Firm's representation of client in fatal pedestrian accident case included in WCVB-TV investigative report on dangerous Boston crosswalks
Jeffrey N. Catalano commented on a case involving a fatal pedestrian accident as part of a WCVB-TV investigative report on dangerous Boston crosswalks.
Mr. Catalano represents the survivor of an accident involving a young couple struck by a turning transportation van while they were crossing a Boston crosswalk on a walk signal. The van had a green light at the same time.
“They were crossing as they were supposed to be doing in a crosswalk, not jaywalking,” Mr. Catalano told WCVB. “The light said the ‘walk’ was clearly flashing ‘walk.’ There's no dispute. They were doing everything that they were supposed to do. Just two young people, in love, enjoying the city. And that happened.”
On behalf of the survivor, who suffered serious injuries, Mr. Catalano is pursuing a lawsuit against the employer of the driver who hit the couple.
The WCVB-TV investigative report addressed the dangers of conflicting traffic and pedestrian signaling at nearly 300 intersections in Boston, which concurrently give the green light to vehicles and the walk sign to pedestrians. This arrangement allows vehicles to turn into crosswalks while pedestrians have the right of way.
Despite numerous prior complaints to the City of Boston about the dangerous intersection where Mr. Catalano’s client was injured, no changes were made to the traffic signals.
“There were people who should have been attentive to this problem, should have acted, should've taken aggressive measures,” Mr. Catalano said. “It's not one of those [things] where people should have been shrugging their shoulders and throwing up their hands saying, 'What can we do?'.... Someone needed to intervene, and no one did.”