A Call To End Traffic Deaths In Worcester On World Day Of Remembrance

WORCESTER, MA — In June 2021, a driver operating a 5,000-pound landscaping van hit Jennifer Desrosiers' son as he was getting off a school bus along a wide, speedy section of Pleasant Street on Worcester's west side.

The driver, Desrosiers said, had ignored the school bus's stop sign and was speeding before hitting her son, Sylas. He was in a coma for two days, suffered a concussion and broken collarbone, and needed hundreds of stitches. Miraculously, he survived.

Desrosiers retold Sylas' story Sunday afternoon at a vigil in Worcester for World Remembrance Day, when people across the globe gather to remember people killed or maimed in traffic incidents.

The event, led by WalkBike Worcester Chair Karin Valentine Goins and District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj, was part memorial, and part call-to-action: asking local residents to join the "Vision Zero" movement to end traffic deaths and injuries.

The vigil was held in front of Chandler Magnet Elementary, located along May Street, another of Worcester's wide, speedy roads — an example of traffic planning that prioritizes only cars, not other users like pedestrians, people in wheelchairs, bicyclists or transit users, organizers said.

So far in 2022, seven pedestrians have been killed along roads in Worcester, according to organizers. But the number is actually higher. In April, Candice Asare-Yeboah, 5, was hit by a driver while in a crosswalk along Stafford Street. She died a month after the collision, so her death hasn't been counted in the citywide total.

Haxhiaj said Yeboah's death has crippled her family. Yeboah's mother was also severely injured in the collision, and has lingering medical problems today — on top of the pain of losing her daughter.

"I committed to this family to bring safety to our roads," Haxhiaj said of the family. "I am committed for my [sons] and every other child and resident of our community."

According to Goins, 50 people have died in collisions along Worcester's roads over the past five years. The United States, she added, is the only developed nation that's seen traffic deaths increase in the years coming out of the coronavirus pandemic. People of color, older people and residents of low-income neighborhoods are at the highest risk of being hit, she said.

Worcester is already taking some steps toward improving road safety. The city just established its first transportation department, and the new transportation commissioner, Stephen Rolle, attended Sunday's event. Rolle has said the department's goal is "safety, equity and sustainability" for all the city's road users.

Worcester School Committee members Tracy Novick and Sue Mailman also attended Sunday's event, highlighting two initiatives that are being discussed by the committee and the city council's education committee: a plan to maintain safe sidewalks near schools, and an pilot program where the city would be responsible for clearing snow and ice from sidewalks in busy areas. As it stands, private property owners are responsible for clearing sidewalks — a system that often means sidewalks don't get cleared in time for school after storms, Novick said.

Apart from the trauma of her son's incident, Jennifer Desrosiers also spoke about a longtime frustration with safety on the city's roads. Two of her high school friends died in a collision near the Airport Drive intersection with Pleasant Street, not far from where the van driver hit her son. There's also a row of concrete pylons in front of her house near Tarrytown Road because speeding drivers have driven off the road there so many times.

With pushing by Desrosiers and city officials, MassDOT installed a short bike and bus lane near where Sylas was hit, but it was an uphill battle (Pleasant Street, also Route 122, is technically a state highway near the Paxton line). Drivers frequently use it as a passing lane, she said. She's currently trying to get a flashing light installed at a crosswalk near her home. The updates are slow to come, she said, and fears that more serious injuries or deaths are imminent.

"This needs to end," she said.