Worcester lowers local speed limits following fatal crash

Attention lead foots: ease up on the gas when you're driving in Worcester.

The Worcester City Council approved a measure Tuesday to lower the "statutory" speed limit on city streets to 25 mph. The change will drop some other zones to 20 mph and remove a higher limit allowed on Belmont Street. The statewide statutory limit is 30 mph.

The move comes after a number of serious crashes in the city, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, including a June crash when a driver struck and killed a 13-year-old girl on Belmont Street in June. Another 13-year-old pedestrian was hit and left in a coma for weeks in July.

The "Heart of the Commonwealth" is not alone in dropping its default speed limit. Boston installed a 25 mph statutory speed limit in 2016. It has also tried other traffic calming measures, like adding speed humps to residential roads.

Speed plays a major factor in pedestrian injuries and death. If a car hits a pedestrian at 23 mph, there's a 25% chance the person hit will suffer severe injury, according to the AAA Foundation. That danger jumps to 50% at 31 mph.

With the vote in hand, Worcester must next notify the state Department of Transportation before the limit can take effect.