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Another crash at South Boston intersection where toddler was killed
By adamg on Mon, 09/17/2018 - 6:24pm
Eileen Murphy reports a crash between a Jeep and another SUV late this afternoon flipped the Jeep on its side at L and East 6th streets - where one corner is still filled with memorials to Colin Thomas McGrath, 2, who died on July 25 when another two-vehicle crash sent one of the vehicles right into his stroller on the sidewalk.
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Comments
BTD and the City
are foolish for not doing enough to address this dangerous intersection. They are well aware of the public safety issues with this intersection and the whole length of L Street and fail to do anything about it. The Commissioner of BTD needs to step down and let someone who knows the engineering aspect of traffic take over.
Ban Cars
https://twitter.com/JustinienT/status/1041331219005362176
Trees
How about they cut down all the trees on that one corner? Maybe the cars will be better seen.
Brilliant!
Then people will run the stop signs AND the emissions from their stinky deadly smog machines will be better turned into more smog AND old people will die from excessive heat, too!
Sounds like a total lose lose lose to me.
Don't forget
the drivers who will now plow unstopped into people on sidewalks, houses, and shopfronts!
Ban Cars
This is truly the only answer. Drivers themselves are "banning" cars with their behavior in effect making car traffic in Boston an impossibility if we are to retain a civil society. The responsible thing is to save a lot of lives by proactively banning cars.
Always remember, Boston is, already, by any ordinary civil standards, impassable by motor vehicle; what we have instead is gridlock leading to vulgar, lethal explosions of pent up frustration whenever there is a momentary break in said gridlock.
Again
I was a victim in a crash when somebody ran that stop sign. I remember somebody looking out the window of the house in the first picture to ask if I was okay.
Hell, I got out of my car and was able to chase the other car (which took off) close enough down the street to get a partial plate, which turned out to be unnecessary when I returned to the scene to find their front plate on the ground. I won.
The answer seems simple
Traffic light.
Or maybe a four way stop.
Not so simple
People use L as a cut through from Morrissey Blvd / Quincy to the Seaport / Downtown. Same is happening along A street. Residential numbers are up, and commuters to Boston jobs more so.
Poor, to literally no transit planning, is already causing problems and it's just going to get worse.
Look at the cause of these accidents
They have been a combination of speed and trying to avoid cars coming from side streets.
Making the intersection an all way stop would slow traffic down, perhaps causing drivers to rethink using it as a cut through. Putting a light at that intersection would allow traffic movement from all directions.
L Street has been a cut through since the 1990s. The crashes have happened outside of rush hours. If you have some concrete plans, please share them. If not...
Very simple
Make Southie into the historic village that its NIMBY folks want it to be: ban cars.
Seeing Pennsylvania plate on
Seeing Pennsylvania plate on Jeep- means speeding could not have been a factor in this crash
Rental car
The other driver supposedly ran the stop sign and plowed into them.
While not an excuse, but an
While not an excuse, but an explanation, that stop sign seems like it would be difficult to notice, especially to a vehicle that's already speeding.
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3331404,-71.0356612,3a,75y,80.17h,81.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sa8aH-1RmAldf7GhTzCEALA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
L Street
It seems the city isn't listening. Maybe we need to get back out there during the morning and afternoon rush and slow things down a bit.
What. The. Hell
I think I must have missed this accident by about ten or fifteen minutes. I was at Columbia Circle when the ambulance went by.
I drive through there on a regular basis and between the narrowness of the road and the frequent pedestrians, I don't think I've ever done more than idle through that intersection. I can't even comprehend the kind of reckless abandon it would take to flip a car like that.
Lights at intersection
There are traffic lights sporadically posted going down L but should be every block. But on top of that, they need to be standard lights strung over the intersection and not the cutesy ones on light posts. I used to live in the neighborhood and the first time my mother came to visit, she blew through ALL of the lights along L because she did not notice the lights. I've been in cars with other people, not familiar with the area, who have almost done the same. I got to the point of Warning people to keep an eye out for the lights because they are easy to miss. One friend told me because it was on a basic light post, he thought it was a police/fire call box.
If new lights can't be installed then at the very least they should put up new signage, alerting of upcoming traffic light / dangerous intersection.
Your stories
Point directly to bad driving, not poor lighting. Pay the fuck attention when you’re behind the wheel of a machine that can kill in the blink of an eye
Your mother should probably not be driving then.
How about we start having more frequent (like more than once in your life) and more thorough driving tests which will weed out some of the terrible and old drivers once and for all?
Why is L a two way street?
The area from Broadway to Day is too narrow when you consider the parking on both sides. If you made it a one way street, especially if you switched it half way through, the traffic would reduce considerably.
Narrow is good
Narrow makes people slow down. The earlier fatal crash occurred around street cleaning time, when there is no parking. The resulting wide lanes is conducing to speeding.
Also, L Street is two way because is becomes Summer Street at the Reserve Channel.
one way doesn't mean 2 lanes
The fact that L street becomes summer is the problem. If you reverse the direction of one block and make it one way from Day to Broadway the traffic will reduce considerably. You could also close it to motor vehicles from 8th to 4th.
Close it to motor vehicles?
Oh, that's rich.
Why not? It's a residential
Why not? It's a residential neighborhood, not a highway.
And you think the residents don't drive?
I mean, read any article on this website about residential development. People drive in Southie. People get from one place to another using motor vehicles. I offer suggestions about practical ways to make the road safer. You want to close a section of the road to all vehicles.
fine then
They get a chip that lets a gate go up so they can enter the area.
It's a public way
No can do.
Public Way
That does not necessarily mean that you can bring your car - what it means is that you can go there.
Maybe we should rent an elephant caravan and test this out?
Have you read a single article on residential development?
Because it doesn't sound like you have heard of walkablity. Walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has health, environmental, and economic benefits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkability
Cities undertake pedestrian projects for better traffic flow by closing automobile access and only allowing pedestrians to travel through. Projects such as the High Line and the 606 Trail increase walkability by connecting neighborhoods, using landscape architectural elements to create visually aesthetic green space, and allow for physical activity. Towns can also be modified to be pedestrian villages. Monitoring and improving safety in neighborhoods can make walking a more attractive option. Safety is a main concern among children when choosing how to get to and from school.[27] Ensuring safer walking areas by keeping paths well-maintained and well-lit can encourage walkability.
The High Line was a rail line
While I see the value in increasing walkability, let’s not lose sight of the fact we are discussing a two vehicle crash with this article.
Close L Street to cars and traffic will go up greatly on G and I Streets. First Street will become more of a speedway. Or, we can be realistic and try to alter behaviors. If cars coming out of Sixth are getting hit by cars on L, we can concentrate on preventing that from happening. Or, I guess, we could use these crashes as an excuse to push your causes. I’d work on changing behaviors myself.
This much is true
These issues are not solved street by street, intersection by intersection.
I countered the tangents that you brought up.
Less cars is part of the answer. Some of the traffic will go around, some of the traffic will take the train or bus.
Less cars is not the answer to this crash
If L Street were packed full of cars, this crash would not have happened. More traffic brings with it lower speeds- congestion. We can both agree that lower speeds dampens the effect of crashes. No, both this crash and the fatal one a while back at this spot happened during periods of light traffic. You just have an agenda and are using this crash to further it.
I disagree
Infrastructure can force people to drive slower at any level of traffic.
What do you think my agenda is? Labeling me and moderating my posts is waliquiot's go to tactic when someone doesn't bow to his argument. It is hypocritical to keep bring up straw men and then cry tangent when they fall down.
Go ahead and link your response to facts that show high traffic congestion makes us safer.
Two cars crash
My response is to find a way to calm traffic down. You disagree with my points. Your eventual answer is to ban cars. There’s an agenda right there.
But if that doesn’t satisfy you, let’s got back to your idea of having cars drive down a street the width of two cars. How would that have prevented this crash?
What points have you offered?
What points have you offered? Other than making it a four-way stop, I can't find anything else. That would be fine but it is insufficient. If you want to criticize everything I say, link it to supporting material. Unless of course there isn't any supporting facts.
You replied to my comments
And they are still there, yet you seem to think I said nothing. I never mentioned anything on how narrow streets decrease speed and anything else like that. But hey, I guess since you decided to get your nose out of joint rather than criticizing my numerous points, that leaves me in good shape, since you seem to think that criticizing points is the worst thing to do.
where did you say narrow the
where did you say narrow the street? a four way stop was the only point I could find that wasn't just a counter to other comments. You have moderated other posts asking for constructive comments but what are you offering? My nose isn't out of joint, your tactics are hypocritical. It seems that the emotions you describe are projected.
Okay
Read what you wrote. Your very first comment. The beginning of this thread. The one where you said that the road is too narrow, so the best thing is to make it a one way street. The one to which I replied that narrow is good.
Good Lord.
so you agree that you aren't contributing
except by criticizing the points of others. then after they follow to the end of your straw man argument with supporting facts, you label them and disqualify them.
And that fine. But you don't back up your criticism with facts. Why is that?
I'm not contributing
I would say that I offered two suggestions as to how to fix this. I did offer problems with some of your suggestions, which you took offense with. Well, as someone once said to me
I am not offended
I am standing up to your personal attacks. Let your suggestions stand on their own. If fact, all I have said is that your suggestions are insufficient. If you take all of you posts as a whole, you repeatedly moderate anyone that disagrees with you. It is dishonest to try to marginalize my posts by labeling me as having an "agenda". Why can't you find data to support your suggestions?
...and move the problem to
...and move the problem to other streets?
Also, why is it so wide
Why is L street so wide past Broadway?
How can the city justify leaving the road such an expansive free-for-all? Is it two lanes in either direction or one? Is it even remotely safe to give such a wide field for traffic to do whatever it feels like?
At least stripe it for one travel lane + left turn lanes.
And please do something about the double parking around the Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks.
This intersection should
This intersection should clearly be a 4-way stop.
Those only help if people actually follow traffic laws
As someone who lives near a 4-way stop, I can tell you that it certainly does not prevent dangerous drivers or accidents. Plenty of drivers in this city are ready to treat stop signs as suggestions.
It lessen the chance of crashes
And yes, that does depend on people obeying the signs, but the same is true of speed limits. Your average driver is a lot more likely to stop at a stop sign than to go 20 MPH on an open road.
Yes but
Even those who don't stop are more likely to slow down, lessening crash likelihood and severity.