Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
SALEM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — An incoming City Councilor in Salem is advocating for increased safety measures for the city’s crosswalks after a car hit three children this week .
Councilor elect Erin Turowski, who formerly served on the city’s transportation commission and is a founder of the Pedestrian safety group SWAG (Salem Safe Walking Advocacy Group), is calling for safer streets before she joins the city council on January 5th.
This comes after three children, ages 9, 10 and 11, were hit by a car on Monday night at the corner of Congress and Palmer streets.
Not only was this news upsetting for Turowski, but it also hit close to home as she says she lives nearby to the incident.
“When I initially heard that there was a crash, I physically felt sick because this is right outside my home.”
Turowski has advocated lowering the speed limit in certain areas of the city and looks to implement a pilot program to do the same for the Congress and Palmer streets.
“There’s ongoing efforts for traffic calming as well, I think that would be particularly useful here,” said Turowski.
When further discussing the issues of the crosswalks, Turowski pointed to obstructed views created by other cars.
“There’s cars that park in the bike lane all the time and that obstructs visibility and also makes drivers sometimes move out of their lane of travel,” said Turowski.
The councilor elect also pointed out that there are many daycares and families with young children that live near the collision, which further increases the risk factor.
“You know kids are small, kids don’t know necessarily how to cross safely, so they’re especially vulnerable when they’re trying to get across the street,” said Turowski.
All three of the children involved in the crash were taken to Salem Hospital while one of the children was later airlifted to Boston Medical center with serious injuries.
The children struck by the car are all expected to recover from their injuries and an investigation into the driver of the vehicle is currently underway.
WBZ NewsRadio’s James Rojas (@JamesRojas.bsky.social) reports.
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