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State Police hunt driver who ran into a pedestrian in Somerville, then kept going
By adamg on Tue, 12/07/2021 - 1:52pm
State Police report a pedestrian suffered serious injuries when a driver slammed into him at Mystic Avenue at Shore Drive in Somerville around 7 p.m. on Monday.
The driver didn't stop, State Police say. First responders found the victim a 33-year-old Somerville man, lying on the sidewalk with serious injuries; he was rushed to Mass. General, State Police say.
Somerville Police found the vehicle, a mostly orange hatchback, abandoned.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
That intersection and a few others nearby
Scream "road diet needed." Just painting the murals doesn't do enough to let people know they're in a walkable/bikeable area in the middle of the city, since the roadways still look like a highspeed highway.
Agreed
In the long term, Somerville should have a mini-Big Dig to bury 93 here and build a people-first boulevard here, instead of the 400-foot-wide corridor which is now concrete and more concrete.
They need to do something now
They need to do something now. They know this road is killing people and they know how to fix it. They just need to do the right thing.
https://mass.streetsblog.org/2021/12/07/with-massdots-promised-safety-up...
I only drive on Mystic Ave
I only drive on Mystic Ave because, as slow and unpleasant as it is, it's the only way onto 93 from my neighborhood.
I don't know why there can't be an on-ramp back at the Route 28 intersection. Despite the spaghetti of ramps there, the very busy movement from 28 North to 93 North requires an additional 3/4 mile along this neighborhood road.
Not for nothin'
But every time - day or night - I go by Somerville PD HQ in Union Square, there are 6 brand-new police SUVs parked in front, most of them marked "Traffic Enforcement", which may be enforcing the hell out of traffic right in front of the police department building but don't seem to be doing much good in the rest of the city.
Not even enforcing it right
Not even enforcing it right there. At least not the cars parked in the bike lane directly across from the police station and adjacent to it.
I am shocked to discover that
I am shocked to discover that cops are lazy and ineffectual and don't give a fuck about bikes.
In fact, they do
Certain cops have found that bikes are really great weapons to use against protesters.
Assuming the car
wasn't stolen, it should be pretty easy to identify the operator. Or at least the owner, and then go from there.
I hope the victim comes out ok, and the driver isn't allowed behind a wheel anymore at the very least.
Reason number umptythousand ...
MA should write new laws about hit and run incidents that prescribe vastly higher penalties than they do now.
As it stands, leaving the scene of an accident is the best way for drunks to get minimal punishment. Therefore, leaving the scene of an accident should result in immediate license suspension and, if convicted, permanent revocation of license and a hefty jail term.
Enough is enough.
I don't meant to encourage
I don't meant to encourage leniency on drivers who cause injury while driving drunk or recklessly, but as it stands right now, the penalties for leaving the scene are generally less severe than those for DUI (or other mitigating circumstance) and staying on the scene. Leave the scene and you get time to sober up, get your story straight, and contact a lawyer.
The penalty for refusing to take a breath test is a license suspension similar to that of a DUI. What if they made leaving the scene a crime similar to (or more severe than) merely an aggravated DUI?
But muh car.
But muh car.
Not sure drivers are thinking
Not sure drivers are thinking about the consequences when they drive away.
crossing Mystic is the worst....
Wegman's is by far the closest and best supermarket for me, but as a pedestrian I almost never go there because I have to cross that piece of crap death zone to get there. At the very least there should be a pedestrian overpass or two at a couple of points.
Oh well
There's just no way to prevent this I guess
Prevention
The pedestrian should have been wearing a turkey outfit. People stop for turkeys and geese.