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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Amid a distracted driving 'epidemic,' Worcester police try a new approach this week
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Try to avoid getting fooled today and, please, keep the ruckus down.
To the news:
No joke: For this first week in April, Worcester police will stop issuing tickets for what they say is likely the most frequently broken traffic law: distracted driving. It’s part of a larger — perhaps counterintuitive — effort to raise awareness about Massachusetts’ ban on the use of handheld phones. Police say the law, which went into effect in late February 2020, immediately took a backseat to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We want to bring it right to the forefront again,” Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early recently said.
- Zoom in: Rather than a ticket, Worcester police during this pause will issue “warnings only” to drivers they catch on their phones — along with a “palm card” with info about the law. “This is not blowing through red lights and it’s not speeding,” Early said.
- Zoom out: Statewide, officials have launched a campaign urging drivers to use the “do not disturb” feature on their phone to address what Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt recently called an “epidemic” of distracted driving.
- By the numbers: Since police began enforcing the hands-free driving law, distracted driving citations in Massachusetts have risen from nearly 30,000 in 2020 to 54,000 in 2023.
- It’s not just phones: During a MassDOT board meeting last month, Tibbits-Nutt described seeing all sorts of distractions during her daily commute. “I see people shaving, putting on makeup. There is a person that I drive by every day that eats cereal,” she said. “I want to get their license plates so badly, but I’m not sure I should do that, legally.”
In related news: Short-term safety improvements are coming to the Seaport intersection where a 4-year-old was hit and killed by a pickup truck last weekend. NBC Boston reports Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Boston’s chief of streets, told local residents Saturday that “additional markings and barriers” will “soon” be added to the intersection of Congress and Sleeper streets. “We are also going to be re-striping all the pavement markings and crosswalks in the neighborhood,” he said.
- The long-term plan: The city is aiming to install raised crosswalks and better lighting at the intersection, which the nearby Boston Children’s Museum says has historically had problems with “speed and sight lines.”
It’s back: The Eastie ferry has officially returned for the season, offering 10-minute trips across the harbor every half hour between East Boston’s Lewis Wharf and Long Wharf downtown. The ferry averaged 1,700 riders a day during its first full season last year, according to David Perry, the T’s director of commuter ferries.
- Weekday service runs from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., while weekend service runs from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. See the full schedule here. (Fares are $2.40 each way.)
Check your car: Street sweeping season begins again today in cities like Boston, Cambridge and Somerville. That means it’s time for residents who park on residential side streets to get back in the habit of moving their cars to the right side of the street on sweeping days.
- FYI: Violators in Cambridge still won’t get their car towed, thanks to an extension of the city’s no-tow pilot. They also will still only face $50 tickets, despite the city’s attempt to raise the penalty for a first-time offense to $100. (That requires approval from the State House — and Beacon Hill hasn’t gotten around to acting on Cambridge’s home rule petition.)
Look up: Over 70 digital billboards around Boston today will call for the creation of “MegaCambridge.” The Boston Globe reports it’s an April Fools joke launched by Cambridge City Councilor Burhan Azeem, calling for his city to annex neighboring Boston. (Azeem hints the ads will be up at certain MBTA stations, “among other places.”)
- It’s not completely a joke: Azeem told the Globe the campaign is meant to make people think more about regional collaboration on issues like the T and public infrastructure.
P.S.— While the weather this week might not scream outside lunch, today marks the beginning of food truck season on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. Trucks will park at Dewey Square and Rowes Wharf to start, before expanding along the full Greenway on May 1. From curry Mondays to Tuesday tortas, you can see the daily schedule on the Greenway Conservancy’s website.
