Family, friends remember victims of deadly Route 6 crash

Loved ones are remembering Tristan Bedient and Kate Aldrich after the two were killed in a head-on crash along Route 6 in Dartmouth Friday. Bedient, 34 of Acushnet, and Aldrich, 51 of New Bedford, died Friday night near the Dartmouth/Westport town line. "Compassionate, empathetic and non-judgmental. She just always wanted to help," said Alexsis Aldrich of her sister-in-law. Kate Aldrich was a mother to one son. She was valedictorian of her New Bedford High School class. "Funny, bubbly, crazy smart," said her brother Joe Aldrich. "She was very smart. I always brag about her." Loved ones described Tristan Bedient as a caretaker. "He was really dedicated to taking care of his grandmother," said family friend Brittany DaRosa. "He was a great person. Really fun, adventurous, caring." As loved ones remember the pair, community members are working to ensure nobody else is lost in crashes along Route 6. "I think there can be a temptation to dismiss it as just, you know, one bad driver. But we're seeing horrible crashes over and over again, not only take the lives of people in our community, but these are our family members," said Miles Grant with SouthCoast Places for People's 'Route 6 Working Group.' The community advocacy group is working to make safety enhancements to the highway. According to MassDOT crash data, 10 people have died along Route 6 in Dartmouth since 2017. "In the long run, [we] would like to see it redesigned to be a road that can accommodate all users safely," said Grant. The occupants in the other vehicle involved in Friday's crash were injured but are expected to survive. A 74-year-old bicyclist, identified as Denise Olson of Westport, died just three days after Bedient and Aldrich after being hit by a dump truck about half a mile down the road.