WESTFIELD – Route 20 near the West Springfield line has been plagued by accidents, including three fatal collisions since Christmas eve.
The area of concern is a one and a half-mile stretch of Route 20 (Springfield Road/Westfield Street) in the area between Walmart, located at 141 Springfield Road in Westfield, to Frasco Fuel Oil, located at 2383 Westfield St. in West Springfield. This entire stretch of highway hugs the Westfield River.
On Christmas eve around 6:30 p.m. Daniel E. Drexler 54, of West Springfield crossed the center line and struck another vehicle head-on. Drexler died a short time later. The two occupants of the other vehicle sustained non-life-threatening injuries. This accident occurred in Westfield near Walmart/East Mountain Road.
On January 8 around 4:45 p.m., Jeff Martell, 50, of Northampton and Benjamin Stulpin, 24, of Springfield, crashed head-on, killing both drivers. This occurred in West Springfield near Frasco Fuel Oil.
Map shows the dangerous section of Route 20 in Westfield and West Springfield.
A few minutes later on January 8 just before 5 p.m. two-vehicles crashed and one rolled over entrapping the driver near Deals 4 Wheels, located at 115 Springfield Road in Westfield. Both drivers suffered minor injuries.
On January 9 around 10 p.m., a vehicle struck a utility pole sending two people to the hospital, according to West Springfield police logs and WWLP. This occurred near the Riverbend Sunoco, located at 2668 Westfield Street, in West Springfield, just outside of Westfield.
According to the Westfield police logs, there have been 17 accidents between November 13 and January 10 along or near this stretch of Route 20. Eight of these were considered major accidents, means damage of $1,000 or more, said Westfield Police Capt. Michael McCabe.
Route 20 in Westfield near the West Springfield line. A car struck the utility pole on January 9 sending two people to the hospital. (Photo by Christine Charnosky, January 11, 2016).
Of those 17 reported incidents, the majority–10–occurred between 1-5 p.m. with only one occurring as early as 10 a.m. and one as late as 10 p.m. There were none overnight.
Trooper Paul Sullivan of the Massachusetts State Police said he could not provide a cause for the deadly accidents that occurred on December 24 and January 8. Additionally, the local police departments could not provide information regarding what may have caused those collisions that claimed the lives of three drivers.
McCabe said there are two lanes traveling east and two lanes traveling west with no divider.
“Speed, medical issues (voluntary or involuntary) and lack of attention are the usual suspects in accidents along that stretch of road,” said McCabe.
“The speed limit is 40 miles per hour, so if two cars crash traveling at that speed, you have an impact of 80 miles per hour,” he said.
West Springfield police have beefed up patrols and traffic stops for speeding along that stretch of Route 20, according to the West Springfield police logs.
“We have no extra patrols because that area is already heavily patrolled,” said McCabe.
The road has been built up over the years, McCabe added, with more left turns than normal.
Route 20 in Westfield near the West Springfield line where three fatal crashes have ocurred since Christmas eve. (Photo by Christine Charnosky)
McCabe provided the following information regarding calls pertaining to accidents on Springfield Road (between the bridge at Union Street and the West Springfield line) [Note: calls mean there was an incident, which may or may not have been a reportable accident]:
2010: 60 calls
2011: 85 calls
2012: 72 calls
2013: 76 calls
2014: 79 calls
2015: 97 calls
According to statistics provided by the MassDOT Highway Division, Traffic Engineering/Safety Section in Boston, in 2013 there were 29 major accidents along this stretch of Route 20, most listed as near Walmart and East Mountain Road. None of these crashes were fatal.
In 2013, five fatalities were listed in the MassDOT report for the City of Westfield. All were single vehicle crashes in other locations of the city.
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission published the “Top 100 High-Crash Intersections in Western Mass” in December 2012 using statistics from 2007-2009.
The closest intersection to the dangerous section of Route 20 listed in the PVPC report is Springfield Road and Union Street, which ranked 99 out of 100 with 26 accidents reported for that three-year period.
For all of Hampden county, there were 57 traffic fatalities in 2007, 39 in 2008 and 46 in 2009, according to the PVPC.
Gary Roux, PVPC principal planner, said the next report should be coming out in September of this year, and they plan to also include a segment on highest roadway crashes, along with the most dangerous intersections.
“I do not have a current safety study for that location, so I don’t have enough data to give any type of comment,” Roux said of Route 20.
Derrell Lyles in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Public Affairs office said he could not speak to traffic safety issues because the “NHTSA does not have any authority over any changes that are made to public roads.”
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
