Police have compiled motor vehicle accident statistics for the previous four calendar years, listing the intersections in town that have had the highest accident rates from 2012 to 2015 inclusive.

Police Chief James Viadero submitted the statistics to Police Commission members at their September 6 meeting for review. The Police Commission serves as the local traffic authority.

The area with the highest accident rate is #60 through #66 Church Hill Road, where 78 accidents occurred during the four-year period.

Recognizing the travel safety problems posed by that area, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) in April 2018 plans to start a $4.5 million road improvement project to enhance traffic flow there. That work would shift the southern end of Edmond Road westward, so that Edmond Road forms a four-way signalized intersection with Church Hill Road and Commerce Road. A range of other improvements would be made to create safer conditions for motorists and pedestrians.

The place with the second highest local traffic accident rate is the flagpole intersection of Main Street, Church Hill Road, and West Street. There were 69 accidents there during the four-year period.

There are no current plans to redesign that intersection. Town officials have been conferring with DOT staffers about possible incremental intersection changes that could improve travel safety there.

A majority of the accidents there involved vehicles colliding with one another, and the other crashes involved vehicles driving into the unyielding steel flagpole.

In 2015, the Police Commission had a traffic study performed on the flagpole intersection to learn what measures could improve traffic safety there. In that report, Frederick P. Clark Associates, Inc, of Fairfield recommended installing traffic signals, altering the geometry of the junction, and modifying some traffic flow patterns.

Making any changes there is complicated because the flagpole is a state-sanctioned landmark where the are restrictions in place about modifying the structure.

At the September 6 Police Commission session, two elaborate maps were posted with symbols depicting the location of accidents that have occurred near the Main Street flagpole. The town has presented the latest statistics on flagpole intersection accidents to the DOT for its review, Chief Viadero said.

The intersection with the third-highest local accident rate is the junction of Berkshire Road and Wasserman Way, where there were 48 accidents during the four-year period.

The DOT has plans to improve general traffic flow at that intersection, which include providing improved vehicle access to the nearby Exit 11 interchange of Interstate 84.

During the four-year period, town police investigated 3,044 accidents. The statistics provided to the Police Commission do not include the accidents that were investigated by state police on I-84 and other state-owned properties in town.

The statistics, which were prepared by the police traffic unit, list other areas with high accident rates for the four-year statistical period.

The four-year accident totals, listed in descending order, are: the intersection of South Main Street, Country Club Road, and Mile Hill Road, with 42 accidents; the intersection of South Main Street and the northern end of Pecks Lane, 29; the intersection of South Main Street, Botsford Hill Road, and Meadowbrook Road, 24; the intersection of Berkshire Road and Toddy Hill Road, 22; the intersection of Berkshire Road, Bennetts Bridge Road, and Grays Plain Road, 19; the intersection of Berkshire Road and Pole Bridge Road, 16; the intersection of Church Hill Road, Washington Avenue, Riverside Road, and Glen Road, 12; and the intersection of Main Street, Glover Avenue, South Main Street, and Sugar Street, 11.