Police are investigating an accident in which an 81-year-old woman was struck and killed by a driver Thursday morning.
At 10:32 a.m., a driver in an Audi hit the woman at the corner of Olive and Greene Streets in the Wooster Square neighborhood.
She died later of her injuries in the hospital.
Sgt. Robert Lawlor Jr. said the victim was out walking at the time. She is believed to have lived near the corner.
As of 1:45 p.m., police had no plans to charge the driver, pending the completion of the investigation, according to Lawlor.
Click here for an interview with the daughter of the victim, 81-year-old Dolores Dogolo, by the Register’s Evan Lips.
I wish the best to the neighbors and friends of the victim. This crash is terrible, but also predictable given the city's lack of attention to traffic safety.
Though it is almost guaranteed that the pedestrian had the right of way here, in the end it doesn't matter whose fault the crash was - a mistake while walking shouldn't automatically result in a death sentence.
Given the numerous recent deaths and serious injuries within a couple blocks of where this recent death took place, including one of a police officer, more of these incidents are guaranteed if nothing changes.
The fact that the city will be designating Olive Street as part of the Farmington Canal Greenway, rather than building a safer off-street route that adults and children of all ages can use, shows an error of judgement on the part of many city officials and some advocates. We need a safe Greenway, not a few signs along a high speed corridor. If the Greenway is on this street, the street needs to be physically redesigned so that top speeds are reduced to 10 miles per hour.
Also, I have noticed that the in-street "yield to pedestrian" sign hasn't been in place in this area recently (near Court Street). See http://en-us.seeclickfix.com/issues/1159286. Was it there this week? These signs cost $100, are typically deployed year round instead of removed for part of the year, and have been widely proven to reduce speeds, increase driver awareness of pedestrians, and reduce crashes. If the sign has been missing, will the neighborhood hold the city accountable for not maintaining this critical piece of infrastructure?