lives of senior citizens in Norwood are worth more than some inconvenience to commuters and businesses.

Also, please remember my mother the next time you approach Everett and Route 1. Her name was Virginia Clemans. She lived 82 years on this earth. She had family. She had friends. She made a difference. She mattered.

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