Greater City Providence

WJAR: Woman killed in front of condominiums is identified

bullocks-point-ave

Bullocks Point Avenue, East Providence – Image from Google Street View

walkinpvd-iconA woman was killed after being struck by a car on Bullocks Point Avenue in East Providence on Friday.

The victim has been identified as 53-year-old Laurie Rozen, of East Providence. Police say she was crossing the street in front of the Stonegate Condominiums when she was killed.

Police told NBC 10 initially it doesn’t appear the driver did anything improper.

Just a tragic accident on a roadway, those who live here say can be dangerous.

Well, no. Someone designed a high-speed four-lane roadway with housing and bus stops on either side with poor lighting and no crosswalks; it wasn’t just a tragic accident, it was by design. Who designed this roadway, and how should they be held accountable for the death of this woman?

Jef Nickerson

Jef is Greater City Providence's co-founder, editor, and publisher. He grew up on Cape Cod and lived in Boston; Portland, Maine; and New York before settling in Providence. In addition to urbanism, Jef is interested in art, design, and ice cream. Please feel free to contact Jef if you have any question or comments about Greater City Providence.

6 comments

  • “and how should they be held accountable for the death of this woman?”

    Wow, you go right to ‘how should they be accountable’ take a step back and ask if they should be accountable.

    I live in a 100 year old house and the stairs in that house wouldn’t meet todays code. If I fell down the stairs should the architect be held accountable?

    did you stop to think that when this very very old avenue in East Providence was construct it wasnt’ as busy as it is today. Should city council be held accountable for not keeping up with the changing times of their own town.

  • It is a very old avenue, at one point it was likely a dirt path through mostly woods and farmland. At some point, someone decided to make it an artery for automobiles with almost no thought given to pedestrians.

    Yes, the City Council should be held accountable for not acting to maintain the safety of its citizens.

  • Lets face facts: This is indeed a tragedy at best. On the other hand, the City Council is not going to be going around East Providence to evaluate poorly lit roadways. I think Mike has a good point above about his 100 year old house. I think Jef has a point in that the city of East Providence has an obligation to it’s citizens to uphold safety. More facts need to come out prior to necessarily stating who or what should be accountable. For example, had there been prior complaints regarding the area which the city ignored?

    I am an East Providence resident and my faith in our municipal government is poor at best right now due to the poor fiscal health of the city. However we need to know if there was gross negligence or not. Let’s all do ourselves a favor and put away the jump to conclusions mat for the time being until all of the facts are available.

  • Poor analogy. Someone chose to buy that 100 year old house. I believe it’s the property OWNER who is held accountable, not the architect. So if someone injures themselves in that 100 year old house and it is found that it was due to the design of the house, the property owner carries liability.

    Yes. The city should be held accountable if the road is busier than when designed and has sidewalks with no protection from the street (barely even a bike/parking lane buffer or grass strip with trees), bus stops, and crosswalks and houses up and down the road. The city should be scrambling at this point to figure out how to slow traffic and how to make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists (because I can’t imagine it’s any safer for them either). The thing about city streets is they are for the general public, not a private property owner (or their tenants). The public, which includes pedestrians and bicyclists need to be safe on those streets if they are designed for them as well (some streets are not, like I-95), as this one is with bus stops and sidewalks.

  • East providence has shut off half the lights in Riverside making it extremely dangerous to walk after dark on ANY street. Some streets don’t even have a sidewalk to walk on and you are forced to walk in the street. I’ve personally experienced needing to jump into bushes to get out of the way of a car so I wouldn’t get run over. It’s a shame that you pay house taxes and car city taxes and you have to go without lighting. My street is soo dark, only 1 light at begin of street and another at end. I live in the middle. It’s unacceptable. City needs to learn how to live with money they have just like the rest of us and put all the lights back on !!!!!

  • Today we know more about designing safe staircases than we did 100 years ago. Home design has evolved accordingly.

    The fact that streets like Bullocks Point Avenue inevitably see many inattentive drivers traveling at highway speed regardless of speed limit signs was well known last time that street was reconstructed.

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