Pittsfield to Recognize Remembrance Day for Pedestrians & Bicyclists
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city of Pittsfield joins MassBike on Sunday, Nov. 20, in observing "World Day of Remembrance," which honors the victims and families of pedestrian and cyclist traffic
crashes.
City Hall will be among several downtown buildings lit in yellow from Sunday through Saturday, Nov. 26.
"We recognize that these unfortunate incidents and near misses require proactive action from transportation stakeholders," said Public Services and Utilities Commissioner Ricardo Morales. "In the last five years, five people were killed on streets throughout Pittsfield in traffic crashes in which they were either walking or biking.
"The World Day of Remembrance intends to recognize the devastating impact that traffic deaths cause in Pittsfield and around the commonwealth. It reinforces the need for traffic safety stakeholders to act to make our streets safer for the most vulnerable user."
According to the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition, since 2015, there have been over 1 million traffic crashes in Massachusetts — 2,905 of which resulted in fatalities, and 18,280 of which resulted in serious injuries as of Nov. 18.
Morales said traffic-related deaths are preventable and that Pittsfield wants to highlight changes that will make
the city safer – including re-designing streets as well as providing safe spaces for people walking and
bicycling.
"We need to keep changing our streets into places where we can use them safely, no matter which type of transport we use, whether driving, walking, or biking," he said.
In the five years leading up to the pandemic, Massachusetts saw an average of 336 fatalities yearly. In 2021, at least 418 people were killed in Massachusetts in traffic crashes. The year-to-date numbers for this year are higher than the same point last year, suggesting more fatalities in 2022 than in 2021.
The Vision Zero Coalition will be laying down one yellow blossom at the State House on Sunday for each person killed or seriously injured in a traffic crash in 2022 and a number of structures around Boston will also be lighted in yellow, the color connected with victims of traffic violence.
The World Day of Remembrance is an international event, started in 2005, which honors the 1.35 million
people killed and millions more injured on the world's roads each year and organizing change to prevent
these incidents.
For more information, visit the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition.
Tags: bicycling, fatal, pedestrians,
