Pittsfield City Hall Lights Up Yellow To Remember Those Lost Due To Traffic Crashes

Over the last year, listeners of "Slater and Marjo In The Morning" have gotten to know Pittsfield's Commissioner of Public Works, Ricardo Morales, a little better I hope.

The former City Engineer has taken steps to make the streets of Pittsfield a little safer through its partnership with MassDOT by replacing some of the city's antiquated roadway design.

The city of Pittsfield joins MassBike in observing “World Day of Remembrance,” on Sunday, Nov. 20, which honors the victims and families of pedestrian and cyclist traffic crashes. City Hall will be among several downtown buildings lit in yellow starting Sunday through Saturday, Nov. 26.

“We recognize that these unfortunate incidents and near misses require proactive action from transportation stakeholders,” said Commissioner Ricardo Morales, of the Department of Public Services and Utilities. “In the last five years, five people were killed on streets throughout Pittsfield in traffic crashes in which they were either walking or biking. The World Day of Remembrance intends to recognize the devastating impact that traffic deaths cause in Pittsfield and around the Commonwealth. It reinforces the need for traffic safety stakeholders to act to make our streets safer for the most vulnerable user.”

“Traffic-related deaths are preventable, and the city of Pittsfield wants to highlight changes that will make our city safer – including re-designing our streets as well as providing safe spaces for people walking and bicycling,” said Morales. “We need to keep changing our streets into places where we can use them safely, no matter which type of transport we use, whether driving, walking, or biking.”

The World Day of Remembrance is an international event, started in 2005, which honors the 1.35 million people killed and millions more injured on the world’s roads each year and organizing change to prevent these incidents.

For more information, visit WDR - Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition.