10 Most Dangerous Intersections In Pittsfield

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The intersection of Dalton Avenue and Cheshire Road is the ninth most dangerous intersection in Pittsfield.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield has the most dangerous intersections in the county, according to the state Department of Transportation.

MassDOT released its strategic highway safety plan this month with the aim to reduce fatalities and serious injuries by 20 percent, and by 50 percent by 2030.

The state has pored over crash data from 2008 to 2010 and has listed the county's worst intersections to prioritize with improvements.

Statewide, the characteristics of fatal crashes include 51 percent of vehicle occupants did not use a seat belt; 48 percent involved crossing lane lines; 29 percent involved drunken driving; 28 percent involved speeding; 23 percent were at intersections; 16 percent involved young drivers; 17 percent  involved pedestrians; 13 percent involved motorcycles; 13 percent involved elderly drivers; 5 percent involved commercial trucks, and 1 percent were in work zones.

During the two-year time frame, there were 40 fatalities, 2,308 serious injuries and 11,668 damaged vehicles in Berkshire County.


While the data is regarded as incomplete by county planners, the state's information shows that the majority of crashes happen in the city.  The intersections aren't ranked by the number of crashes but rather the amount of damage caused by them.

Below are the top 10 most dangerous intersections in the county:

No. 10: Dalton Avenue and Merrill Road
This intersection, also at Allendale, saw 24 crashes that caused significant damage; six included injuries.

No. 9: Dalton Avenue and Cheshire Road This intersection might be considered the same as Merrill Road, but this section has seen 19 accidents with seven of them causing injury.

No. 8: East Street and Second Street This intersection between the one-lane Second Street and the multilane East Street had 17 crashes, eight of which caused injury.

No. 7: Berkshire Crossing With the shopping plaza, Wendys and whole lot of traffic converging, Berkshire Crossing has seen 15 accidents with 10 causing serious injury.
No. 6: Fenn and First Streets This busy intersection near City Hall has low visibility. Drivers should take extra caution when turning here because there have been 20 crashes, with nine of them causing injury.

No. 5: South Street and West Housatonic Street
Right near Park Square, this intersection leading out of town toward the MassPike or onto Route 20 toward New York sees heavy traffic and has been the location of 36 crashes with seven of them causing serious injury.

No. 4: North Street and Linden Street
The only intersection in the top 10 to have a recorded fatality in the two-year time frame, this intersection has seen 24 total crashes, nine causing injury and the one fatality.

No.3: Dalton Avenue and Benedict Road
If there is an accident here, it causes injury. This intersection has seen 15 accidents and all of them involving serious injuries.

No. 2: Tyler Street and First Street
At least if there is an accident here, those injuried don't have far to go to get to Berkshire Medical Center. Unfortunately, 15 people had to take that trip out of only 17 crashes.

No. 1: Linden Street and Center Street
This is the only intersection in the county to make the top 200 most dangerous intersections in the state but county officials say it would toward the top if the traffic volume was similar to those in the east end of the state. This intersection has seen 20 crashes causing damage and 16 injuries.

 


Tags: accident,   intersection,   MassDOT,   motor vehicle accident,   rankings,   

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WWII Veteran Reflects on D-Day at VFW Post Induction

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

The members in the picture are Bret Miller, Coast Guard, Desert Storm; Hank Morris, Army, Vietnam; Brad Havill, Navy, Global War on Terror; VFW Post 448 Vice Cmdr. Mark Pompi, Army, Global War on Terrorism, Afghanistan; Post Cmdr. Arnold Perras, Korea; Joe Difillipo, Army, Vietnam; Teri Billington, Navy, Desert Storm; and Carmen Ostrander, Air Force, Afghanistan.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Anthony Salatino Jr. says his memory is getting a little foggy about his time in the Army. 

But he remembers how terrible D-Day was, and feeling lucky he wasn't among those in the initial invasion force 82 years ago. 
 
"One of the most horrible things was in Normandy. We went shortly after D-Day. I got lucky, very lucky on D-Day. We went to a staging area the night before … and at the very end, somebody called, I was in headquarters, they called all the headquarters personnel at the center," the 103-year-old said. "We did not go. There's about 30 of us. The rest of the battalion was gone, and the reason for that was because there was another battalion coming from the States, and they had no headquarters. 
 
"We stayed back, but we did go to Normandy shortly after that, and when we went to Normandy, it was all over."
 
Salatino was attending an induction ceremony on Thursday at the Lt. John N. Truden VFW Post 448. Joseph Texidor, who served in the Army for 17 years with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sworn in as the post's newest member. 
 
Salatino served in the Medical Corps and wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a World War I veteran wounded at Verdun. Salatino was in the Army for about three years.
 
"The whole memory is what I just told you, very, very alive to me," he said. "That is, I can never forget, never forget that."
 
D-Day on June 6, 1944, was the start of Operation Overlord, and the largest invading force to cross the English Channel since 1066. Their goal: to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany. 
 
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