Online Petition Seeks Traffic Safety Improvements At UMass Following Death Of Student

UMass sophomore Caitlyn Fair has launched an online petition on change.org demanding improvements to traffic safety on the UMass campus following the death of UMass student Elena Lucore. Lucore was hit by a car while crossing Massachusetts Avenue on February 22, 2022. While police indicated that visibility was poor at the time due to weather conditions, the petition maintains that the accident was preventable, that Lucore was in the crosswalk when hit, that dozens of students have been hit while crossing UMass’ main roads since 2000, and that the university can do more to enhance pedestrian safety. The petition specifically calls on UMass “to install reflective paint and crosswalk lights that flash, indicating a pedestrian is crossing, at all crosswalks on campus. We need raised crosswalks and speed bumps making it difficult for cars to speed,” it says.

According to a report in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Lucore, a freshman from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, died after being struck by a vehicle on the four-lane Massachusetts Avenue, near the Robsham Visitors Center, at around 9:15 p.m. The incident remains under investigation by the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section of the Massachusetts State Police.