Chicopee officials urge caution, safety after man is struck and killed by car

CHICOPEE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - The Chicopee Police Department have confirmed its third pedestrian fatality within two months after a man was hit and killed by a car on Chicopee Street Monday night. Now, city leaders are urging people to be more careful.

“He left and that was it,” said a local pizza shop owner.

That business owner reflected Tuesday on the last time he saw one of his regular customers just minutes before he was hit and killed by a car a few streets away on Monday night.

“It’s just a really tragic accident to a good guy, good guy in the community and someone we all like to see when he came in,” the shop owner added.

He told us the victim had a great sense of humor.

“We’d joke around and on the phone he’d always give us a hard time kind of jokingly and, you know, he wasn’t a close friend, but he was a guy that you’d see and he was an easy guy to talk to,” the pizza shop owner explained.

He said it was a hard day for everyone at the restaurant.

“That just goes to show that you need to be careful driving and walking and on my way home from work, I was more alert than I’d ever been,” the shop owner said.

Chicopee Mayor John Vieau echoed those thoughts.

“I believe we need a public service announcement to people. If there’s someone in an approach of a crosswalk, please, if you’re the driver of the vehicle, stop and let that person cross. That’s a movable offense. It’s a violation of traffic laws. You need to pay attention to what you’re doing,” Vieau explained.

He also urged pedestrians to be careful as well.

“Don’t take for granted because you’re in a crosswalk that people are going to stop. Like I always do is make sure that they’ve come to a complete stop before I proceed and I recommend that to everybody,” Vieau added.

He said some of the biggest concerns in the city are speeding and distracted driving and they’re working to address this and told Western Mass News that police have already handed out close to 5,000 tickets this year and they’re working to increase safety in high volume areas.

“We look at particular intersections and work intimately with our engineering department, DPW. Right now, you’ll see right in front of city hall that we’ve installed flashing lights,” Vieau added.

Chicopee Police added in a social media post:

The pizza shop owner said they would love to put together a fundraiser to help the victim’s family. Meantime, Vieau said if there are locations throughout the city people feel should be addressed, you can let them know.

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