Safety on Massachusetts roads is “at critical levels,” state highway officials said this week, as the Department of Transportation takes steps to prevent some of the most dangerous and deadly situations and make overall improvements. He explained the measures in detail and spoke to members of Congress. Local road safety.
According to MassDOT's accident data portal, there were 134,233 motor vehicle accidents in Massachusetts last year.
That's up from 132,659 accidents in 2022 and 124,734 in 2021, but below levels recorded in the years just before the pandemic. The portal is based on reports entered into the Registry's crash data system and displays 140,939 crash reports in 2019, 142,272 in 2018, and 145,068 in 2017.
The number of fatal crashes has been increasing even before the pandemic, with 409 fatal crashes reported in 2022, the highest number since 2005, when 417 fatal crashes were reported. In 2023, fatal accidents decreased with 325 reported.
According to the MassDOT portal, 15,948 crashes have been reported so far in 2024, including 40 fatalities, 234 crashes involving pedestrians, and 58 crashes involving bicyclists.
“Road safety, especially fatal crashes, continues to be at a critical level in Massachusetts and across the nation,” Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said Tuesday during a budget presentation to the Joint Committee on Revenue.
He said MassDOT has completed a pilot of Wrong-Way Driver Deterrence, which has been “very successful,” and now detects when a driver is on 16 freeway entrance/exit ramps. He explained that he was equipped to do so. , warns drivers that they are going in the wrong direction, notifies state command centers of potentially dangerous conditions, and alerts drivers going in the right direction on highways. Gulliver said MassDOT looks forward to expanding the pilot.
“There are a lot of signs that are illuminated and there are bright lights that can be dangerous for motorists coming in at night, and there are also flashing signs. There are a lot of things that users are trying to identify.” Drivers are concerned that they are going in the wrong direction. I'll tell you that. And again, for people who are on the right path, it's a sign that they really, really need to be careful,” he said.
Gulliver said the system was installed in locations where MassDOT had “identified existing issues” where drivers could be confused about where to enter the highway. Many of the sites have entrance and exit ramps adjacent to each other, and many wrong-way driving accidents occur, especially at night, which can cause confusion.
Congressman Joseph McKenna of Webster expressed particular interest in the pilot program. There was a double-fatal wrong-way driver crash on Interstate 395 in Webster in early December. “I know there is a wrong-way sign right near where the accident happened,” he said, but he doesn't know if the wrong-way driver entered the expressway there or from another point. He said no. Gulliver said he would investigate the crash and offered to arrange a demonstration of the system for lawmakers.
“Success for us is when they turn around, when they self-correct. That's happening a lot on some of these slopes.”But when they self-correct, When we turn around, we get off the highway and get back on the right path, that's our ultimate goal,” the highway administrator said in response to questions from McKenna. “We want to be able to stop every single wrong-way driver driving the wrong way on the highway… those are some of the most difficult accidents for us. If that happens, It’s obviously very deadly.”
Gulliver also spoke Tuesday to lawmakers about MassDOT's efforts to implement the Highway Safety Act that Congress passed in late 2022, which includes protecting pedestrians, bicyclists and other vulnerable road users from threats from motor vehicles. It includes a set of new requirements aimed at protecting against That included standard requirements for drivers to maintain at least 4 feet of distance when passing such people, and to close what he called loopholes around school zones.
To communicate these new traffic rules, MassDOT has distributed 3,739 free signs across the state and provided a total of 3,458 signs to 136 municipalities to communicate the new 4-foot passing distance and 130 The municipality has reminded drivers of the speed limits in 281 school zones. A sign that also displays the driver's current speed. Highway officials also said there have been changes to the rules for when communities can designate school zones to reduce traffic speeds.
“This is a significant change in the past year. As those in Congress know, there have always been blind spots in the rules about where school districts can be designated. During that time, there was a condition that children could only go to the eighth grade, and high school was exempt.The conventional wisdom is that high school students are more responsible and know the traffic rules,'' says Gulliver, a parent of a high school student. I joked that I knew that wasn't completely true. “That loophole has now been closed.”