Xiamei Chen Li’s death was a wake-up call. Less than a month after the 47-year-old was fatally struck crossing Hancock Street, changes were made to the busy stretch near the North Quincy MBTA station and high school:
Raised crosswalks were installed;
A school resource officer was assigned to direct traffic;
Crossing signs were added;
A student drop-off area was created.
But has it helped?
Fourteen months and four pedestrian accidents later, some argue the onus shouldn’t just fall on drivers and traffic engineers to keep this section of roadway safe.
“It’s bedlam down there,” said Valerie Stewart, from the Squantum section of Quincy, who drives the stretch a few times per week.
“I’m always on the lookout for pedestrians, but it amazes me how often you are hitting the brakes when you have a green light because people are running across the street. God forbid me, but it’s hard not to hit them.”
Two of the accidents in the last week occurred days apart.
Some say the situation in North Quincy highlights a broader problem, citywide and statewide: Pedestrians think they always have the right-of-way, whether in a crosswalk or not.
Accident reports from the Quincy Police Department show there were 39 accidents involving pedestrians last year in the city, including one fatality. Police cited the driver in one-third – in the others, they found no grounds for a citation or criminal charge. In 31, the pedestrian was not in a crosswalk.
Newton shows a similar pattern: Out of 26 pedestrian accidents in 2007, operators were cited only nine times, said Lt. David MacDonald.
Kevin Cooke, who reconstructed accident scenes for Quincy police for about 20 years and now does the same work privately, said pedestrians are required to use a crosswalk if they are within 300 feet of it, “but pedestrians often don’t cross them when they are within 50 feet.”
Of the five pedestrian accidents referred to along Hancock Street, only in one case was the victim on one of eight crosswalks available, according to accident reports.
There, police cited the driver. But according to police reports, a witness said the 7-year-old who was struck walked into traffic “and the driver didn’t have a chance to stop.”
Cooke said crossing signs give the impression that the pedestrian always has the go-ahead, but that’s not necessarily the case.
“There are signals. You’re not supposed to walk out in a crosswalk just because a crosswalk is there,” he said.
Cooke said it takes the average driver three-quarters of a second to react and hit his brakes; stopping times vary according to speed.
“If a person steps out right in front of an SUV or a van that is 6-feet-tall, you don’t have the reaction time to stop,” he said.
David Yas, publisher of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, said these scenarios are taken into consideration when a case goes to court. A pedestrian being in a crosswalk does not automatically place blame on the driver, nor does being outside it make the pedestrian culpable, he said.
“The question is going to come down to: Did the pedestrian do something a reasonable person wouldn’t do?” he said. “If there’s moderate to heavy traffic and the pedestrian darts into the road without warning, well, a reasonable person wouldn’t do that.”
Quincy Police Capt. Paul Keenan said that heavy foot-traffic paired with busy road travel – plus, drivers stopping for the T station and high school – creates “a perfect storm” in the area where these accidents have occurred.
Police issued nearly 500 tickets to drivers along that stretch of roadway last year, according to traffic records.
“We recognized there was a problem down there, and we stepped up enforcement to try to deal with it,” he said.
Mayor Tom Koch called for re-examining the traffic situation, with North Quincy High parents asking for more traffic lights.
Outgoing traffic engineer Roy LaMotte Jr., who worked on last year’s improvements, agreed that the current setup is not enough.
“We need to step up measures here and it will be a cost to the community to make these measures, but I think public safety ought to be our concern,” he said.
Jennifer Mann may be reached at jmann@ledger.com.
