Tags: 
— News via Quincy Quarry News – News, Opinion and Commentary
An all too common accident scene in Quincy
A file photo
In the wake of Quincy Quarry’s long featuring hard-hitting exposes about how motor vehicle operators in Quincy have long engaged in a de facto open season on pedestrians and bicyclists in Quincy what with such vehicle whackings soaring locally even more than intrastate as well as national rates, a Greater Boston broadcast news operation has followed the Quarry’s lead in reporting by on troubling levels of traffic injury and fatal accidents in the Commonwealth.
While the underlying factors are multiple and vary among communities, in Quincy the massive increase in high density housing fueled by Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch to the typical benefit of his major campaign fund contributors has surely played a role — if not also a major role — in the burgeoning rates of local vehicular-based injuries and fatalities of pedestrians and bicyclists locally.
Bagged, probably also tagged.
Image via Philly Lawyers
How ugly are things for local pedestrians and cyclists locally?
Ugly. Wicked ugly.
For starters, fatal pedestrian whackings in Quincy have already reached Quincy’s duly weighted by population rate in comparison with last year’s 59 such fatalities statewide within but days after the start of 2024.
Also, per a review of 2022 data, Quincy’s vehicular/pedestrian accident rates were 37% higher than the 2021 statewide average on a per capita basis.
A trainwreck
An A Lévy and Sons image
Even more troubling, the billions of tax money spent in recent years via the US Department of Transportation’s Vision Zero traffic safety imitative has been pretty much been a motor vehicle train wreck on the order of the unarguable train wreck that is the MBTA.
Locally, Quincy Quarry has two prime specific examples of how things are koched-up in Quincy.
One is the city’s recent installation of a number of solar-powered flashing yellow crosswalk signals at high risk crosswalks; however, these installations have arguably been a fail as accidents have continued to occur where these flashing signals have been installed.
City of Quincy pedestrian crosswalk signal laid low
A Quincy Quarry News exclusive file photo image
Even worse, pedestrian traffic signals have themselves been whacked.
The other shortcoming by the Koch Maladministration is its failing to robustly pursue traffic law enforcement, a practice well-proven to reduce traffic crashes if not also the most effective traffic safety Best Practice.
Granted, it is only proper to cut the Quincy Police Department some slack given apparently burgeoning rates of crime.
At the same time, for reasons unclear the relatively few traffic law reinforcements stings locally typically only issue warnings unless a pulled over driver has an outstanding tickets and/or a warrant in spite of the fact that, again, strict enforcement — meaning citing drivers for traffic infractions — is by far the most effective deterrent against unsafe driving practices.
Then again, as conducting traffic law enforcement stings typically require federal grant funding so as to pay overtime to officers to work extra time to conduce such stings, perhaps the City of Quincy is on the feds’ naughty list for failing to properly monitoring things as regards what eventually led to the federal felony convictions of a now former Quincy Police lieutenant for double and sometimes even triple dipping.
Do City of Quincy video cameras glasses?
Image via Shutterstock
Further troubling, while the City of Quincy collected video via what was surely a city traffic camera that recorded a vehicle that recently hit and ran a pedestrian in a crosswalk while a yellow crosswalk light was flashing, the video apparently failed to capture the license plate of the SUV that whacked the pedestrian.
In short, why go to the expense of installing such video camera equipment if it is ineffectual?
That and — yet again — why not go with strictly enforcing traffic laws and which has been found to see traffic injury and fatal accidents decline?
In short, Only in Quincy© …
Quincy, the land where the promise of safety on the roads goes to die. Vision Zero? More like Zero Improvement! It’s as if the city planners are playing a game of ‘How many potholes can we cram onto one street?’ And let’s not forget the thrill of dodging reckless drivers who treat stop signs like mere suggestions. It’s like living in a real-life game of Frogger, but with less cute amphibians and more enraged commuters. Maybe Quincy needs to rename its initiative to ‘Vision Zero Progress’ because it’s certainly not making any strides towards safer streets anytime soon.
Kelly,
More like less than zero improvement as in traffic safety in Quincy has only worsened recently.
Traffic enforcement in Quincy
Hahahaha . . . hah!