Livable Streets Executive Director Stacy Thompson said in the city of Boston, there are thousands of injury crashes every year. The street-safety advocacy group has been working with cities like Boston to approach infrastructure with strategies to slow cars down.

Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, said the group had not heard from the DCR in at least three years. Thompson said she hopes the plan will focus on making parkways multi-use and de-emphasize motor vehicles. “It’s just about a lot more than just managing their parkways and roadways. This is about recognizing that centering and prioritizing walking, biking, and climate resilience is how we will conserve our natural resources for future generations,” Thompson said.

The City of Boston has achieved “consistent and measurable progress” towards its goal of eliminating serious and fatal crashes in the city, but needs to work harder to reduce the overall number of deadly cars and trucks on city streets, according to a new progress report from the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition.

More drivers, passengers and motorcyclists died in Boston crashes in 2020 than in any of the previous four years, a likely result of a speeding spike with fewer cars on the road due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report released Monday.

“If you read the whole bill, there is not attention or care to the potential for racial profiling,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the Livable Streets Alliance that is part of the coalition. “In other states, we know that Black folks are more likely to be pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. It’s like another law on the books that doesn’t protect the most vulnerable and has been proven to cause more harm to Black and brown people.”

“We are a week out from the Chauvin conviction, and it’s been less than two weeks since police shot and killed Daunte Wright during a routine traffic stop. And the data that’s been collected out of the hands-free bill shows that racial profiling is happening in Massachusetts,” said Stacy Thompson, Executive Director of LivableStreets.

Stacy Thompson, director of the Livable Streets Alliance, a Boston nonprofit, said the provision would lead to more policing on the roadways, increasing the risk of racial profiling or other discrimination against people of color. She noted that “the national conversation around law enforcement” has often focused on high-profile traffic stops that have resulted in police killings of Black motorists.