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Driver slams into Roslindale Square building; takes out barbershop
By adamg on Sun, 12/18/2022 - 9:19am
Photo by BFD. See it larger.
Update: GoFundMe set up for the ruined businesses.
The Boston Fire Department reports a driver plowed into Threading for Beauty and Sebastian's Barber Shop on Corinth Street, just around the corner from Belgrade Avenue in Roslindale, this morning, destroying the businesses and taking out a good part of the building.
The driver was extricated and transported to a local hospital, the department says, adding the building, in particular the Square Root Cafe, open at the time, was evacuated for fear of even more of a collapse. City records show the building has stood since 1920.
Companies are using a laser to monitor the building to see if there is any movement. We are waiting on a structural engineer to arrive. Avoid the area of Belgrade , Birch and Corinth St. pic.twitter.com/sf9KjRUk8C
— Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) December 18, 2022
Sebastian’s barber shop in Roslindale. The owner and employees are great guys. The business has been around for nearly 40 years. Please pray for them. @universalhub pic.twitter.com/5L2FdE8Ykb
— John (@John46931810) December 18, 2022
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Comments
!!!!!!!!!!
Within The Name of Alwös!
Wishing a total recovery for all involved!
Sorry, it was me.
I need to find a better way to deal with MPB.
How fast
Was the building going?
It wasn't wearing a helmet or hi viz
AND they found some headphones !!!!
Boston’s biggest problem isn
Boston’s biggest problem isn’t affordability or drugs or gangs. It’s drivers. They endanger everyone. They kill people and destroy homes and businesses and suck up all of our space and money.
There are so many ways to prevent this from happening and we are doing almost none of them.
Clearly…
The building wasn’t wearing a helmet and probably wasn’t visible enough.
Our Space?
Really? It's Yours?
Typical raised rich brat response.
This driver had to be going a massive amount of speed to do this much damage but I guess in your opinion if one person does something wrong, all are to blame. Just like bike riders running red lights and stop signs. That makes all bicyclists satanic too, right?
Based on what I read at U Hub
Based on what I read at U Hub, I'd venture that guns and knives are bigger problems.
Laughing at a bicyclist
Laughing at a bicyclist crashing into a brick building and doing this much damage . Good one, you silly silly thing
Oh honey
Cyclists do far less damage to property, to our common airshed, to our climate, to our medical system (asthma, obesity), etc. than drivers while requiring a much lower cost for infrastructure.
These are fundamental and basic facts.
Deal with it. Grow up. Get over it.
BHCC has a reading comprehension class
I was commenting on that brat saying that the city is "ours".
I also mentioned that the car was travelling way to fast.
See?
Call BHCC and get in there. Perhaps you can get the senior discount.
No
You were braying like the stupid, embarrassing jackass you are.
It might have helped if you had replied to the right comment
but I guess "going too fast to pay attention to what you're doing" is something car drivers can do away from their cars too!
Usually right to not give John any benefit, but...,
Though perhaps not obvious, John was actually making a kind of bike sympathetic statement, in that he is agreeing that seeing one bike rider not stop at a red light doesn't mean we all do it or that it's an endemic safety issue. In this case, he is suggesting we don't condemn all drivers, just because a particular driver used a car like a battering ram. We can debate with him whether systemic issues make such use of a car inevitable, but he isn't blaming bikes for this one.
Seems like whataboutism John
.
Fake concern
Clearly, the driver came down Belgrade at excessive speed, and to be clear going 35 in what was a 30 a decade ago isn’t excessive, so we are probably talking over 50. Are you advocating for a China like security state where police are on every street corner and cameras are everywhere?
Also, being a customer and knowing the owner for decades, I can tell you that a sizable portion of their patronage and employees drive to the shop. I guess by your perverse logic it’s good they got the damage.
how about a little deterrence.
There's a huge gulf between wanting a police state and wanting the police to maybe do more than zero proactive traffic law enforcement. Currently the only way to get in trouble for driving like shit in Boston is if you get in an accident.
Fake concern
Are you advocating for a China like security state where police are on every street corner and cameras are everywhere?
BPD can’t enforce traffic rules and deter dangerous driving because then we’d be a police state like China. Thoughts and prayers, Waquiot, hopefully you move beyond the “braindead arguments” stage of grief and find some peace soon.
Well...
To borrow a bit from Die Göttin-Vaderin...
"Either rush hours are controlled or rush hours control Du!"
Boston does not need Hauptvehrkerzeitgeheimestadtpolitzei...
"This one solution is bad so I guess there aren't solutions"
We can instead:
- Enforce speed limits basically at all, the old fashioned way (cop sees a speeder, tickets them) -- people will learn they can't get away with it.
- Have harsher penalties for bad driver behavior, if that doesn't work.
- Make it easier for people not to drive in the first place. This is obviously the best option, but is longer term.
If you're a customer there and have known the owner for decades, I bet you feel like this *should* be solved somehow, no?. But it also sounds like you're not willing to be creative to come up with solutions.
I'm picking on you
But all the comments before it are basically the same, so this is for all of you.
Yes, there should be enforcement of the speed limits, but to ensure that this particular crash didn't occur, you'd need to have a massive police state. This is not an area known for cars going, as per my estimate, 50 MPH. You would be talking hundreds of speed traps all over the city. Or we just install cameras all over the city connected to constant surveillance to be able to react at a moment's notice.
People speed. People stab people. People rob people. These are bad things that shouldn't happen. Dropping the speed limit to 25 on Belgrade didn't stop this, and dropping it to 20 would achieve the same result. Unlicensed people drive, and get into crashes, all the time, so making it harder to get licensed it a red herring.
Or, you know
- narrow the streets
- add chicanes to force people to slow down
- add things like protected bike lanes that can act as barriers for out-of-control cars
- add things like bollards at wide corners
- provide more options for people other than driving, especially if they may be impaired for any reason
- discourage people from driving even if it would be more convenient, ESPECIALLY if they may be impaired for any reason
None of these things are crazy and none of them actually require a "police state" or "increased surveillance" - they just require us to consider something other than the convenience of drivers when constructing or upgrading our infrastructure.
Bollards would have helped
Every other suggestion is making assumptions. The first few suggestions actually show how little you know about the area.
to ensure that this
You seem to be assuming that this is the first time this driver ever exceeded the speed limit.
Breaking this down a bit
Here's what I'm asserting:
- If this person was speeding by choice, then increasing enforcement will make that choice less likely, as people are scared of getting caught.
- If this person had a medical emergency, then we can reduce the chances of that in the future by having fewer people driving ton-plus vehicles.
- If this person was unfit to drive due to mental or physical issues, we can reduce the chance of that by having people retested for fitness to drive periodically (retake the test).
- Nothing is guaranteed to work, but some things can dramatically reduce the *chance* of incidents.
teaching a grad level class in fallacious arguments
what even is this, man? lol
.
.
triple post
my internet connection is very slow today and i got a little impatient.
Enforcing traffic laws
= "China like security state"?
That escalated quickly.
You might want to remember a critical piece of information: the courts have repeatedly maintained that there is no right to drive over the course of more than a century.
Reining in drivers, escalated surveillance of potentially lethal driver behavior, escalating consequences for dangerous driving, and controlling the ability of vehicles to allow drivers to drive dangerously does not create a security state, lol. I guess the "right to life" in your mind only applies to people not yet born.
Privilege shouting through the comments, as usual
This is terrible incident but blinding clear, as usual, that you do not care about black or brown residents of Boston. You know, the ones that are murdered at a far greater rate than vehicular deaths in the city? It's a nice day - maybe ride your fixie through Mass and Cass and tell those folks they are not a real issue either, right?
You're easily the most hate filled person on this website. Wild stuff.
Privilege?
Yes someone wearing $100 walking shoes or on a multi-hundred dollar vehicle is privileged compared to someone who spends thousands of dollars a year on their vehicle.
Right. Sure.
Imagine being such a simpleton
that you can't walk and chew gum at the same time. This isn't even quality whataboutism, despite doubling down with the racism accusations.
Clearly
bike lanes are at fault /s
Ah, yet more mobile
Ah, yet more mobile Massholery.
Adam...
Dost thou know how MBTA buses are being diverted?
{Don't have my radio fully charged at the moment...}
Suspect demo crews might be working thru Monday's AM Peak.
If I was Area 122 {Arborway District} Supervisor....
Divert 34's, 34E's, 40's and 50's via Ex-Route 165/Walworth Street;
Continue via 51 to Centre Street and Route 38 to The Hills...
Request RR OPS provide an extra set to supplement West Roxbury Trunks {35/36/37}....
'Tis me hottest take as I "polytask" watching FIFA within a small town MA diner...
According to the T
The 35 and 36 are being detoured around the square. The 34 and 34E have long delays.
Thanks, Adam...
Pity the Arborway District {all Districts (RTL + Streetcar, too!) tragically...} is too short-staffed the VERY FIRST DAY {reflect deeply upon that, brother} of the WI23 Timetable to run a $upplemental 34 or Emergency 50...
Mayhaps Summah 2023 can see all The Districts mit Summer 1923 service...
I won't bet the last of my Helvetican francs upon that subjective + subjunctive possibility...
Sad there are ZERO replies
Sad there are ZERO replies about how this is a tragedy for the community. So many small businesses that contribute to the vibe of Roslindale are now shut.
Cool things happened in this building and tomorrow they won’t. Or the day after. Or next week. Bummer.
There's now a GoFundMe for the directly affected businesses
At the top of the story (set up by Chris Lang, a Roslindale resident with a law practice in West Roxbury).
But there are several nearby shops that will also be affected, like the stores on South and Corinth that will lose business as customers stay away from the area.
Thanks, Adam...
Any way to give cash or building materials?
Already collecting + redeeming my scrap metal for a dear family friend.
I can start a supplemental collection, if helpful.
Will definitely share the GoFundMe with my fellow Division Superintendents!
My heart hurts for Rozzy oh so much right now...
#RozzyStrong
Beat me too it
My first thought was that small shops rarely have business interruption insurance and are generally underinsured. The driver's insurance, if they have any, won't come anywhere close to covering the losses suffered there.
And even when there is insurance, it can take months or years for a claim to be fully paid.
The only bright side is that no one in the building was hurt according to the Uhub blurb.
Well...
No deaths. If that isn't some sort of divine intervention + intersession, then I don't know what is...
#RozzyStrong
#RozzyRebuilt
The unfortunate reality is
The unfortunate reality is that when combining America’s arm race toward ever larger SUVs with heavier and speedier electric vehicles, we should expect to see more of this, not less.
Consider this icon of American “progress”; the Rivian R1S, a 4-ton lifestyle vehicle where one of the big selling points is a 3-second 0-60 acceleration. Its very high front end also pretty much guarantees death to any pedestrian crossing its path.
15 years from now when may look back at the good old days when an average consumer vehicle could typically only crush a small number of people at once or knock down only one modest building at the time.
rivian.com
Armchair Quarterbacks
So fascinating to see how many armchair quarterbacks are here.
Unless you witnessed the accident in person, you have no idea how fast the car was going. That is pure speculation. Perry Mason would be all over you.
Was the car speeding?
How fast... do we know?
Did the driver have a medical emergency?
Did they hit the gas rather than the brake?
Was someone crossing there (as is often the case) and they swerved to miss them?
Images taken at the scene show that the car hit a major support column that holds up that part of the building, and the wall façade was intact initially. It came down after the driver was assisted out and taken off to the side likely saving their lives (reported by witnesses elsewhere with in-person observation and experience.)
By all means let's blame the driver. Queens of Hearts here... Off with their head!
And of course, it's the car's fault because we just hate Henry Ford 24/7/365.
The proper thing to do here is help the displaced merchants, support local business, and before we gather for the public execution, let's see what the investigation manages to pull together from eyewitness testimony and available forensic evidence.
No life was lost.
This new sense of entitlement we seem to be seeing in the post-pandemic world is going to shatter our community. There is too much willingness to lay blame at all of the wrong feet.
That's how innocent people were murdered in 1692.
In the end, none of this is our business. It was a tragic event. This will be hashed out with the building owner, auto driver, and the insurance companies. Hopefully each individual business had some kind of insurance of their own.
Did someone fart?
Did someone fart?
Blaming the driver
Is there any way that a driver is not at fault when crashing into a building?
Nope
If the driver has a sudden medical incident, they often are not be charged with any criminal negligence or moving violation, but they're still at fault and responsible for damages.
Not always
See the 2016 West Newton crash
Not a sudden medical issue
From what I understand, this driver had MS that had previously resulted in poor and inconsistent control of motor functions.
Oh for Christ's sake
This is no one's business?
It must be nice to live high up in a castle overlooking the rest of us.
Numerous people have just lost their jobs because they can no longer work. They all have families and friends. Nearby businesses are screwed, too, because people were warned to stay away from the area.
So, yeah, this isn't just some private thing, it affects lots and lots of people. It is very much other people's business.
If what you're saying is true and this was just an accident...
then that's even more of a reason to reduce the number of personal cars on the road, since that seems to be the only way in your mind to prevent these kinds of events from occurring.
Another in Lynn
Someone else drove right into a house in Lynn. A truck driver also just killed someone in Franklin. When are we going to wake up about the serious need to reorient our streets from moving as many cars as quickly as possible towards prioritizing safety and decarbonization of the transit system? If this was the orange line it would be shut down but for some reason with cars we are all more willing to blame user error than recognize we should be building infrastructure that prevents this from even being possible in the first place.
CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?!?!
This thread has taken more twists and turns than a NASCAR race. Be nice people - isn’t this the time of year to help our fellow man?
/steps off soapbox
//onto a hairball my cat just horked up
Le sigh…
NASCAR races
Don't take twists and turns. They just go around and around. This only improves the analogy.
NASCAR road races have turns
But I honestly should have said a Grand Prix rafe rather than NASCAR….