A very tragic story: 13-year-old John Martin was struck and killed while trying to cross Old Connecticut Path near Wayland High School early yesterday evening, the MetroWest Daily News reports. This marks the second pedestrian fatality on Old Connecticut Path in less than a year.
Last December, a woman was killed during afternoon rush hour while trying to cross the same road not far from there, near Hamilton Street in Framingham.
As I noted then, thanks to communities designed for vehicular traffic and not pedestrian safety, “walkers are far more likely to be killed in street accidents than are motorists, according to a report on pedestrian safety released yesterday,” the Washington Post reported.
That “Mean Streets” report looked at the most recent available data, from 2001, and discovered a 20.1 fatality rate per 100 million miles traveled for walkers, vs. 1.3 for those travelling by auto or truck.
Clearly something needs to be done about the situation on Old Connecticut Path. It's only going to get more dangerous - and deadly - for people walking in the area when traffic levels rise from the hundreds of new residences planned for the old New England Sand and Gravel site.
My deepest sympathies to John Martin's family and friends.
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