Roadway deaths continue to mirror deadliest year in decades, prompting more calls for action

State and local leaders continue to sound the alarm about roadway deaths in Connecticut.

We have seen 245 deaths along Connecticut’s roads so far this year, with just under three months to go.

The state is on pace with 2022, one of the deadliest years on our roads in decades.

Many are calling for more to be done and officials made announcements on Wednesday about progress that has been made.

“Everybody speeds but here in Connecticut wow,” said one man who was passing through Connecticut on his way home to Maine.

He was one of a few locally or just passing through who was taking stock of the dangers of driving.

“There was a car that was behind me, in that lane, got behind me, pulled out to pass and almost hit the pickup truck in front. It’s ridiculous,” he described.

A local driver from Redding agreed, adding, “People just don’t care. They want to get where they want to go …”

Local and state leaders gathered again for a news conference to sound the alarm and talk about strategies to buck the trend.

The updated number announced was 245 deaths so far in 2024. They say we are still on pace with 2022, which is considered the deadliest in decades with 366 deaths.

“Each one of us has witnessed traffic laws be disregarded by drivers who have adopted a culture of reckless selfish and dangerous behavior,” said Laoise King, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation notes there isn’t one single solution to bring the numbers down, but the upward trend they have noticed since 2020 in deaths on the road has led the department to re-think the entire roadway ecosystem.

“We are no longer prioritizing designing projects with the goal of moving cars quickly through an area. We are prioritizing safety and mobility over vehicle speed,” said King.

On top of change to the engineering of projects across the state, they are also prioritizing enforcement, technology, and education.

“The trends are troubling,” said Ronell Higgins, with the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.

He gave an update on enforcement efforts.

He noted that in just the last two days, three arrests have been made, catching speeders going over 100 miles per hour on three different state highways. It’s work that he said is just beginning.

 “We are changing how they work, we are making data-driven decisions,” Higgins said, referring to how State troopers are handling traffic enforcement.

Higgins also announced traffic stop data for the year so far.

As of this morning, they initiated over 68,000 traffic stops. In all of 2023, they initiated just over 26,000 traffic stops.

 “This means more traffic stops, more tickets and more warnings over time. We are hoping this will lead to more lives saved,” said Higgins.

But the call from officials is still for the driving public to slow down, drive sober, and don’t drive distracted.

“No one should be killed or suffer serious injuries on our roadways,” said King.

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, who was also in attendance, said he has sent a letter to Pete Buttigieg, the U..S. Secretary of the federal Department of Transportation, regarding what federal partners can do to help stop the alarming trend of deaths on our roadways.