MAN STRUCK IN SOUTHIE
Neighbors call for end of rampant speeding
Just days after a new push was launched to lower Boston’s speed limit and make Boston streets safer, a man was hit and seriously injured by a car in South Boston.
“I’m not surprised, I knew it was going to happen, I said it was going to happen,” said Nadine Metellus, who lives near the scene of the crash. “It’s dangerous over here, they don’t stop.”
The crash, less than a mile from the scene of a July crash that killed a 3-year-old boy, happened on Preble Street in South Boston, at about 10:30 a.m., authorities said. The victim was an adult male who was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, Boston police said.
About a dozen police officers were still on scene at about noon yesterday, and a black Nissan Altima with a shattered windshield and broken side mirror sat in the middle of the road with a lone sneaker stuck behind the right rear tire. Authorities did not release the victim’s name.
Metellus said she has almost been hit crossing in a crosswalk about 100 feet from the crash. Preble Street connects to a large rotary that cars often speed around, neighbors said. As she walked past the scene, Metellus said she was debating whether her 11-yearold daughter could walk home alone because of the potential of being hit by a car.
Neighbor Steve Ziatlou said car traffic has gotten more and more dangerous in the area.
“Everybody’s in a hurry to go to nowhere,” he said. “They’re just going fast.”
Earlier this week, city councilors Ed Flynn and Frank Baker called for a hearing to discuss lowering the speed limit in the city to 20 mph. The plan was prompted by the fatal crash in South Boston in July.
“Hardly a day goes by when my friends, neighbors, constituents — and even my elderly parents, often walking my special needs nephew — that they don’t tell me about speeding vehicles and close calls in a crosswalk,” Flynn said at a City Council hearing this week. “We have more vehicles, more commuters and more ride-sharing vehicles cutting through our neighborhoods.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh has not yet weighed in on the proposal, but lowered the default speed limit to 25 mph across the city last year. The city is also testing reducing the speed limit to 20 mph in smaller areas around the city.