WORCESTER, Mass. - As the Worcester Police Department investigates another incident of a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle, city leaders are continuing to work on a plan for safer streets.

This year alone, more than 90 crashes in Worcester have involved pedestrians and cyclists, the most recent happening Sunday on Greenwood Street, where a woman was hit and taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier said it’s been a citywide effort to get drivers’ attention on how widespread the problem has become. Overall, there have been more than 2,800 motor vehicle crashes in Worcester so far this year.

“Within the last 12 months, we’ve written more than 3,100 citations for driver behavior,” Saucier said. “We try to go to those accident-prone locations. That’s where we want to give out the tickets to try and help people change their thought process when they’re driving to correct that behavior.”

In declaring a Road Safety and Traffic Violence Crisis on Aug. 1, city leaders hope to draw attention to problem areas like Shrewsbury, Stafford and Belmont streets, where crashes have seriously injured or killed young pedestrians this year.

As the city begins to work on a long-term action plan, Saucier said it’s important for people to ensure they’re crossing the street safely.

“Crosswalks are engineered for a reason because the motoring public has a better chance of seeing somebody crossing the street when they're doing it within a crosswalk,” Saucier said. “So we need to get that word out there as well. There’s a reason we need to use them. And I think that will also help with this problem of road safety.”

Additionally, he said it’s also important for drivers to realize how their inattentiveness or speed could change someone’s life in the blink of an eye.

“People are out there, and they’re not paying attention,” Saucier said. “We need to focus more on what we’re doing when we’re driving instead of being distracted. Distracted driving is a huge part of accidents that occur in the city.”

Worcester’s Vision Zero Safety Action Plan to improve pedestrian safety is expected to be finished in the fall, and early proposals have included reducing the citywide speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour and creating specific 20 miles per hour safety zones in areas where pedestrian crashes are more common.

In a joint statement earlier this month, Mayor Joe Petty and City Manager Eric Batista urged the public to stay vigilant as the city moves forward with its goals to improve safety.

“Making streets safer and more accommodating for all users requires more than government actions alone. As a community, we need to work together to ensure our collective safety and well-being. We urge everyone to respect the rules of the road, slow down, watch for other road users and exercise patience and restraint. The best way to show our sympathy to the families impacted by these tragedies is through action. We send them our strength and our pledge to end traffic violence now and we invite every resident and road user in the City of Worcester to join us in this mission.”