Hartford City Councilman Pushes for Traffic Calming Solutions

In an effort to make streets safer for drivers and pedestrians in Hartford, a city councilman is asking the public works department to explore ways to get drivers to slow down.

This comes after eight pedestrians have died in the city this year.

“The traffic off of Capitol is crazy. When they come off, they’re flying up to what used to be a stop sign," said Alexander Collins.

Collins has noticed speeding drivers. He drives on Hartford roads often for work from New Britain.

Hartford Councilman John Gale hopes to see more roundabouts like the one on Sigourney Street and Park Terrace, where drivers are forced to slow down.

“You take it like you would take an off-ramp and from there, you travel around it,” Collins said.

There could be more in the future. Gale put forward a resolution to help address road safety by asking the public works department to make a report finding problem areas and look at possible solutions.

“I’ve asked them, as you’ve read in the resolution, the 10 most dangerous intersections in the city of Hartford where a roundabout could be considered,” he said.

He says roundabouts have been successful in other places across Connecticut and Europe. The nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says studies have shown places that had roundabouts installed across the country have reduced injury crashes between 72 to 80%.

But putting more of them in Hartford will require a lot of work. Gale says not only are drivers typically not used to them, but logistical challenges will have to be addressed.

“They do require a sufficient amount of space and if a particular intersection were to be redesigned for a roundabout and we didn’t have enough space, now you have the city using its power of eminent domain to take corners of some lots,” he said.

It’s not only Hartford that’s seeing an issue with road safety. Daniel Maxwell, a criminal justice professor from the University of New Haven says statistics from the National Transportation Highway Administration from 2020 to 2021 show a noticeable trend.

“Multi-vehicle crashes are up 16%. Fatalities on urban roads are up 16%. Fatalities among drivers 65 and older are up 14%. Pedestrian deaths are up 13%,” he said.

Maxwell points to our current national mood getting through a pandemic as being a possible cause.

“There’s research showing everybody’s anxiety levels are up and this might be translating into driving behavior,” he said.

He says roundabouts are only a small piece of a larger solution, and believes there should be a multi-pronged approach.

“A roundabout all by itself isn’t going to solve a problem. More traffic tickets, more speeding tickets by itself isn’t going to solve a problem. It needs to work together,” Maxwell said.

Collins has no issue with roundabouts to make streets safer, especially after knowing someone who died in a car crash. He says for now, drivers should take it easy.

“If you’re driving the roads, slow down please. Trust me, it’s not worth any incident that happens afterwards,” he said.

The city council is giving the public works department until Feb. 1, 2023, to present a report to them.