A person working on a parked landscaping truck and trailer was thrown an estimated 15 to 20 feet and airlifted to a trauma center after a vehicle collided with the trailer on Farm Street in Bellingham Saturday morning. Bellingham firefighters treated the victim at the scene before the person was flown by medical helicopter to an area trauma center, according to Bellingham police.
According to Boston 25 News, emergency crews were dispatched to the area of 96 Farm Street after a truck collided with the parked landscaping truck and trailer. The person struck had been standing on the trailer at the time of impact. The driver of the striking vehicle remained at the scene and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment, the outlet reported.
Bellingham Police Lt. Stephen Daigle confirmed that emergency communications received the crash call at 9:08 a.m. Saturday and said initial evidence indicates speed was not a factor in the collision, according to News Link Live. The crash was witnessed by bystanders, police said. The exact cause remains under investigation, and the outlet notes that the Bellingham Police Department is working with the Central Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council Accident Reconstruction Team, known as CEMLEC, to piece together how the collision happened.
Farm Street Closed for Hours During Investigation
Following the crash, emergency personnel closed Farm Street to traffic between Cedar Hill Road and Beechwood Road for several hours so investigators could manage the scene and conduct forensic mapping, per Bellingham police. It is the same regional reconstruction unit that was previously deployed to Bellingham in November 2024 to investigate a fatal collision involving a motorcycle and a truck, the same report notes.
This is not the town's first brush with a severe crash requiring air transport this year. In July, a motorcyclist was airlifted to an area trauma center following a serious collision in Bellingham, marking another recent incident that required emergency helicopter transport in the municipality, per the same account. In February 2025, a 57-year-old pedestrian died after being struck by a motor vehicle in Bellingham, according to the outlet's reporting.
Move Over Law Puts Focus on Roadside Worker Safety
The crash comes as Massachusetts has expanded its Move Over Law, which under M.G.L. c. 89, § 7C now requires drivers approaching stationary emergency, maintenance, utility, or disabled vehicles displaying flashing warning lights to change lanes or slow to a reasonable speed, according to Mass.gov. Drivers who fail to comply can face fines up to $500. It remains unclear whether the parked landscaping trailer was displaying warning lights at the time of Saturday's crash, or whether distracted or impaired driving played any role, according to research from Central Mass Safety.
The incident underscores a hazard that landscaping and groundskeeping crews face nationally. Being struck by motor vehicles is historically the leading cause of fatal workplace injuries in that industry, which recorded more than 1,000 workplace fatalities nationwide between 2011 and 2021, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Statewide, Massachusetts records roughly 130,000 motor vehicle crashes annually, resulting in more than 300 roadway fatalities each year, per data compiled by the Brooks Law Firm from the MassDOT IMPACT portal.
No charges have been announced in connection with Saturday's crash, and the driver's condition following treatment has not been publicly updated. Bellingham police have not released the victim's current condition at the trauma center. The investigation into the exact cause of the collision remains ongoing.
