Traffic Is A Townwide Issue

To the Editor:

Paul Lindquist’s Newtown survey adds to the overwhelming evidence that voters want a solution to townwide speeding and traffic congestion. Over 74 percent of residents said most cars were operating at an unsafe speed and nearly half said it was the most urgent problem facing the town. Previously the Police Department’s survey reported similar sentiments that speeding was a critical problem in town. Our new first selectman has identified the same problem as a key need of the community. In the November election almost 3,000 voters supported my efforts to address the townwide issue of speeding and traffic management.

These studies have debunked the argument by some residents that speeding is only an issue on some roads or that we should focus our prevention efforts on a single street.

Now that convincing evidence exists that speeding is a townwide phenomenon, we need our leaders to refocus their energies on solutions that can work for the entire community, not just a few isolated roads. There is no one group of citizens more deserving than others for solutions to speeding issues on their street. Raising one’s hand first or more aggressively does not get you to the front of the line. Town officials have an obligation to address this problem for all of the citizens who experience this problem on a daily basis.

 Clearly driver education is the most obvious place to start. A “Slow Down in Newtown” education program is long overdue. The Institute of Traffic Engineers, the bible for traffic management, identifies that education is the first step in addressing this issue. We need to a culture in Newtown that slowing down is in all our interest and is expected.

Enforcement is the next step. The Police Commission has begun this effort by endorsing a Traffic Unit and increased focus on enforcement. More needs to be done, but the initiative has at last begun. Zero tolerance may not be practical, but drivers need to know that Newtown is not the place to speed, and enforcement is the way to drive this point home.

Specific traffic calming efforts such as speed bumps are the last resort. Questions about liability for the town make these solutions the most problematic. In addition, they are unlikely to be acceptable townwide solutions, they are expensive to install, the procedures to qualify a neighborhood are cumbersome, they divert traffic making them divisive in high traffic neighborhoods such as Queen Street, and they disrupt the character of the community. There may be a place for speed bumps in Newtown, but we should first exhaust the primary ways of controlling speeding: education and enforcement.

We owe a round of thanks to those citizens, from all over Newtown, who took the time to fill out surveys or attend Police Commission and other meetings to discuss speeding and traffic issues. Now our leaders need to develop solutions that work for us all and that can be applied throughout Newtown. Lets get on with it!

Bruce W. Walczak

12 Glover Avenue, Newtown                                        January 9, 2008