While a stationary, camera-equipped and automated speed detection system may have been stealthily sidled up alongside eastbound traffic lanes on the Newtown side of the Rochambeau Bridge construction site recently, the fact that it captured hundreds of drivers speeding through that work zone within mere feet of workers should come as no surprise to anyone.

Since Connecticut State Police apparently reduced or even eliminated the practice of stopping speeders during the COVID era, the after effects are obvious to anyone who drives on Interstate 84 or virtually any state highway. These roadways have turned into de-facto race tracks, with the only difference being that a decent number of those operating vehicles on them are still restraining themselves from speeding or otherwise dodging, weaving, passing, or otherwise putting all the rest at risk by driving recklessly.

The construction zone speed camera pilot program that was in use in Newtown will soon be rolled out across the state, with the eventual hope it will motivate operators who take the wheel and regularly behave like they are co-starring in the latest Fast & Furious installment to begin slowing down in places where innocent and unprotected state road crews are working.

For now, nearly 1,000 warning notices are being distributed to speed camera violators caught during this construction zone pilot traveling more than 15 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. But a CT DOT spokesperson said those violations are a fraction of the 90,000 vehicles caught exceeding construction zone speed limits. We applaud the state’s efforts to help try and tamp down the numbers of those who feel they must stamp down on their accelerators, especially when they are in such close proximity to innocent workers simply trying to help improve those very roads we are all trying to navigate safely.