Should Boston lower its speed limit? "25 mph is excessive," city councilor says
BOSTON - Boston officially lowered its default speed limit to 25 mph in 2017. Now there's a push to slow cars down even further after a series of pedestrian strikes in the city.
City Councilor Ed Flynn, who represents South Boston, wants a hearing to discuss lowering the speed limit.
"25 mph is excessive, especially through Boston's neighborhoods," he told WBZ-TV. "I think it should be 20 mph or even 15 mph I would consider."
Flynn said he also wants "strict enforcement" of speed limits, and says more Boston Police officers are needed to ticket speeding drivers. He previously proposed bringing the speed limit down to 20 mph in 2018, after a 2-year-old boy was killed in South Boston by a crash that sent a van onto a sidewalk.
Pedestrian crashes in Boston
The push for a lower speed limit comes in the wake of multiple pedestrian deaths and injuries in Boston.
At the end of March, a 4-year-old girl was hit and killed by a car in South Boston just steps from the Boston Children's Museum. On Wednesday, a 57-year-old man in a wheelchair was killed by a cement truck at the intersection of Traveler Street and Frontage Road. And on Thursday, a pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries near South Station after being hit by a truck, Boston police said.
Commuters weigh in on Boston speed limit proposal
Andrea Harris, who lives in Somerville but takes the T to Boston for work, says a lower speed limit "sounds like a good plan." She said crossing the street can be dangerous.
"People park too close to the corner and I can't see the oncoming traffic," she said. "Every once in a while it's like I'm taking my life into my own hands."
John from Walpole, who also takes the train to Boston to work, said he understands lowering the speed limit in certain neighborhoods, but going down to 20 mph or 15 mph across the entire city would go "way too far."
"I don't know, that's pretty slow," he said. "I don't agree with that, that would bring traffic to a gridlock."