SCITUATE — In the late afternoon onedaylast August, Jenny Canelos, 36, was on her way home to North Scituate from her job as a nanny when she came to the intersection at Chief Justice Cushing Highway (Route 3A) and Booth Hill Road.
As she attempted to cross 3A, according to police, Canelos’ vehicle was hit broadside.
Canelos, a Scituate native,was rushed to South Shore Hospital, thentransported to the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston for emergency surgery to save her life. After weeks in intensive care, and then months in a rehabilitation center, Canelos finally returned home last February.
“The Scituate Police and Fire Departments, the Cohasset Police and the State Police did a wonderful job stabilizing Jenny,” said Canelos’ mother, Karen. “Without them she would not have survived.”
Since the accident, Jenny'smother said it has been “a road of diligent work with her every day, both physically and cognitively, to help torestore her ability to walk, talk, remember and live her life as close as possible as it once was.”
Karen Canelos says there needs to be a remedy for the dangerous intersection that almost took her daughter's life.
“I feel so strongly about the need for at least one more traffic light in that stretch of road along 3A to help slow the traffic down to a reasonable speed for the safety of others,” she said.
Any changeto traffic flow on a state road has to involve traffic studies and get the approval of thestate, said Select Board member Karen Canfield.
“This fact is very frustrating for the town,” she said.
In 2013, the state conducted a study along Route 3A in Cohasset that extended southerly to the intersection ofRoute 3A/Henry Turner Bailer Road in Scituate.Meetings with town officials in Scituate and Cohasset, along with representatives of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation,continue to take place.
From 2008 to 2012, according to local police crash reports and Massachusetts Department of Transportation data, more than 50 crashes happened between Beechwood Street and the Cohasset/Scituate town line. During that time, there were nearly 20 crashes at various locations in the corridor involving a deer crossing on Route 3A an vehicles traveling along the road.
“Speed causes so many of these accidents,” Karen said.
Karen worked at the Cohasset Village Greenery, which is on Route 3A.She has seen several accidents and near-misses.
“The traffic issue here is severe,” she said.
Justin Hutchins, the owner of the Greenery, is concerned about his employees when they are out in front of the business watering the plants or hosing down the parking area.He said there have been times when motorists, too impatient to wait for a vehicle in front of them to take a left turn, have gone up onto the road lip, nearly clipping items displayed in front of the Greenery.
“The worst is the people flying down here,” he said.“This is a commercial zone.They’re supposed to be going 35 mph.People can’t even pull out of Curtis Liquors.”
Route 3A isa significant travel corridor on the South Shore and many people feel one of the safety concerns is the lack of traffic lights along this stretch of the road.
There is a flashing yellow light at Booth Hill Road, but some do not feel that is enough to curb the speed.
“This intersection has been notorious fordangerous conditions and limited visibility, and the site of many accidents prior to and since Jenny's,” said Siobhan Burke, Canelos’ employer.
The Scituate Public Safety Complex is at 800 Chief Justice Cushing Highway, just a few feet from the Mann Lot Road intersection, and a few yards from the Booth Hill Road intersection. Yet itdoes not seem to serve as a deterrent for those driving in excess of the speed limit.
“They literally fly right past the Scituate police station,” said Courtney Woodruff, the office manager at the Greenery.
According to Scituate Lt. Detective Paul Norton, a lot of accidents happen when people pull out into oncoming traffic on 3A where vehicles are going about 40 to 50 mph.
Distracted driving is also a concern, he said.
“Just a glance at your phone is all it takes,” he said.
Accidents also occur when people yield their right of way.
“Instead of taking advantage of their right of way, they let someone across who doesn’t see another oncoming vehicle,” Norton said.
Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley agrees.
“It's a very, very busy stretch of road for sure,” he said.“And we do experience a high number of accidents in that area due to the number of curb cuts into businesses.”
He said he feels it’s a combination of speed and people attempting to make “really dangerous entrances onto 3A.”
For instance, people coming out of a parking lot will try to go directly across the street rather than use the traffic lights at Beechwood St. to their advantage, he said.
“Someone on the inside lane going northbound will stop to let them go, but they don’t realize there’s someone coming in the outside lane going 45 miles per hour and they get creamed," Quigley said."So, those people stopping aren’t really doing anybody a favor.”
It’s really too much real estate to cover to take an effective left turn; the road’s too wide and you’re crossing over two lanes of traffic, Quigley added.
“There’s a level of common sense that’ missing here, too,” he said.“Common sense; not too common.”
Follow Ruth Thompson on Twitter @scituateruth
