A road rage shooting and a wrong-way driver caught on dashcam video. Those are just some of the latest incidents getting attention on our highways in Connecticut.
A road rage shooting and a wrong-way driver caught on dashcam video. Those are just some of the latest incidents getting attention on our highways in Connecticut.
“This is my car wash and I’m seeing now it’s all taped off. I’m like 'what the hell is going on?'” Raynette Woodard, of Hartford, said.
Customers at a gas station on Weston Street in Hartford were in disbelief, with a bullet hole clearly visible on a black SUV’s window.
State police said a road rage shooting on I-91 in Windsor left a person injured, but expected to be OK. Two people were arrested.
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People say it’s yet another instance of bad behavior on Connecticut highways.
“Why is everybody in such a rush? Why is everybody, don’t respect the law of the land?” Woodard said.
In Montville, state police arrested a woman speeding the wrong way on I-395 over the weekend and almost hitting two vehicles. Troopers stopped her by ramming their cruisers into her car as it entered their parking lot.
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She now faces a number of charges, including driving under the influence.
“It’s really scary. I can’t even imagine,” Adam Gould, who was driving from Michigan, said.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation has been working to make our roads safer and say there’s been a decline in wrong-way fatal highway crashes since 2022, when it was a high of 13 crashes causing 23 deaths.
Last year, it went down to six crashes and 13 deaths. The agency credits wrong-way detection systems on highway on-ramps for getting the number down with more than 300 activations over the last year - getting drivers to turn around.
“That's at least 300 lives saved, potentially saved, because we know when these crashes happen, they're happening at a high rate of speed,” Josh Morgan, with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, said.
For drivers, they just want to see people be more responsible on the road without being impaired or distracted.
“Be careful. Be smart. It’s not worth whatever that text is. It’s not worth anyone’s life,” Gould said.
The DOT said if you do see a wrong-way driver, move over to the far-right lane and call police in a safe area.
As to what could be leading to more aggressive driving, state police say it could be a number of things like more traffic, conflict from other areas of our lives, or even a sense that our vehicles have become safer.
