To the editor:
Our family bought a house on the Atlantic Avenue end of the harbor side of Beach Street in the height of the pandemic in 2020. It’s a nice house, with nice neighbors and an easy walk to see our lovely harbor. Upon moving in, we learned how fast cars drive, especially coming in from Boston and taking a right off Atlantic, where the speed limit is still elevated compared with the limit closer to the Ocean intersection.
The sidewalk project at the Atlantic intersection helped. MPD officers show their presence to help influence behavior, but there is only so much they can do. Between the width of the street, the complete lack of road markings, it being a one-way and it being a cut-through for cars coming from Boston, this portion of Beach Street remains a racetrack. Casual observation indicates that Beach is wider than nearly all the two-way roads in the neighborhood, which also have sidewalks.
Tragically, we lost our six-month old cocker spaniel “Goose” on his first half-birthday when he somehow bolted from the leash and was struck by a driver this past Wednesday. He was killed instantly. The car did not stop. Both kids were subjected to a grotesque and graphic experience that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. It could have been a child.
There is no blame for such a terrible accident. We won’t ever know the precise details or where the failure was. Perhaps the car was driving responsibly, and it was a case of tragic timing and luck. But data and anecdotal observation suggests that perhaps high speed may have reduced the driver’s reaction time.
With this letter, our family and several neighbors we have been in touch with make two calls upon the decent people in this town and its leadership.
First, drive like a dog may jump out into the road, or that a small child could wander in unknowingly, or chasing after a ball, or a biker could fall in front of you. That means drive lawfully, alertly and responsibly. For those who are in a rush to get to their homes on the Neck, if you want to drive faster, take Ocean Avenue. If you want to drive through our neighborhood, please treat it with the same respect with which you would like drivers to treat yours.
Imagine it was you hitting a six-month-old puppy, or imagine it was your child sobbing while carrying his bloodied and limp body to the door, and you asking friends for a pressure washer so you can clean blood off your front walk.
Second, to the town. Enough is enough. We watch cars drive outrageously fast on this road, motorcycles up on their rear wheels, cars driving the wrong way, and before this tragedy, drunk kids driving a jeep in reverse the wrong way and on lawns. It’s not only out-of-town drivers circling the Neck, as surely many would like to assume. It’s everyone. Cars, trucks, luxury brands, EV, it’s everyone.
This street is not a playground for drivers. Quite the opposite, it is a pedestrian playground more so than any road we can think of; walkers, runners, elderly couples, teenagers heading to the beach, kids walking to and from school, dog walkers, childcare givers with strollers. We are all so lucky, and that is part of the charm of this neighborhood and Marblehead in general. Let’s please protect such a special thing.
In its current form there should be sidewalks, shoulder marks, speed bumps, improved signage and perhaps more. The width of this road is inconsistent with the expectation of limited speed. It invites aggressive driving. Nobody follows the speed limit.
Taken further, and more appropriately, there is absolutely no reason for this cut through to Ocean to even exist in the first place. Ocean Avenue is an ample thoroughfare for those on the neck to get to their homes, and those within the neighborhood have more than enough ways to navigate safely in and out, such that outside traffic can be limited and the growing number of pedestrians, children and animals may enjoy the neighborhood safely.
Something needs to change before this happens again and we lose another community member. Without these changes, or more drastic ones, it will happen. We will be damned if the loss of our family member doesn’t contribute positively in some way. Behavior won’t change on its own.
Henry Peabody
Elizabeth Myers
Beach Street
