Pedestrians are Struck at Dangerous Intersection in Taunton

Two pedestrians were struck by drivers at a dangerous and busy intersection in Taunton in one day. The intersection is known as a hazardous place to cross the road, having been host to many other victims being struck by moving vehicles.

Motor vehicle accidents involving pedestrians are not always fatal, however, can cause extremely serious injuries.

The article relating to this incident follows below.



2 pedestrians struck in less than 2 hours in Taunton
By CHARLES WINOKOOR
Staff Writer
Jan 03, 2011


Taunton — Within a span of less than two hours on Monday, two pedestrians were struck by cars while crossing busy streets in Taunton.

A pool of blood and a pile of clothing were telltale signs of the first incident — an auto-pedestrian crash late in the afternoon that police said left an elderly man seriously injured while trying to cross Washington Street.

The unidentified 75-year-old victim was struck by a van just after 4 p.m. and taken to Rhode Island Hospital with trauma to his head and torso, according to a Taunton police officer on the scene.

The officer declined to reveal the man’s identity pending notification of next of kin.

Police said the victim was crossing over from the Dunkin’ Donuts side of the street toward Leahy Liquors at 16 Washington St. when he was hit.

The victim was conscious while being loaded into the ambulance, police said. The van that hit him was towed and impounded, but police did not confirm whether a citation had been issued to its driver.

The incident resulted in police cordoning off a block and a half of Washington Street — from Frederick Martin Parkway to Tremont Street — for well over an hour while accident reconstructionist Lt. Paul Roderick compiled data for a report.

At one point, an officer could be seen shoveling dirt and snow to cover the blood in the street.

The second incident occurred at approximately 6:40 p.m., when a middle-aged woman was hit while walking across Broadway near the corner of East Broadway Street and Cumberland Farms, witnesses said.

Fifteen-year-old Bryce O’Keefe, of Taunton, said he was standing outside after buying some food in the convenience store when he saw a small sedan hit the woman as she tried crossing the busy thoroughfare.

O’Keefe said she was conscious after being thrown to the pavement.

“She sat up and started screaming,” said O’Keefe, adding that it appeared the victim, who had been standing on the sidewalk with another woman before stepping off the curb, was not directly in the crosswalk when she tried crossing Broadway.

A police officer on the scene said the victim was transported to a Rhode Island hospital, but offered no additional information. Unlike the Washington Street incident, it took police less than half an hour to clean up and clear the second scene.

The Washington Street area where the first victim was struck has a reputation as being a dangerous for pedestrians.

Although Mill River Professional Center, with its Dunkin’ Donuts and abutting CVS, has been developed and improved over the past decade, pedestrians — especially those not crossing at Tremont Street, where there are traffic lights and a crosswalk — still face a virtual gauntlet getting from one side to the other.

“This has always been a bad area right here — it’s horrible,” said Pedro Lopes, 30, who lives on Cohannet Street on the opposite side of the commercial plaza.

In the past, elderly residents of Mill River Apartments, located at the corner of Martin Parkway and Washington Street, have appealed to city officials, claiming there is no safe way for them to cross to CVS.

In December 2008, a 64-year-old city man was struck and killed a block and a half away as he tried walking across Oak Street.

Police said the driver in that case, Robert Bacon, of South Carolina, was drunk and a repeat OUI offender when he drove his pickup into Norman Lambert, who was declared dead shortly thereafter at Morton Hospital and Medical Center.

On Monday, Stephen Tavares, 49, stood on the sidewalk in the cold, early evening air in front of Leahy Liquors, as police prepared to re-open the Washington Street block.

Although he didn’t witness the elderly man being struck, Tavares said he knows firsthand how dangerous Taunton is when it comes to pedestrian safety.

Tavares said both he and his girlfriend were injured downtown on Oct. 27, when they were hit by a car while walking from Broadway to the Taunton Green.

“We were right in the crosswalk,” Tavares said.

He said the driver was talking on her cell phone and initially didn’t slow down after hitting his girlfriend, despite the fact she had been tossed over the car’s hood.

“I was pounding on the car to get her to stop, otherwise she would have squished her,” Tavares said.

His girlfriend, he said, sustained a bone-chip injury to her ankle, as well as an injury to her back and elbow. Tavares said he came away with one broken toe as a result of his foot being run over by the woman’s car.

And, unlike Monday’s auto-pedestrian incident on Washington Street, which occurred after sundown, Tavares said he and his girlfriend were struck at noon.



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