A Tufts student sustained minor injuries after being struck by a Joey shuttle around noon on Friday at the intersection of College and Talbot Avenues.
According to Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) Sergeant Robert McCarthy, officers received an emergency call at 12:02 p.m. on Friday alerting them that a female student on a bike had been involved in an accident. Both TUPD and the Somerville Police Department responded to the call.
One student, who wished to remain anonymous, explained that he had been onboard the Joey at the time the cyclist was struck and called 911 following the collision.
I was looking out the window ... and as we got to the intersection of Talbot Avenue and College Avenue, I saw a girl on her bicycle coming close to the Joey, and she wasnt wearing a helmet, he said. The driver realized, I think, at the last second that [the cyclist] wasnt stopping, so she slammed on the brake.
Before the Joey could stop, however, the vehicle collided with the cyclist and knocked her to the ground. According to the source, the cyclist hit her head against the windshield.
Luckily, the Joey was already moving relatively slowly as it approached the cyclist, according to the witness. After hitting the student, the Joey driver opened the doors, and the witness, along with others, ran out to help the victim. After putting a coat over the cyclist as it was raining and discovering that she was conscious, the witness called both Somerville police and TUPD, he said.
We stayed with her until they came, and then I waited until the ambulance took her away, he said.
Although the victim seemed to have only a minor scrape on her hand and tried to stand, the students insisted that she stay on the ground while waiting for medical assistance in case she had a neck injury.
According to Director of Public and Environmental Safety Kevin Maguire, the student will be okay.
Her injuries were minor, and we are most thankful for that, Maguire said.
The anonymous source added that the female student returned to campus a few hours after the accident.
TUPD officers stated that the accident is currently under investigation by Somerville police. Somerville officers did not respond to interview requests before print time.
According to the student witness, reasons for the collision seem unclear.
What I think happened is that [the cyclist] thought that the Joey driver was going to stop and the Joey driver thought [the cyclist] was going to stop, and so she kept going in front of the Joey, he said.
This incident comes in the wake of two motor vehicle accidents involving pedestrians last year, including one student who suffered major injuries when a car struck him at the intersection of Powderhouse Boulevard and Packard Avenue.
The student witness said that, despite these other accidents, he is hesitant to conclude that this incident indicates an ongoing threat to student safety, as a number of specific factors may have contributed to the collision.
There were cars parked on the side of the road, so it was difficult to see the turn, he said. It was also raining out, so there was low visibility.
Student-TUPD liaison Becky Goldberg, however, said she believes there is an issue of pedestrian safety which students, drivers and university members must work to combat.
Its a really big problem, Goldberg, a junior, said. Even though, yes, were on a college campus and people driving through this campus should be wary of the fact that this is a college and people are walking, as students we dont feel like these are real streets, but they are.
Goldberg, who helped host Safety Awareness Week last year in order to promote pedestrian safety, said she plans to bring the event back this year as well.
Through partnering with Medford and Somerville, Tufts has begun a number of projects to improve pedestrian and crosswalk safety that will continue into the future, Maguire said. These projects include repainting crosswalks, replacing crosswalk signage with ones made of highly reflective material, pruning foliage that inhibits crosswalk and sign illumination and fixing broken street lights.
The university has also made changes to intersections such as the one between Powderhouse Boulevard and Packard Avenue by adding four-way stop signs and adding a speed table.
In order to reduce the number of incidents involving motor vehicles and pedestrians in and around campus, we continue to engage in a concerted effort to improve pedestrian safety using engineering, education and enforcement, Maguire said.
While College Avenue has not been a source of issues in the recent past, Maguire said that the street was identified as a problem area for pedestrian and bike safety in two surveys conducted by the university. As part of a project to improve walker and biker accessibility to the to-be-renovated 574 Boston Ave. warehouse, a traffic engineering firm will also visit College Avenue and other surrounding streets in order to make recommendations about making the area safer.12
