Stop the deaths on Connecticut roadways
The start of summer is always a dangerous time of year as people emerge into nicer weather from months of staying inside. It’s not uncommon to see an uptick in deaths on the road and on the water at the traditional start of the season on Memorial Day weekend. But there’s no recent precedent for what the state saw this year, with a rash of horrifying car crashes along with multiple fatalities on Connecticut lakes. Problems on the water are rampant this time of year as the air temperature rises before the water temperature, meaning even experienced boaters can go into shock when they fall into cold water.
It’s the highway deaths that defy easy explanation. Already this year, more people have died in wrong-way crashes on state roadways than in each of the three previous years, according to state data. On Sunday morning, a wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 in Guilford left four people dead, bringing this year’s death toll to 15.
All highway crashes are worrisome, but there’s something unique about wrong-way collisions. We depend on highways to be predictable and free of obstacles, and the prospect of another vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed in the wrong direction is terrifying. There’s often almost no time to react.
State officials say they are tackling the problem through signage and other fixes, including cameras that can detect when a driver is headed the wrong way and trigger flashing lights. That system will not likely be in place for a year or more.
More police on the highways can be helpful, but they can’t be everywhere. And since there’s no way to know where a wrong-way driver might enter the interstate, often a crash is the first indication that something has gone wrong.
The common thread, of course, is impaired driving. Alcohol is a staple of summer celebrations, and that too often leads to people driving who should not be. Distractions from various electronic devices are a problem, too, but not something that will likely lead to driving the wrong way on the highway.
What is to be done? We’ve been dealing with the crisis of impaired drivers for as long as there have been cars. There is technology that will be introduced into new cars that will be able to detect when a driver is impaired and render a vehicle inoperable, but that is years off, and even then would only apply to new cars. We can’t wait that long.
A zero-tolerance approach to impaired driving — whether because of alcohol, newly legal cannabis or other substances — must be the baseline. There’s simply too much as stake to allow people to drive when they aren’t properly functioning. It’s not only their lives at stake, but the lives of every other person on the road.
It’s not new advice, but it’s something we need to heed anyway: Don’t drink and drive. Don’t get in a car with someone who’s been drinking. Call a cab, phone a friend, summon an Uber, take the bus, do whatever needs to be done. You can always get your car the next day.
The summer season is off to a grim start. It’s up to all of us to change the trajectory.