School and Washington. Photo by Mark Novak.
UPDATE: Driver faces charges.
A driver from Needham in a New Jersey car hit at least three pedestrians around noon at School and Washington streets downtown, then got out of her car and ran away.
WalkBoston reports that one of the first people at the scene was a man dressed as a Minuteman, who opened the car's driver-side door - only to see the woman driver bound away. When police arrived, he pointed out her direction of flight.
Marc Ebuna reports other pedestrians sprang into action, tending to the injured and blocking traffic until police and EMTs could arrive. He reports he started crying when he saw one of the injured was just a kid.
Kevin Wiles Jr. reports two people were taken to Tufts, one to Mass. General.
Joe Ranft shows us the car - with driver nowhere to be found:
Michelle Moran saw it from above:
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Comments
Remember when a car went the
By Kinopio
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 12:38pm
Remember when a car went the wrong way down Washington into the pedestrian zone and hit a pedestrian last year? Why are we allowing cars to drive in a area of such high pedestrian activity? Why do we continue to put pedestrians in danger?
The sidewalks where this happened are literally overflowing with tourists on the freedom trail and the thousands upon thousands who work in the office buildings. Extend the pedestrian zone further down Washington and actually start enforcing it by blocking cars from coming down for once. Put a cop or someone else there because drivers obviously don't give a damn about do not enter signs.
School street
By Nbaugh
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 12:49pm
I thought that car went the wrong way down School street towards Tremont (away from Washington). Either way, School street is extremely dangerous for pedestrians and drivers due to the narrow sidewalks and flocks of tourists
That was a different driver
By Kinopio
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:48pm
That was a different driver going the wrong way and hitting pedestrians while doing so. Its hard to keep track of all the carnage caused by drivers downtown.
By that logic...
By anon
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 12:55pm
...we would have to ban cars in all areas of high pedestrian activity. And then Boston would be a car free zone, which is what some people are clearly looking for. (I do not own or drive a car myself, by the way.)
Alternatively
By Michael
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:05pm
We could actually require that a person demonstrate some basic competence before handing over a drivers' license, and also make it much easier to strip that license away if that basic competency proves to have been fleeting. Or, we could do nothing, which is working out OK except the violent and too-frequent times when it doesn't.
Also, we could design downtown streets better
By Neal
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:17pm
...to aid drivers in safely navigating the public ways. A few simple examples: pavement that slows traffic (IE cobblestones or speed humps, etc), narrowing the lane to discourage stopping in no stopping zones, align stoplights with the stop lines to prevent crosswalk blocking (rather than across the intersection as is the current standard), raise crosswalks to the sidewalk level, prohibit turns on red at high traffic intersections (or really, citywide), install bollards and railings at the curbs along high traffic areas to discourage pedestrians stepping into the roadways, replace traffic signals (which encourage speeding) with stop signs at some intersections along certain major thoroughfares (like the Greenway near the carousel, or most intersections on Tremont St in the South End) to slow traffic, etc. I know they're working on a lot of these, but it would be nice to see sooner than later.
We Could Improve Rapid Transit, So There's Less Need For Cars
By Elmer
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:25pm
We could keep drivers off of streets designed in the 1700s
By anon
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:24pm
There is NO REASON for this area to have vehicles. The Parking garage is accessible from the side street. All others are redundant
Not a design issue - this is a CARS DO NOT BELONG HERE issue.
Just to clarify..
By Neal
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 3:39pm
I agree, cars do not belong there. The pedestrian zone should be expanded to include School, Bromfield, Milk, Washington, and probably State and Court Streets between Congress and at least Court Sq, if not Tremont. The design issue is more of a citywide problem than anything.
I agree 100%
By BostonDog
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:53pm
However, given that this gal ran the likelihood is that the car is hot, the gal already is wanted by the cops, or the gal is on some serious drugs. (Or all three.) Basically, it involved someone who wasn't going to care about license laws and regulations regardless.
check your pronouns
By Chris Jones
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:23pm
The story makes it quite clear that "this guy" is a woman. It's not unlikely that the rest of your statements are equally unfounded.
Yeah, about that
By BostonDog
Fri, 08/19/2016 - 3:00pm
Turns out I was right -- the car was stolen and the woman was known to the police.
Woman
By perruptor
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:37pm
Not guy.
whatevs, speedy reader
By j not logged in
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:46pm
In your rush to vent spleen, you missed that the driver was a woman, not a man, as mentioned several times in Adam's synopsis and the linked content.
Possibly, though ...
By adamg
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:05pm
The commenter saw the post before I knew the driver's gender; this post went through several rewrites as I learned more.
Yep.
By SoBo-Yuppie
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:38pm
Yep. Let's do it.
Cars ruin cities. Time for congestion pricing, increase gas tax and increase the tolls...
Ideally
By ElizaLeila
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:46pm
Ideally in these pedestrian zones they install those automatic bollards that stay up until allowed vehicles approach them.
I've seen videos of idiot drivers try to sneak in past them after, in these cases, buses 'open' the road. I want to say they're in us in England. I'll see if I can find links. They're pretty great because the offending vehicles get bollards up the bottom of their car. Which costs money in addition to the embarrassment of being caught on camera.
In this location, allow only fire or police vehicles access. Though, because they retract to below the street, our snow and sand issues may wreak havoc on the system. But there has to be something out there that could be put to use.
here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Cw0QJU8ro
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELpd43PMvk
it's not the streets or the crowds it's the driver
By Mike D.
Sun, 08/21/2016 - 8:36pm
Why are we hearing talk about the streets and the crowds being at fault... I'm sure her lawyer will tell us that the driver/ victim was in fear for her life and and had to run away from the crowd ... did she hesitate ? Did she try to help, no she thought only of herself and ran away... Go easy on her she may become a politician.
courtesy car
By anon
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:08pm
Interesting, the car is a courtesy car from Mercedes Benz of Caldwell in Fairfield NJ
Must be getting a lot of work done on her car to take a road trip from Fairfield to Boston.
Car rental chains often have
By anon
Fri, 08/19/2016 - 5:13pm
Car rental chains often have out-of-state cars to rent; people drive them from one state to another then drop them off at the chain's local shop, then they get rented out again.
Kudos to the bystanders
By lbb
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:14pm
Every time I hear of something like this, I'm glad for the bystanders who had the skills and were wiling to help when help was needed.
Of course
By Michael
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:17pm
It could be a little jarring to get knocked out for a second and wake up to a Minuteman, especially if he's checking on your thinking powers by asking you what year this is.
Well
By geep9
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:22pm
The CAR is from NJ
Oh, please
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:54pm
I was in NJ a month ago, and I found the drivers much more courteous than the ones, in general, I encounter in my home town. Perhaps I was just lucky? You can do better than broad generalizations.
When they're not texting …
By Saul
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:56pm
When they're not texting …
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/nyregion/new-jer...
One can say the same thing about...
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:02pm
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/15/mass-...
Rental?
By anon
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 5:16pm
The car could be a rental with Jersey plates.
Stolen Car?
By issacg
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:22pm
because really, even someone scared out of his/her mind is not dumb enough to run away in the middle of Downtown, right?
Also, everyone around must have been wondering whether this was Nice all over with a smaller vehicle. Anyone know if the first responders were wary of approaching the vehicle for fear of a secondary incident?
The first responders were THE WITNESSES
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:40pm
The cops had nothing to fear - the area was already full of people, they need only clear them and get the rest of the cars whose drivers stopped at the scene out of the way. In fact, their work was made easier by citizen action at the scene.
There was a double decker bus full of tourists that was just ahead of the murderous driver's car and cleared the scene ... I'm sure that they saw everything. They would have been a much bigger target than the ones the murdermobile hit.
Not sure we're on the same page, Swirly.
By issacg
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:57pm
Swirly, I'm not sure that we're talking about the same thing. I was thinking more of a fear that the car was wired with something. As I'm sure you know, that is a tried and true tactic - create initial incident that brings response, then deploy secondary device, etc. to injure as many responders and gathered onlookers as possible.
I'm terribly upset this wanton disregard for human well being occurred on our streets, and at the same time, I'm very happy that it does not appear to have been something far more sinster.
Edit - just read you comment below and it seems like you might have been worried about this, but I still can't quite tell. I must say, I quite liked your name/description of the driver. Even my mother would be proud of that (and if you knew my mother, you'd know that's a huge compliment).
Your odds of being maimed or
By Saul
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:58pm
Your odds of being maimed or killed by a distracted or incompetent driver are a hell of a lot higher than being maimed or killed by an ISIS "soldier".
What are the odds of death by
By Murphquake
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:43pm
What are the odds of death by ISIS soldier vs rice cooker bomb?
Gee, I dunno
By lbb
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 3:34pm
Gee, I dunno, but while we're wondering, what are the odds that Batman can beat up Superman?
Roger that, Saul.
By issacg
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 4:40pm
and I am aware of and respect your well-documented (on UHub) desire to downplay any suggestion of terrorism or acts that are justified as terrorism-related security measures or response protocols.
As I said in my recent comment below, I didn't intend for the discussion to get down into the weeds on this, I merely wanted to know if any witnesses might have noticed whether the responders approached the situation a bit more gingerly than they might have prior to Bastille Day (realizing that this would be a subjective assessment anyway).
Really?
By lbb
Fri, 08/19/2016 - 10:31am
That strikes me as a matter of really academic interest, i.e., something that someone in an academic setting somewhere might try to figure out, but that you're never going to get any useful information from one incident on the ground. When people have been hit by a car, I really doubt whether anyone is standing back assessing the gingerliness-to-enthusiasm ratio of other bystanders in rendering assistance, and comparing it to their vast trove of previous similar incidents.
Doesn't fit
By lbb
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:21pm
If it were a terrorist attack, do you think they'd have
1)used a small sedan instead of a much larger vehicle that could
a)run down more people and
b)hold more explosives
2)stopped after hitting only three people
3)run away and take the chance that the hypothetical bomb would detonate on its own?
IOW, yes, the secondary explosion tactic is well-known, but if you were gonna, that's not how you'd do it.
I didn't mean to get this far down that road.
By issacg
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 4:32pm
I just wondered, given how on edge some police are these days (regardless of whether people think that is justified or not), whether anyone noticed a little extra caution in the response in the immediate aftermath.
On the other hand, I can offer a reasonable counterpoint to each one of the points you raised even with my relatively minimal relevant training, but as I say, that was not and is not the focus of my comments here.
intersection
By Saul
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:23pm
The intersection of School and Washington is very similar to the Manhattan intersection described at http://thevillager.com/2016/08/11/nolita-nightmare...
Drivers turning left onto Washington have a green arrow, which usually means you're free to turn with no conflicting traffic.Of course drivers should be always on the lookout for pedestrians, but the signage and lights here do not help. In addition, there is no walk signal nor crosswalk across Washington Street at this side of the intersection. What a suburban mentality, that pedestrians should be relegated to just half an intersection (kind of like the suburban traffic sewers that have "sidewalks" on just one side of the road) in one of the most congested areas of the city.
Meanwhile
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:37pm
Pedestrians get only a 1/4 of the roadway space and outnumber drivers by orders of magnitude.
ALSO: TRAFFIC IN THE AREA IS DOING JUST FINE WITH ALL OF THIS CLOSED DOWN.
Last week
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 3:35pm
I was crossing, with the walk signal, in a Cambridge crosswalk when a pick up truck, who had the green (Cambridge, like Boston I believe, has something called concurrent signaling), took a left (at a high rate of speed) while I was smack dab in the intersection (he was not present in the intersection as I began to cross) and I had to dive hard into the gutter, in the opposite direction from the large grill that was bearing down on me, from being hit. I was not injured but it was close; just a large and painful bruise on my right upper thigh.
Although he had the green, like this car, I still had the right of way, according to the law. Folks need to drive accordingly when approaching crosswalks and/or areas where there are a lot of pedestrians, such as downtown crossing.
Personally, I do not like the idea of concurrent signaling. When I am crossing, I want the traffic to be stopped.
Needless to say, I am so paranoid now about crossing the streets around here and in Boston. Especially with the pedestrian hits the past couple of days.
So please be careful when crossing Portland St. at Broadway St.
(Oh, to add insult to injury, the driver was not cited by the police. A letter from me and then a call with the Superintendent, almost a week later, informed me that they, the police, were in error and he should of been cited.)
Toughen up or leave
By fefu
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 3:50pm
I don't actually believe this, but I posted some similar concerns on another article yesterday and some anon person actually told me I needed to toughen up or get out of the city.
I guess some people think we should all just sit back and let all the carnage continue because "Boston character" or something.
Well, thank you for taking a stand.
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 4:15pm
And to that other "Master of his/her Universe", I can only say two words. One begins with an "F" and the other with a "Y'.
Ooh! Ooh!
By Ari O
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 11:15pm
Frozen Yogurt!
LOL!
By whyaduck
Fri, 08/19/2016 - 7:46am
n/t
So much screaming and bodies on the street
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:32pm
I was shepherding out-of-town visitors to lunch and I IMMEDATELY turned them around to cut down to Devonshire elsehwere.
That bitch asshole murderous piece of shit ran right past us. People were chasing her. We didn't know or we would have tripped her.
She ran down three people with a dangerous weapon. Makes me want for there to be a hell for her to burn in.
The sidewalks are overflowing in this area from 10am to 6pm. The street should be shut after 10 and open again after six. The garage can empty onto the side street if need be. Too many people need to get through this area for cars to fit. There is no need for these streets to have traffic.
And too many asshole drivers with murder on their mind are just too fucking special to wait their goddamn fucking turn or look where the hell they are fucking driving.
Go get 'em...
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:44pm
I wish you were one of my witnesses for my near hit last week. I gave the driver a good screaming at but I think you would of gave him a better what for.
Tell her where and when it happened
By Kaz
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:08pm
If she wasn't there, her brother was...or one of her sons.
Lol!
By whyaduck
Fri, 08/19/2016 - 7:46am
Well, I did have one witness, a lovely lady by the name of Sarah. But I think Swirls, and I mean this with all respect due to her, would of bitten his b*lls off. I admire her ferociousness.
So you want to make this personal, neckbeard?
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 8:59pm
I would very much rather have gone through my already stressful (CDC site visit) day without hearing a family hit by a car and a child lying still on the pavement.
I WOULD VERY MUCH RATHER HAVE NOT BEEN THERE, RATHER MY OUT OF TOWN GUESTS DID NOT SEE IT, AND RATHER THAT THESE POOR PEOPLE KNOCKED TO THE PAVEMENT HAD NOT BEEN THERE EITHER.
Eat shit and die.
this is why I don't reg
By anon
Sat, 08/20/2016 - 9:45am
I've had seemingly innocuous comments blocked from publishing, but it gives you time to think "hey, maybe I was being a dingus." Register and your hateful comments go through approved immediately. I kinda like being kept in check so I don't come off like this. Grab a snickers, swirly girl.
Huh?
By bosguy22
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:48pm
They're now reporting the driver stayed at the scene....who was it that ran by you?
I would assume it was the driver
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 4:29pm
She was running and nearly knocked over my boss. Several people were hollering and running after.
It would be very strange if that were not related!
However, she may have been persuaded to return to the scene by the pursuers. I shepherded my mob down the rabbit hole to Devonshire to be entirely free of the mess.
Plenty of security cameras
By Zip
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:50pm
Fleeing the scene like that does seem to indicate some guilt, lets see what the video shows. The traffic pattern is a little odd, lots of distractions and this also happens to be the #1 jaywalking location in the City, not excusing the driver's behavior, but let's see what's what before firing up the tar pots and shredding our pillows. If the driver really at fault, count me in.
P.S. I was there shortly after, saw the helicopters, checked the major newstations, BDC (why I don't know) NOTHING! Then went to UHUB, which was already all over this issue. I'm deleting all other new tabs on my phone, way to go Adam.
Zip,
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:00pm
the driver, in this instance, is at fault because, aside from hitting the three (allegedly not driving for conditions in a crowded tourist area), she fled the scene. Jaywalking, which, if you are ever in that area, occurs on a regular basis. Still no basis for the driver to hit three and flee.
Driving for conditions
By lbb
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:05pm
I'm with whyaduck -- and I'll also say that, as someone who's a frequent pedestrian in that area, I don't think that "difficult conditions" excuse or even explain the number of accidents here. It's a one-way onto a one-way with no cross traffic, the only other feed into the intersection has a red light -- it just doesn't get much simpler than that. The sight line is short because of the building on the left, I will grant that, but you know what that means? It means you're going around a blind corner, and so (as in all cases) you don't drive faster than you can see. No, what I've observed over and over for traffic turning from School onto Washington is that drivers get fed up with the slow feed through the intersection and decide that they are NOT WAITING FOR ONE MORE LIGHT CYCLE. So they gun it through the intersection, and at that point it really doesn't matter what color the light is -- they're driving too fast for conditions.
As with the driver who nearly mowed down whyaduck, you can certainly speculate that many of them are not used to pedestrians being present at all: if they've got a green, they can go, and cars are all they ever have to deal with. Whatever. You're driving in Boston now. We can't redesign the streets of Boston to accommodate suburban driving habits, and we can't take all the pedestrians and cyclists and delivery trucks and throw them into a giant wood chipper. You're driving in Boston, where you are sharing the road with all those road users and more, so put on your big kid pants and use some of the skills you were supposed to learn in driver's ed. That, or park at Alewife or Riverside and take the T and learn how the other half lives.
(the horrible irony is when shit like this happens and people say, "Oh, Boston drivers!")
Well said, llb.
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:09pm
n/t
Just to be technically correct
By Kaz
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:14pm
You can make a left on red there if there is nobody on the cross street because it's a one way to a one way road and left on red is legal in MA (like most other states) for that situation.
https://axleaddict.com/safety/Obscure-Driving-Regu...
Just to be technically correct
By lbb
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:24pm
Just to be technically correct, the behavior I was describing isn't a legal left on red. A legal left on red is not "see that the light is going to turn red before you get there and accelerate right through that bastard". A legal left on red requires a full stop, after which you can proceed if it's safe to do so. Under no circumstances, when executing a legal left on red, should you be able to get up enough of a head of steam to pin pedestrians under your vehicle.
No shit
By Kaz
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:49pm
A legal left on red doesn't involve pedestrians at all. Duh.
I wasn't talking about the Mad Max scenarios you were describing. I was just pointing out that it's technically possible to make a legal left on red at that intersection as there's no signing to preclude it (there could be if we chose to put some up)...not that technically what you described was a legal left on red.
In the meantime, this car-on-pedestrian hit-and-run is exceptionally rare even for all the tourists and all the cars that go through there all the time. That doesn't mean the intersection is great or that there isn't more we can/should do to improve the situation for pedestrian safety/health there...just that this isn't one of the worst intersections in the city.
In fact, the unsignaled intersection one block away at Washington & Water is probably much worse. It's unsignaled, the Freedom Trail actually crosses the crosswalk there, there are huge oversized vehicles that frequently use it, and its turning radius is actually much tighter (School St hits at an obtuse angle to Washington but Water is an acute angle and a more narrow road than School). If you people/car watch for a few hours on the weekend, you'll see numerous tour buses, oversized pickups, trolleys, and the occasional 18-wheeler drive up over the curb at Water St while dozens of pedestrians are piled up getting anxious and antsy waiting for them to complete their 3...4...5 point turn and move on down Water St (which also has parking down the one side...commerical most of the day, anyone on the weekends).
The REAL problem here is that if you're anywhere around Beacon Hill and you want to get to anywhere to the east like the Financial District or the Waterfront, you're ONLY option is School/Washington/Water. Otherwise you have to go ALL the way around the north up Bowdoin to Atlantic by Haymarket and come all the way back down. Or you have to go all the way south to Boylston/Essex and take that to Atlantic and then come all the way back north to your destination. If you want a walkable DTX, then extend the walk zone of Washington to include that whole area of School/Water Streets and just shut it all down and make cars go completely around the entire downtown area to get anywhere...or make the School/Water intersections much more navigable for cars while preventing interactions with pedestrians (crosswalk bridges? tunnelling?)...or accept there's going to be a certain amount of car/pedestrian interactions for those 2-3 blocks and situations like this will occasionally happen because we don't have reasonable and/or better solutions at this time.
Cars in DTX
By anon
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 3:31pm
"The REAL problem here is that if you're anywhere around Beacon Hill and you want to get to anywhere to the east like the Financial District or the Waterfront, you're ONLY option is School/Washington/Water."
People will disagree, but the above is precisely the reason I say all of Downtown Crossing should re-open to cars the way it was pre-1978. Re-open Washington, re-open Winter and you won't have the School/Washington/Water horror show. There will be a more logical flow. Trust me, I was around pre-1978 when there were still cars on Washington, and it worked better than people now think. People and cars got along just fine in that area. Now people have gotten too used to it being a no car zone and don't know that it was once a thriving shopping and driving thoroughfare. And I don't even own a car.
Or, Open State Street to 2-Way Traffic
By biosmoothie
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 5:31pm
We have caused this on ourselves by changing all the streets to one way this one way that. Close School street to cars. Close Washington Street up to School Street for cars. Open State Street two-way. Change direction of Water Street so Washington, Water, State, Congress make a loop.
Or...
By lbb
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 3:36pm
Or walk, or take the T.
Hahaha...
By Kaz
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 4:02pm
Take the T...from Beacon Hill, say Charles & Beacon, (no stops within a quarter mile) to Rowe's Wharf (no stops within a quarter mile)...when it's a mile to walk straight there.
And if it's a mile to walk straight there, then good luck with any amount of stuff to carry...or when you want to leave the area and still have to walk a mile back to where you left your car...or if you can't leave your car in Beacon Hill because the meter won't last for you to walk 2 miles out and back and get whatever you needed done too...
Look, you can't just wave a wand and make everyone carless just like everyone with a car can't wave a wand and make every pedestrian or bicyclist have to walk behind ropes or keep them off the streets. It's a stupid non-starter that makes it seem like you didn't want to be taken seriously in the first place.
I carry stuff all over the area all the time
By anon
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 9:03pm
I do it on a bike.
Someone suggested closing it at peak pedestrian hours. Deliveries could happen before 9 or 10 or after 6. Big deal. So you have to drive a little farther because of it? Not like that takes any physical effort.
In addition to what Kaz said,
By DTP
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 4:16pm
In addition to what Kaz said, you also have to recognize that a large percentage of vehicles coming through there are not passenger cars driven by people too good to take the T. There's a lot of delivery trucks, taxis, tourist buses, contractors, etc. These are vehicles that any city will always have downtown, no matter how good the transit system, and no matter how hard they try to ban cars. Hell, even the pedestrian-only portion of Washington St is always clogged with box trucks.
Jaywalking?
By Saul
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 1:54pm
Jaywalking? What the hell are you talking about? The scene is a block from the city's main pedestrian-only area, and would be much better served by a two-way stop sign, forcing (in theory) drivers from both directions to slow down and giving pedestrians the right of way at all times.
Not a car area
By anon
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:03pm
This is an area of the city which was laid out in the 1600s. There were no cars in the 1600s.
This isn't about suburban notions of driving. It is the cars that do not belong here.
Anon,
By whyaduck
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 2:41pm
you would expect, after my near fatal whack last week by the pick up truck, that I would be singing your praises. I appreciate your concern. But the reality is that cars are not going anywhere anytime soon. The downtown crossing area is generally for pedestrians and is closed to traffic except when you hit School Street, on one end. The city has to keep the traffic moving since, well, it is a city.
If pedestrians are crossing in a crosswalk, than the drivers need to stop at a red. Get rid of these concurrent signals. That would be a start. Yes, I am sure some will run the light, but as my upper leg still throbs, how many pedestrians have to get hit? I truly think we are so congested now with cars, cyclists, pedestrians, and other assorted modes of transportation, that we are just starting to bump more and more into each other. Tack on distracted drivers...
streets
By Saul
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 4:42pm
Washington Street is about as wide (around 25 feet according to Google Maps) as numerous residential streets in the streetcar suburbs around town. You can argue that cars don't belong because they're an inefficient use of space in a busy part of the city, but please don't repeat the "cow paths" trope that cars simply don't belong because some streets were laid out 300 years ago.
There weren't cars 300 years ago but there were certainly carriages, and do you think carriages were the size of golf carts?
Bring back horses and wagons!
By anon
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 3:58pm
Because horses never get spooked and ran over pedestrians killing them!
I am so tired of the stupid comments about roads pre-dating cars. There were horse and wagon deliveries and coaches then with hazards from horses, not to mention lots of pollution they leave on the street. Many area roads were built after cars around Boston. Large farm parcels were infilled with streets and residences. So, even here, most of the roads were built after cars.
I'm for cobblestones on roads that used to help with horse excrement, but now can slow down cars and bicycles.
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