A car and bicycle collided on Milford Street near Clark Street in Medway Tuesday night, leaving one person with serious injuries and shutting down a stretch of the busy roadway while first responders worked the scene. Medway police asked drivers to seek alternate routes as crews responded to the crash site.
The person struck was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, according to Boston 25 News, which reported that Milford Street was closed near Clark Street as emergency crews worked the scene. The outlet's report, credited to reporter Bryan Lambert, described the incident as a developing story, and further details about the cyclist's condition, identity, or the events leading up to the crash have not yet been released.
Milford Street carries Route 109, which connects Medway and Milford. The Milford and Clark streets intersection was near the crash scene.
A Corridor Already Flagged for Safety Upgrades
The stretch of Milford Street where Tuesday's crash happened has already drawn attention from state planners. MassDOT has a roadway modernization project on the books for bicycle and pedestrian improvements along Milford Street, running from east of Rainbow Drive to the town line.
Massachusetts law gives bicyclists full legal standing to ride on public roads across the Commonwealth, with the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicle drivers, except on posted limited-access highways. Since April 2023, the state's Vulnerable Road User law has also required drivers to give cyclists at least four feet of clearance when passing, and it explicitly allows drivers to cross double yellow lines when it's safe to do so in order to maintain that distance.
How Common Are These Crashes in Medway
Because the crash happened at night, questions remain about whether visibility played any role. State law requires cyclists riding between 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise to use a front white light visible from at least 500 feet and a rear red light or reflector visible from 600 feet, though it is not yet known whether that factored into Tuesday's collision.
Statewide, bicyclist fatalities averaged seven per year between 2017 and 2021, with nearly 30 percent of fatal crashes happening at intersections, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Medway's own crash numbers have climbed in recent years too, with the Medway Police Department logging 251 motor vehicle crashes in 2021 alone, a jump of 19.5 percent over the prior year as travel volumes rebounded from pandemic lockdowns.
Serious crashes along the Milford Street corridor have at times required coordination with neighboring fire departments for emergency medical response, including LifeFlight helicopter transfers to trauma centers in Worcester for the most critical cases. It remains unclear whether Tuesday's crash required that level of response, and whether any citations or charges will follow the Medway Police Department's investigation into the collision.
This is not the first fatal or serious crash Hoodline has covered in the Medway area this year. In January, a fiery crash killed a driver on Summer Street in Medway, and Hoodline also published an August crash report.
