PEABODY — Long-standing concerns about traffic safety on Bartholomew Street have taken on new urgency for several residents after a handful of recent motor vehicle accidents damaged parked vehicles near their homes.

After watching two of his trucks get totaled outside his home in less than a year, Paul Campbell said he no longer sees Bartholomew Street as the quiet neighborhood road where he raised his family.

“When my kids were younger, it was OK,” Campbell said of the traffic on Bartholomew Street. “That was 30 years ago, 25 years ago. Today, it’s all different now. More houses, more people, more cars, more traffic, and more accidents.”

Police records show the recent accidents fit into a longer pattern on Bartholomew Street.

Since July 2025, officers have responded to 14 motor vehicle accidents on Bartholomew Street, including nine so far this calendar year. Records dating back to 2021 show accidents occurring consistently along the street, with incidents involving injuries, utility poles, trees, fences, and parked vehicles.

Campbell, who built his home on Bartholomew Street 32 years ago, said the road has changed dramatically as development and traffic increased. What was once an old farm road has become what he calls “Bartholomew Raceway,” a popular shortcut between Lynnfield Street and Lynn Street.

He said he understands police cannot monitor the road around the clock, but believes additional traffic-calming measures — including speed humps, a three-way stop near the neighborhood bus stop, or increased enforcement during peak travel hours — deserve serious consideration.

“I’m tired of getting lip service,” Campbell said. “Someone’s going to have to get killed before they do something with this street. It’s awful.”

Neighbor Melanie Gurliaccio said speeding, rather than traffic volume itself, is the neighborhood’s biggest concern. Since moving to Bartholomew Street nearly five years ago, she said she has watched drivers race around corners, witnessed multiple accidents, and struggled to safely exit her own driveway because of limited visibility.

“People in this day and age, I get it. You’re trying to find ways to avoid traffic and congestion,” Gurliaccio said. “I think people just get so focused on their commute rather than, ‘Hey, you’re driving through a residential area.’”

She said she has asked the city to conduct a traffic review of the area and believes speed humps would be the most effective solution.

“For one street in a city the size of Peabody to have as many incidents as we do, I would have thought the city would have done something or looked to do something a long time ago,” she said.

For Amilia DiFeo, who moved to the neighborhood in 2024 after spending her life in East Boston, the concern extends beyond damaged vehicles.

She said she worries most about children waiting for the school bus, elderly residents crossing the street, and her own grandchildren playing outside.

“We shouldn’t be afraid of having to go outside for some fresh air,” DiFeo said.

Ward 1 Councilor Craig Welton said he shares residents’ concerns and pointed to improvements already made near the Lynnfield Street intersection following a traffic study completed several years ago. Those changes included installing flexible delineator posts to better define traffic lanes and narrow portions of the roadway, which he said has significantly reduced accidents in that area.

Also, truck restrictions on Bartholomew Street date back to ordinances adopted in 1976 and later updated in 2017, according to City Clerk Allyson Danforth.

Welton said Bartholomew Street presents unique challenges because of its age, narrow width, and heavy use as a connector road. While widening portions of the roadway is not feasible, he said residents’ concerns warrant a closer look at what options are available.

“It’s a public safety issue. … We really do have to spend the time to methodically think through how best we can address it,” Welton said.

Welton said he plans to raise the residents’ concerns at the next City Council meeting on Aug. 18 to ensure the issue is discussed and to begin a broader conversation about what additional traffic-calming measures may be appropriate for Bartholomew Street.