WORCESTER, Mass. — Worcester community advocates are demanding safety improvements to Belmont Street after two women, one of whom is pregnant, were hit by a car in a crosswalk.
The women were crossing Belmont Street outside UMass Memorial when they were struck Thursday.
The driver stopped and both women were conscious and alert at the scene, Worcester police said.
Community advocate and neighbor Echo Louissaint-Collins was across the street when the incident occurred.
“This is predictable and this is preventable, and we need to do something before more people get injured,” Louissiant-Collins said. “We’re just waiting for more tragedies to occur.”
The crash brought back traumatic memories for Louissiant-Collins who was hit by a car in a crosswalk about a quarter-mile away in 2023, she said.
“I smashed into the windshield, rolled over the car,” Louissaint-Collins said. “I was tossed a good 20, 30 feet. It was scary, it was tragic. I thought I was going to die.”
Louissaint-Collins lives just a couple blocks away. Her home is across from Bell Hill Park, and despite the proximity, she drives her son to the park because she says speeding drivers do not stop for him to cross.
“I fear for my children daily,” Louissaint-Collins said. “I fear for families who cross the street.”
At the park crosswalk, the problem is not only the speeding, she says, but also a hill on each side that can prevent drivers from having enough time to stop when they spot a pedestrian.
The area is densely populated and a school is nearby.
Louissaint-Collins wants to see rapid flashing beacons at her neighborhood crosswalks and more speed limit signs.
Boston 25 News has learned all of Belmont Street is included in the city’s Vision Zero Priority Network. Because of its crash history and road features, the area is a top priority for safety upgrades.
Last year, Worcester added a high-visibility crosswalk with a rapid flashing beacon, a curb extension and new signs and pavement markings near the Belmont Street Community School.
The city has allocated $440,000 in the FY2027 budget, which began this month, to improve safety on Belmont Street. Design is expected to begin this summer with construction in the spring of 2027.
The city will also work on Bell Hill Park’s crosswalk and soon add signs along Belmont Street posting the citywide 25-mile-per-hour speed limit.
But City Councilor Rob Bilotta, who represents District 2, is calling on city administrators to do more.
“It’s a matter of time before than another pedestrian accident occurs,” Bilotta said. “We really need to commit those resources to this area of Belmont Street, because it is such a problem.”
Bilotta wants to see additional rapid flashing beacons as well as one stretch of westbound Belmont Street to be reduced to one lane.
“We are very much behind the eight ball here in Worcester,” Bilotta told Boston 25 News by phone Friday. “And we need to invest more, because each rapid flashing beacon - those go for about $100,000.”
Louissaint-Collins has been working with Bilotta to see that their neighborhood becomes safer.
“It’s too dangerous to wait for anything to be done,” Louissaint-Collins said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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