Pedestrian struck at Tremont and School streets; road shut
By adamg on Tue, 01/12/2016 - 5:43pm
Anthony J. reports a pedestrian was hit around 5:15 p.m. in a multi-car crash. The pedestrian and one driver were taken to local hospitals, one in bad shape.
Our own La Bibliotequetress reports what happened:
Talked to police on site re accident on School & Tremont. Driver of NH car was parking on School St side of Kings Chapel across from Parker House. He accidently hit gas in reverse, shot backwards into intersection, hit pedestrian in x-walk. Very freakish- car went quite a distance.
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4 cars involved
Edit: WHDH reports crash caused by a NH SUV driver going in reverse on a one-way street! Wow, that's pretty unusual.
WCVB reports NH driver collapsed after exiting his SUV and that the pedestrian had minor injuries.
http://www.wcvb.com/news/2-pedestrians-hit-by-car-in-boston/37399304
Theory is that the first car shopped short for the pedestrian, but still collided, then 3 more vehicles behind cascaded into each other and the first. Situation most likely from the cars having a green and the pedestrian an orange hand to stop.Oh, were you at the scene?
Oh, were you at the scene?
"most likely"
"most likely"
based on what exactly?
Alternate Theory
You nearly choke on the bubbling vomit of misdirected blame and misinformation that you spew willfully upon others in an attempt to propagate your hateful dogma.
Harrumph.
I was almost hit by a cab backing out onto Tremont, from that little driveway near the corner of Tremont and School. Myself and a Good Samaritan had to scream bloody murder to make the driver stop.
WHDH also reporting
You are an idiot.
No, it isn't unusual at all
As others have noted, it seems to be the way that livery, limo, and valet drivers turn a "one way" into "my way".
But do, please, stay in your little vehicular habitrail. We don't need more idiots driving in the city.
unusual?
No, I wouldn't say someone with NH tags trying to drive in the city and being completely clueless is unusual.
More sidewalk, less car lane.
We need a much broader sidewalk on the Tremont side of Kings Chapel. I've been virtually forced off the sidewalk numerous times, until I remember "oh shit, there're cars there."
I agree. It should be doubled.
Especially with the Freedom Trail gawker blockers obstructing traffic on the sidewalk. At the very least, there should be some bollards there to crate a reminder for pedestrians.
YES, take a travel lane and convert it to
a much wider sidewalk, an additional 5+ feet, and bike lane. In fact all of Tremont along the Common should be narrowed to provide a bike lane and fewer lanes for cars. It's a shame this "walking" city has so many lanes for cars around the Common...
Forced off the sidewalk?
You know, the alternative would have been to just walk a little slower until you could pass the person in front of you.
Yes - Forced off the sidewalk
I work in a building at this intersection. The sidewalk next to King's Chapel is just wide enough for two people at a time. It is often clogged with STOPPED (not slow walking) tourists checking maps, taking photos, etc. People often need to step off the sidewalk to get around them. Maybe the Omni Parker should have their unloading zone on the Tremont Street side of the building where there are multiple car lanes, expand the sidewalk next to King's Chapel and make School Street a one lane, no stopping zone.
Agreed, there are so many
Agreed, there are so many pedestrians around there yet practically no sidewalk. Yet cars get multiple lanes on tremont. For a part of the city that celebrates the 1700s they sure do only give a shit about the people in 21st century cars.
Definitely too many lanes
Not only do so many lanes result in drivers shooting across when they suddenly realize where they need to turn, they isn't any need for them! There is rarely enough traffic in that area to justify them, but there is nearly always the foot traffic and cycle traffic to justify making one of those lanes into more sidewalk and cycling space. That lane absolutely would not be missed.
Lanes serve two functions
1. The one you are thinking of: flow capacity.
2. The one you're not: storage space when a traffic light is red so that trucks, cars, and buses have enough room to not back up into the previous intersection and make gridlock more likely. Yeah, people shouldn't block the box, but we know how humans are.
How much time have you spent in the area?
These lanes are needed for neither purpose. Period.
If the goal of scarce public space is to move people, this is massively wasted space.
Same thing happened to me
I was hit on my bicycle by a valet flying backwards down school street about a month ago as I turned from province onto school. Fortunately I escaped injury, but half a second difference and I would have been dead.
To add insult to almost injury, when I confronted the valet he became aggressive and started screaming at me and threatening me. I tried calling the building management, restaurant, and valet company but couldn't find anyone who gave a damn. Hopefully it wasn't the same valet service, I'd feel terrible if I wasn't able to prevent it from happening again.
Damn bikers with the
Damn bikers with the entitlements they expect like not getting crushed to death by a driver breaking the law
The victim hit by the car in
The victim hit by the car in Adam's post is a pedestrian. Get it right.
Yes, and
Yes, and Jason is a cyclist and was riding when hit, as described in the comment that Kinopio responded to -- right up there, see? Get it right yourself.
And the post he was replying to ...
Was talking about a similar collision with a bicycle.
Get it right - or, at least, read things in sequence.
Who are the 7 people who
Who are the 7 people who upvoted this post? Fans of illiteracy?
Valet service exists due to inadequate parking
near a location. If there was adequate parking in the first place, reckless valets wouldn't be a problem.
and Valets driving like absolute morons exist due to what?
If there were consequences for the offending drivers and the companies that employ them, reckless valets wouldn't be a problem!
If more people took the train, or Uber
it wouldn't be a problem.
Or
Valet parking exists because of inadequate public transportation.
It's a question of how Boston wants to grow.
Do we want Boston to be more like Houston or more like Paris?
We all know where you stand.
There's a large parking garage around the corner
on Washington St. across from the Devonshire. Another garage on Province. Another garage under the Common. There are plenty of places to park for those who need to drive into the city and not take public transit.
You're 100% right, Mark.
You're 100% right, Mark.
There is absolutely no place to park in downtown Boston. None.
Of course we know what you mean: there are precious few free-in-the-evening street spaces.
Valet service can only exist
Valet service can only exist if there *is* sufficient off-street parking very close by for the valets to store the cars.
It exists because of the proliferation of upscale businesses that demand it, and the city automatically gives it to them.
Summary of City of Boston plan for pedestrian and bicycle safety
1. Wait for someone to die.
2. Wait some more.
3. Talk big about doing something useful.
4. Wait again.
5. Implement half-assed measure at one specific location that does little or nothing to improve safety.
6. Return to Step 1.
Cool story
Jesus, the was a freak accident where someone hit the gas instead of the brake. Doesn't matter if there was just 1 lane in the city, concrete barriers protecting bike lanes, no valet parking...this still would have happened. Stop trying to hijack a simple accident and trying to make it fit your narrative.
These "freak accidents"
These "freak accidents" involving drivers that are too dumb to tell the difference between the gas and break happen all the time, or at least that is the excuse drivers use. Anything that happens that often is not "freak" and it also isn't an "accident", since accident implies it was unavoidable and no one was at fault. We clearly know who is at fault.
This wouldn't have happened if School Street was a pedestrian zone, which it should be since it has the Freedom Trail and all the pedestrians that come with it and it was designed hundreds of years before cars(see the 330 year old building on the street for a reminder). Time to give it back to people.
I know what you mean
Kinda like the people who don't know the difference between "break" and "brake".
FWIW, I do agree, this is no "accident". It's a total fuckup on the driver's part.
It was both
It was an accident unless the driver actually intended to hit the pedestrian. It was also a f***up on the driver's part, and he should be charged.
People are too lazy to have manual transmissions
in the USA. Manual transmissions take away most of the possibility and danger from gas/brake pedal confusion due to extra safety of disengaging the clutch.
Manual transmissions also reduce distracted driving. With one hand on the shifter and another on the wheel, there isn't a hand for the cell phone and texting, coffee, food, or a book. Yeah there is knee use to steer but only going in a straight line.