75-year-old woman dies in Wrentham crash at controversial intersection
WRENTHAM - A Friday night crash in front of Wrentham District court killed a 75-year-old woman and left another person seriously injured.
Police said that about 7:49 p.m., they responded to the intersection of East and Common streets for a head-on collision. According to investigators, a pickup truck traveling on East Street toward Wrentham Center veered left at the split to continue on Common Street, crossing the oncoming traffic on Route 140 South. The pickup truck struck a car head-on.
The driver of the pickup truck was not seriously injured. However, the female passenger in the pickup truck was taken to the nearby high school and flown to Rhode Island Hospital Trauma Center, where she died. The driver of the car was seriously injured and transported to Rhode Island Hospital Trauma Center.
In March 2021, the police department posted a poll on its website asking residents if there should be a stop sign instead of a yield sign at the intersection. While the post receive 340 comments, commenters were fairly evenly split between a stop and a yield sign.
Wrentham Police Chief Bill McGrath says the intersection has been here for more than 20 years and has caused a lot of problems and has been the center of several accidents.
"There is a lot of head swiveling going on, even for the safest driver," McGrath said.
Michelle Walker drives her son to school through this intersection and says it's very dangerous.
'I am honestly not surprised, and I am sad. I really think they need a set of lights there," Walker said. "I think it's awful. They need to step up and put a set of lights there immediately before there's more fatal accidents."
Neighbors and residents who live by this area say this intersection is simply too confusing and has way too much traffic.
Chief McGrath says designs have been engineered for this intersection just not approved.
"If there's any such thing as a silver lining in a tragedy like this, maybe it will result in a quick re-design and some quicker action between the DOT and the town, and who ever has to get this done."
The accident is still under investigation, and no charges have been filed.
