The Risks On Our Roads

Of all the various statistical report cards that are issued to measure our progress as a town, the one discussed last week by Newtown’s Police Commission is particularly disturbing. It measures progress on a scale of twisted metal and human suffering where the data points on the bar charts, when examined case by case, hardly seem to qualify as anything remotely resembling progress. The Newtown Police Department’s Review of 2010 Motor Vehicle Accident Cases listed 679 accidents for the year, 128 causing injuries. One of the accidents killed a person.

While the painful reality of the individual accidents draws most of the attention from passersby, and, yes, the local newspaper, the trends revealed by these “data points,” when taken together, are worthy of our attention. For example, most accidents in Newtown happen between 3 and 4 in the afternoon, with the 5 to 6 pm hour a close second. The winter months, especially December and January, are the most hazardous months on local roads, though something in the balmy breezes of June causes a spike in traffic accidents in the middle of the relative tranquility of spring and summer.

While it is the widespread perception that increasing congestion and speed on all of Newtown’s roads have raised the risk of driving anywhere in town, the undeniable fact underscored in these annual accident reports is that just a handful of roads account for most of the mayhem. Hands down, the riskiest road for local motorists is Route 25, where 185 accidents were reported in 2010; it accounts more than one in four of all accidents in town. Rounding out the top five roads with the worst accident records are Route 34 (78 accidents), Church Hill Road (72 accidents), Route 302 (34 accidents), and Wasserman Way (21 accidents). Of Newtown’s 592 public and private roads, these five are perennially the worst, racking up more accidents than all the others combined.

The good news is that year-by-year the Police Department’s traffic initiatives, including radar patrols, and seat belt, distracted driving, and drunk driving enforcement, are having an effect. In 2010, the department reported 46 fewer accident/incidents than in 2009, and 89 fewer than in 2008. Who knows what the consequences of 135 fewer accidents have been? How many people are walking around healthy and whole today who might not have been without strict enforcement of traffic laws?

While we applaud the much-publicized efforts to “calm” traffic on Queen Street or Key Rock Road with speed tables and other devices designed to slow motorists in residential neighborhoods, we encourage the Police Commission and Police Department to keep their focus where it has been in recent years: strict enforcement of traffic laws on Newtown’s most congested and most hazardous roads. We also encourage everyone who gets behind the wheel not to leave all the work to the Police Department. Slow down and pay attention.