At the intersection of Harry Agganis Way and Commonwealth Avenue Dec. 3, an unidentified female Boston University Medical Campus employee was hit by a car and suffered life-threatening injuries.
According to statistics provided by the Boston University Police Department, only 11 - now 12 - pedestrians were hit on the BU Campus in 2015, a decrease from the 28 hit in 2014.
"I'm happy but I'm shocked there aren't more," said Deputy Director of Public Safety and Deputy Chief of Police Scott Paré on Nov. 24. Paré said the BUPD has found the two worst spots for accidents are the BU Bridge for pedestrians and a decline near Landry's Bicycles for cyclists, though all of Commonwealth Avenue is dangerous.
"There is so much congestion. So many pedestrians, so many bikes, so many cars, buses, and throw in the T," said Paré. At orientation at the beginning of the school year, BUPD officers speak to students about pedestrian safety. Their number one rule is to be aware of your surroundings.
Paré said the most dangerous things pedestrians do are texting or listening to music with earbuds in because "[pedestrians] focus on where they need to get and don't look both ways."
Chris Salazar, a Boston University senior, was hit by a car on Farrington Avenue in Allston in November of 2014 but sustained no injuries. He said he was crossing at a side street where cars were stopped and waiting to turn. He looked both ways before crossing, but said he was hit because the driver was staring at their phone, texting, and didn't look up before accelerating.
"That's all it takes. I wasn't even on a busy street. If someone is looking at their phone crossing University Road, thinking the driver is going to stop for them, it could lead to a serious injury," said Salazar.
In an online poll that asked 100 BU students to pick up to three intersections they found the most dangerous, University Road and the BU Bridge took the top two spots, only four votes away from each other. Third place was Kenmore Square, the top three being overwhelming thought of as the worst intersections on BU's campus. Harry Agganis Way, where the accident occurred just three days after the poll was taken, only received two votes.
Boston University junior Michaela Valentine agreed with the results of the survey. Valentine said Kenmore "just takes too long" while University Road is "probably the worst and potentially most dangerous."
"University Road is the worst because there's no order," said Valentine. "There's no way to go about it. Cars come flying and sometimes they're cut off by the light and pedestrians will just walk across and traffic will back up. It is very chaotic."
Salazar has also seen this at University Road, and said it is the most dangerous intersection because "there is no walk signal or regulated traffic. Students go as they please and assume every time that cars are going to stop for them."
Paolina Della Bordella, Boston University junior, said she believes BU Bridge is the worst. "It has the most amount of students crossing at any given time. The lights are weird and there are always people rushing to class," said Della Bordella. On top of the amount of traffic that passes through that intersection, she said it is even more dangerous because cars "run yellows and sometimes reds."
Paré said the assumption that cars will stop is dangerous, especially because of the tendency for a group of students to step off the curb if even one student steps off. "It's kind of the blind leading the blind," said Paré.
According to a study by the Boston Public Health Commission, in the city of Boston as a whole, only 12 percent of pedestrians waited for the "walk" sign before crossing the street and a third of pedestrians jaywalked, meaning they crossed the street at least five feet from the crosswalk.
Even with unsafe walking habits, 12 reports of hit pedestrians compared to with 30,009 students enrolled at BU means only .039 percent of BU's student body was hit by a car this year.
The Boston Emergency Medical Services reported responding to 724 pedestrians who had been hit on roadways in 2014. When put in context with the 655,884 residents that the U.S. Census reported live in Boston, about .11 percent of Boston residents were hit by a car in 2014. This makes BU's campus more than twice as safe as the city of Boston.
That doesn't mean that Boston is an unsafe city. When compared to Washington, D.C., the District Department of Transportation reported 738 pedestrian accidents with a total population of 601,723 in 2010, meaning about .12 percent of pedestrians were hit. Though close, Boston is still safer than DC, even with nearly 55,000 more residents.
Boston and D.C. are close in fatalities, too, but Boston reigns as safer. In 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that Washington, D.C. had 1.39 pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 people in the population. This was more than Boston's 1.08.
The safest month to be a pedestrian in Boston, based on monthly numbers from Boston EMS, is April. They have, on average, the lowest amount of pedestrians hit. The worst is October, with 70 pedestrians hit on average from 2012 to 2014.
Students return from summer vacation in late August and early September, which may account for the jump of about 10 more accidents from August to September. Valentine said she thinks there are, on average, less in September than October, November and December because "People are more cautious when they get here but over time they say, 'Screw [waiting], I have to get to class.'"
Della Bordella said she thinks the spike is due to weather. "[In the fall months] people have their hoods up and can't see, and drivers are driving in inclement weather," said Della Bordella. She said she has yet to find a jacket with a hood that provides both protection from the weather and allows her to adequately see traffic.
Paré says safety presentations at orientation and going out and talking to pedestrians does seem to help with safety.
"We are reinforcing common sense," said Paré. Most children are taught from a young age to look both ways before crossing, so Paré and the BUPD will continue to give presentations. Paré said another factor that keeps there from being more injuries is the amount of traffic on the roads.
"Cars have to slow down because it is so congested," said Paré, "so that's one saving grace we have."
Boston University Police and the City of Boston both encourage pedestrian safety, as 724 pedestrians hit in a year averages out to almost two people every day. The top two safety tips on their safety sheet are to check for traffic in all directions and to use the crosswalk -- "It is the safest place to cross the street."
