The Boston Herald has a story today following up on the status of legislation before the state officials to impose additional testing for elderly drivers. The need for some type of legislation has been spurred by a series of accidents involving older drivers. Three of them have been fatal. A Boston crossing guard was killed in October, a Weymouth police officer was killed in August, and a 4 year old Stoughton girl was killed last June.

According to the article legislation could be on Governor Patrick’s desk by the end of the month. Senator Joyce (D-Milton) who has been advocating for additional testing for over 2 years had this to say, “It’s about time we do something,” said Sen. Brian A. Joyce (D-Milton), the top proponent of legislation further regulating elderly drivers. “It’s time we had the political will and common sense to pass some legislation to ensure the safety of our senior drivers as well as other motorists and pedestrians.”

You can read the full article here.

In a poll we conducted, 80% of the respondents felt that testing of elderly drivers was required and 20% felt that either existing legislation was sufficient or that it legislation should focus on safety of all drivers, not just the elderly.

NEWS ITEMS

Boston motorists driven to the edge – from The Boston Herald -09.04.09

While driving-related stress declined in some other cities, the pressure of the daily commute in Boston skyrocketed over the past year, according to a new survey.

MBTA extends pass hours for students
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, at the urging of student activists, has extended the hours when junior high and high school students can use their discount passes on trains and buses – to 11 p.m. on weekdays. The passes had been valid until 8 p.m. Students involved in “Youth Way on the MBTA’’ argued that some of their extracurricular activities and jobs keep them out later. They appealed to Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr., who chairs the T board, and he agreed to the change, effective Sept. 1. The MBTA also changed how the $20 monthly passes are distributed, said Colin Durrant, Aloisi’s spokesman. In the past, students had to buy tickets once a month from school administrators. Now they can be updated automatically on electronic Charlie Cards.

Mass. Traffic website was popular on holiday weekend – from The Boston Globe 09.13.09

More proof that people look at weird stuff online: Nearly 15,000 Web surfers spent an average of 5 minutes staring at Massachusetts traffic over Labor Day weekend.

ROAD CLOSURES

I-93 South approaching and through Downtown: Nighttime Multi-lane Closure

Two-to-three lanes of I-93 South will be closed at night approaching and through Downtown Sunday, September 13, 2009 through Thursday, September 17, 2009 from 11:30 PM to 5:00 AM the following morning. These lane closures are for inspections and maintenance work.

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The Planning Board met last Thursday night and continued their process of vetting options for the redevelopment of the Temple Shalom site.

The bulk of the time devoted to discussing Temple Shalom was spent in an exercise led by Pete Jackson intended to identify the issues associated with the options under review: a retail commercial development (no pharmacy), a retail development anchored by a pharmacy, and a residential development.

There was some confusion among the participants. This stemmed from clearly segregating issues involved with commercial development that included a pharmacy and commercial development that didn’t. The issues both pro and con that were identified appeared to all present as relevant to any commercial development, namely, noise, increased traffic, increased jobs, increase in convenience to amenities etc. Also confusing was what constituted an issue. Mr Smigliani, one of the committee members questioned how many of the neighborhood reps were open to the idea of any commercial development. “Where do we stand?” That did not qualify as an issue according to Jackson. Ms. Murphy, another of the committee members voiced frustration at the lack of clear data regarding the impact that the development would have in terms of property values, noise, policing requirements etc. Jackson stated that he had requested that and the response was it was simply not that easy to answer or, as in the case of the police, they would properly cover whatever development that took place with existing resources.

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from The Patriot Ledger

The Jim Bowes Era got under way Friday night as his Milton High School football team defeated Brookline, 34-0, at Brooks Field.

In his first campaign as a head coach, Bowes watched his team play through the wind and rain, while jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. (Read the full story here.)

from The Patriot Ledger

Christine Gurskis is out as Milton High School girls hockey coach, despite a combined record of 49-9-7 over the last three seasons, including back-to-back Division 2 state runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2008.

Gurskis said she submitted her resignation letter late last month and broke the news to her players early this past week. She called saying goodbye to the Wildcats “one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do because I am so passionate about coaching.” (Read the full story here.)

from Wicked Local Milton

Quincy police plan to seek an assault and battery charge against a deputy police chief on the Milton Police Department who allegedly struck a woman in the face late Thursday night.

Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan said the woman sought and was granted a restraining order Friday afternoon in Quincy District Court against Milton Deputy Chief Paul Nolan. (Read the full story here.)

Stop & Shop is offering discounted flu shots in select pharmacies.

As of yesterday dn through Nov. 26, the supermarket chain is offering its affinity card holders $10 off on a $30 immunization.

Shots will be administered by store pharmacists. You can learn more here.