Pedestrian safety appeal
The devastated family of the 5-year-old Andover girl who was killed in a crosswalk last month is calling on town officials to make pedestrian safety improvements in the wake of the tragedy.
In early May, Sidney Mae Olson died after a large truck hit and killed her in an Elm Street downtown crosswalk. The 5-year-old girl was on her way to art class with her family.
Sidney’s father Eric Olson and a group of concerned parents called “Sidney’s Rainbows” are now pushing for safer streets in Elm Square and across town.
“In an instant, we had an impossible void in our lives,” Olson said in a statement, which he plans to read at a community forum about pedestrian safety on Thursday. “My wife and I lost a daughter. My son lost his big sister. Her classmates lost a dear friend.
“No one should die in a crosswalk,” he added. “Yet, there have been three similar incidents in the last 18 months on Elm Street alone. Andover is thriving, but the slow pace of progress on pedestrian and bicycle safety means we risk our community members dying.”
The town’s population has jumped by almost 50% in the last two decades. In 2005, the population was 25,000 people when the downtown roads were designed. Now, the town’s population is about 37,000 people.
Meanwhile, crashes in Andover are up 30% over the past 10 years, according to data from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Statewide, pedestrian fatalities exceeded 100 last year, up 35% from 2021.
“Despite global advances in protecting vulnerable road users, we’re going backwards,” Olson said.
He’s pushing the town to make three immediate pedestrian safety improvements.
“Make common sense changes to Elm Square crosswalks, starting with moving vehicle stop lines back farther from crosswalks, adding flex posts to slow speeds, and eliminating turns through intersections when pedestrians have a walk sign,” the father said.
The other two changes are: post police details at Elm Square and other busy intersections at peak traffic times; and improve awareness and enforcement of speed limits on Elm, High, and Central streets with portable speed bumps, signage and radar signs.
“There is no action that will bring back our daughter, but we hope this terrible incident can bring us together to create safer streets,” Olson said.
The town should commit to zero fatalities and serious injuries with a standard like Vision Zero as part of Andover’s 5-year Complete Streets Policy, he said, adding that the town should conduct a thorough pedestrian and bicyclist road safety audit for downtown.
The community forum on Thursday is at 7 p.m., at Doherty Middle School in Andover.