Letters to the Editor: Can we reduce pedestrian deaths while keeping right turns on red?
I am a lifelong resident of the Village, and though I commute to work on Boston’s Public Square, I always appreciate it when I drive into this residential community, find myself in the middle of an urban village, and experience my first ever greenway — the greenway that serves as the backbone of this neighborhood.
I am so appreciative of the benefits this greenway has brought to the Village — it has enabled us to connect more with one another, to create more space in our neighborhood, and to become a more beautiful and more diverse part of our city.
I want to use my platform here at the village to promote the idea of pedestrian mobility, because the way we move and the way we live our life has everything to do with how we interact with one another and with the world and how we interact with our environment.
As a lifelong resident of the Village, I know what it’s like to be on the wrong side of Red, the wrong side of the Circle and the wrong side of Broad. For those of us who live in this community, the red is a no-travel zone, a dead-end that is not a natural part of the way we live our life.
Recently, I have been wondering whether there is room for more left-hand turns, more green space, and less automobile traffic in Boston. How about more lanes reserved for pedestrians and cyclists — and less lane for cars, buses, and trucks?
What I am writing today about is the pedestrian who died in my own backyard.
I am writing about the girl who used to come with her mother to play on the greenway and loved walking the route, but suddenly, she was killed in a hit and run.
My heart goes out to the family, to the family who loved this girl and tried to save her, and to everyone else whose life will be changed forever when she is gone.
I’m writing tonight at the end of the month,
