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Pickup driver hits five people, including two infants in strollers, on sidewalk on Centre Street in West Roxbury
By adamg on Fri, 12/17/2021 - 11:52am
Pickup came from small parking lot behind brick wall. Photo by Live Boston.
Live Boston reports a pickup hit two adults, a child and two infants in strollers next to the municipal lot off Centre and Hastings streets around 11 a.m.
Based on the photo, it looks like the driver failed to brake while pulling into a spot in the parking lot - or hit the gas instead of the brake while pulling out of a spot - and went right through the brick wall that separates the lot from the sidewalk.
All five were transported to a local hospital, with injuries ranging from critical to minor, although none of the injuries appeared to be life threatening.
That intersection has been the scene of other vehicle/pedestrian crashes in recent years, including a 2019 crash in which a driver hindered by solar glare ran into a woman walking across the street, killing her, and a 2016 crash in which another pedestrian suffered a traumatic brain injury after being hit by a car.
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Comments
Was the brick wall wearing a
Was the brick wall wearing a protective vest?
Infants were injured, not
Infants were injured, not that you care.
Did anyone find any headphones??
Welcome to UHub, anon. We know people get hurt when drivers do a shitty job of steering their machines. In fact, you will find that we are only stating the various "reasons" that have been used in the past to legally excuse drivers when they have been murdering and maiming people. Like, used by the state and local police, trucking companies, politicians, state officials and others who think cars have rights and people don't.
I'm betting the infants were probably wearing headphones.
Because infants should know that if you are an infant, cars will hit you.
It is a type of accident that
It is a type of accident that is more common than you think (thinking you hit the break but hit the gas and vice versa).
But hit it that hard?
I can't think of a single time when I've ever done this, let alone stomped the accelerator in a tight environment like a parking lot.
I think it should be prima facia evidence of impairment.
It is somewhat common
I used to regularly see stories of (often elderly) drivers hitting the gas instead of the brake. Since they thought their foot was on the brake, when the car didn't stop, they pushed harder. Several of them wound up inside buildings. I'm glad you've never done it, and I haven't either. If I ever do, I will turn in my license and quit driving.
If this has happened to you
I would highly recommend figuring out alternative transportation options before you end up in a similar situation (or worse!).
Unpopular opinion, but...
this mistake pretty much can't happen when driving cars with normal transmissions that require you to actually know how to operate a car in order to operate one.
Not sure what you mean
Not sure what you mean by 'normal' transmissions, but I do think those turn-a-dial ones might add some confusion to the process.
Infants were injured, not
Were the infants wearing reflective vests? Were they looking at their phones? Wearing headphones? Stepped out without looking?
That's quite a feat
It looks like the truck jumped the wall basically where the bench is. How did the truck mount that wall (from behind)?
https://goo.gl/maps/tJ23XBrKLMy9tgyJA
The truck was in the parking
The truck was in the parking lot presumably in one of the spots facing the street. The guess is he hit the gas in drive thinking he was in reverse.
mOR cArs pLeaSE
nt
I walked by this on the way
I walked by this on the way to the post office and I can't figure out how the truck got going fast enough to break through the brick wall. It's a fairly small parking lot and all the other spaces had cars in them, so there wasn't a ton of room. Maybe they accidentally jammed on the gas pedal instead of the brake.
How many layers of impairment?
Before you get to "hit accelerator rather than brake"?
Seriously - I can't remember a time when I've ever done this. I can think of a few times that I've had it in gear rather than reverse, but I start slowly enough to notice - I don't stomp the damn pedal.
I might??? have done this once?
Pretty special circumstances: I fell asleep at the wheel, and when I woke up, I stepped on...a pedal. And I thought it was the brake. But it's possible it wasn't, because I woke up with the car leaving the road, and I was completely disoriented. Whatever it was, by the time I woke up, I was in a place where neither gas nor brake would have made a difference.
I don't know why I'm bringing this up, because clearly nothing like that happened here. I guess I'm just offering this as my benchmark for how disoriented you would have to be to stomp the gas thinking it was the brake.
If you’re still driving…
…. let’s hope you don’t drive anymore when in that condition.
Not when I'm tired, no.
"that condition" = being tired. I'm more careful now. I am quite certain that you have driven under "that condition", if in fact you know how to operate a motor vehicle, which I'm inclined to doubt.
Typical Ibb response.
Get defensive. Make wild accusations.
I’m still not sure you should be driving.
Falling asleep at the wheel is driving with a serious impairment. Someone I know who did that and was caught temporarily lost their license pending a hearing and a doctor’s clearance.
Typical Leebot response
Say a bunch of crazy toxic irrelevant ad hominem shit.
Good luck healing the damage. You've got a lot of it.
Take a nap.
.
I passed by this too. No idea
I passed by this too. No idea how they got over the barrier either. It's almost like the driver would have had to have kept the peddle down even after encountering the encumbrance (i.e., wall) - to have floored it and kept flooring it.
My first thought was that this was some kind of strange police exercise, a drill or the like.
Took me a while to realize that this was a true, in-the-flesh accident.
Case noted. Area clear.
Case noted. Area clear.
either too drunk or too old to drive
There's really no other good explanation for this sort of thing.
Or....
It's a little early to be that drunk. That is not really an old person's vehicle. I'm going with distracted. If 5 people went to the hospital, it seems that 2 of them may have been in the truck.
Linked article truck landed
Linked article indicates truck landed on two adults, two infants, one other child.
It is only early if you aren't a drunk
I don't know what the fuck was wrong with Mr. Megatruck that led him to this level of cocksure acceleration in forward gear, but one must understand that IF you are a drunk it is NEVER too early to be drunk.
Anything but blame it on cell phone use.
We can’t - repeat - can’t drive without texting!!!!
It is more common than you
It is more common than you think to hit the gas/break when you want the other one.
Maybe for you
I see it as a sign that someone shouldn't be driving.
Did the truck driver break
Did the truck driver break through the wall or go over it?
If they were pointed nose-in, somehow floored it, and there was a curb or one of those concrete stoppers at the end of the spot - it might have served to launch them over the low wall.
That's a mighty small parking
That's a mighty small parking lot.
Unless the pickup was a manual (very, very unlikely), the driver would have had no reason to have foot on gas even if they were actually in reverse - as we're collectively assuming they meant to be. This is a case where you put the automatic car in neutral, take the foot off the break, and let the slow tug of the engine pull you out.
This is bad driving however you slice or dice it.
Actually, not assuming a
Actually, not assuming a forward/reverse mixup to go along with a "FLOOR IT!!!" mixup.
They might have been parked - backed-in - to the opposite parking space on the back row of the lot, transmission in D to go forward out of the space, and THEN inexplicably floored it (as well as not turning) - giving them 50 feet crossing the lot and empty space in front of them to get to a high speed before hurdling/hitting the wall.
How is your engine tugging
How is your engine tugging you anywhere when it's in neutral?
Post updated
It was two adults, a child and two infants who were hit. Although at least one of them suffered critical injuries, all are expected to survive.
New Facebook group on the way?
I bet that somewhere in West Roxbury someone is drafting a NIMBY Facebook group to combat the very real threat to the neighborhood posed by parking lot speed limits.
Many of these trucks are way too powerful….
… for city spaces. They belong on construction sites or in big agricultural areas.
But drivers have to be higher and bigger than the next door neighbor.
Construction sites
Ya we don’t have any of those in the city.
The machines used on them stay on them.
Construction workers driving in and out of the city so they have something to load their lunch box on and then parking them illegally are not using them in construction.
Construction worker that
Construction worker that takes the train and a bike every day.
Can confirm.
As someone who was nearly
As someone who was nearly killed by a driver in a pickup truck while I was using a crosswalk in the city, I agree.
The pick up driver that nearly killed me …
… in a crosswalk in South Boston could barely see over his cab.
I’ve seen this scenario several times just on my own street.
These micropenis havers are a
These micropenis havers are a threat to everyone around them with their ridiculously huge trucks that never haul anything bigger than a case of soda. Send this loser to prison for 5 cases of vehicular assault and terminate their license. Hopefully the victims leave the driver penniless.
Every car today is way too
Every car today is way too powerful. A 1982 Honda Civic could do 0-60 in about 14 seconds. A 2022 Honda Civic takes only 7 seconds. Why?
Trucks are particularly so
Yeah, my tiny little unassuming subie can employ it's WRX space rocket drive train with a simple full range pedal press, but it won't ever generate the forces that a huge pickup with a towing package and/or snowplow power can.
I can and do stomp it when trying to get up to speed on short onramps, such as 128 in the northern reaches.
Thanks Truck control advocate…
It’s the smallest truck made. You must be the type who blames guns when people harm other people with them too. This is operator error. Has nothing to do with the type of vehicle. Let’s just hope everyone is ok and recovers quickly so they can enjoy Christmas with their family.
You’re welcome.
.
Most of them don't even
Most of them don't even belong on construction sites because their beds are too small to be useful and the vehicles weigh too much.
I've noticed more presence of
I've noticed more presence of state troopers on state patrolled roads in the city, but BPD? You can catch them only in DD or the mayor's motorcade.
How
On gods green earth would a police cruiser have prevented this?
We don’t know how the driver was driving…
… before this crash while on the road. Or if he was observed by police or reported through 911.
But I’ve seen BPL cruisers sit by while all sorts of dangerous behavior is occurring right before them.
How many times
have you seen the Mayor's motorcade?
Do tell
Do tell all about your experience observing "state patrolled roads in the city" that you're not from.
Must be
because of bikes
Color me not shocked. We
Color me not shocked. We take our lives into our hands crossing Centre St. All of the crosswalks & Holy Name rotary are a joke.
The BDPs plan of "we aren't going to ticket, we are going to educate" has worked really well. They were out on Centre street for about 2 minutes pretending to enforce traffic rules after that woman died. I almost got hit in the same crosswalk; a cop was too busy on his phone to do anything.
I hope the lazy asshats of WR that can't walk 100 feet to the store feel good about their plan to stop the bike commies.
The driving in West Roxbury
The driving in West Roxbury is a toxic combination of callous tailgaters that go 50 mph on Centre St., folks whose best driving years are in the rearview, and people who double-park to pick up takeout.
Oh....and no police enforcement.
Edited: Center -> Centre.
Yep
I was getting take out from the restaurant row the other day and saw someone double park their car in the travel lane next to an empty parking spot. She presumably didn't want to bother wtih parallel parking.
Didn't want to bother
Maybe because they never learned how. The Registry's enforcement of the requirement that all drivers learn to parallel park has been ... inconsistent.
Yah, maybe.
Yah, maybe.
But the civic thing to do in that case would be to keep driving until you find a spot not requiring the maneuver.
Above anything else, this kind of behavior screams selfishness.
I see this all the time.
I think it’s either laziness or not wanting to get boxed in by another double parker or both.
Makes me want to key their cars as I try to maneuver around them.
It happened again!
Driving down Centre this morning toward Weld, thinking about this thread and going about 30 mph, when a new Tesla SUV floors it to pass me in the left lane.
This just happened - in the bright of day and on a not-unpopulated stretch.
I realize that such antisocial, take-no-prisoners brazenness might not yield to police enforcement. And what are the chances that a cop would be so situated to catch this derelict in any case? Nonetheless, imagine the certainty that this driver had that he wouldn't be caught doing 80 on a main Boston drag.
Increase enforcement on the regular and you'd shift the distribution of driving behavior in the direction of good, reducing the number of outliers (aka, assholes driving Teslas on the wrong side of the road).
No disagreement; however...
...this was in a parking lot and adjacent sidewalk. So, unless this was some insane kind of bad driving by osmosis, I don't think the terrible road design is to blame.
As in, the "broken rotaries"
As in, the "broken rotaries" theory of driving.