A growing safety concern on the roads

Advocates are calling it “a slaughter taking place on our streets.”

Deaths for pedestrians and cyclists in the state were at their highest point in almost 30 years in 2018, according to federal statistics. Connecticut is the most dangerous state in New England on such measures. In August alone, five pedestrians were killed on the streets of New Haven, though Bridgeport has the highest number in the state over the past three years.

It’s not hard to see what’s happening. Try to make it through a morning commute without spotting at least one person texting in the fast lane or checking email in stopandgo traffic. Constant connectivity is a persistent distraction, and the number of stimuli competing for our attention is only growing. Even if you’re smart enough to lock your phone in your trunk before you drive, your dashboard will try to pry your eyes away from the road.

The consequences in areas shared by cars and other travelers are predictable, and they are getting worse.

Activists have pressed state and local officials in recent months to take action, including in New Haven, where a hearing was held recently by the Board of Alders Public Safety Committee and covered by the New Haven Independent. At that meeting, residents wanted more to be done on enforcement and prevention, saying the city must take a stronger stand in favor of pedestrians and cyclists.

At the state level, activists want to see the next chief state’s attorney put an emphasis on safer roads. Leadership in that position, they say, would encourage other officials to take the growing problem more seriously and help stem the tide of fatalities and injuries.

As the state sees changing development patterns, the problem will only get more severe.

Suburban leaders would never use the term, but every push for greater walkability and transitoriented development pushes a community in a more urbanist direction. It doesn’t mean every town is going to look like New Haven, but as apartments go up and sidewalks take precedence, the merging of car space with pedestrian space will continue to increase.

The suburban model remains for a wide swath of people an ideal living situation. Many people like big yards, privacy and a culdesac for their kids to ride their bikes without worrying about through traffic. There’s a reason housing in the suburbs, especially in the southwest corner of the state, is so expensive.

But there’s a growing sense that a rising number of people want something else, and they don’t want to have to leave Connecticut to get it. This explains the surge in apartment construction in towns otherwise dominated by singlefamily homes, and the push for housing and other amenities around transit stops. There is appeal in the style of living that does not require getting into a car, circling the block and fighting for a parking spot for each daily activity.

Also, with mayors and first selectmen facing the brunt of global climate change in the form of flooding and severe storms, there’s something to be said for encouraging emissionsfree travel on foot or bicycle.

There is hope in the technological advancement toward autonomous vehicles, and more new cars are equipped with systems designed to sense and react to obstacles, including pedestrians and bicycles. There’s probably no chance in the near future of driverless vehicles taking over the roads en masse, since the variables that human drivers are forced to respond to are just too numerous for current systems to handle. But the technology could be a boon to public safety.

But as a solution, that leaves out millions of cars already on the road. And it puts the burden again on local elected officials. It’s already a crisis in the cities, and figures to be a growing concern in every community.

For any space that will be shared by cars and people, it’s up to designers to minimize the danger. That means bike lines separated from motor vehicle traffic and ample space for pedestrians to get around. It means trafficcalming measures, where cars are deliberately slowed down to give pedestrians a break.

Infrastructure improvements cost money, and that will sometimes mean charging local residents in the form of a tax increase. It won’t be popular. But the alternative, a real and growing public safety crisis, is not tenable, either.

Hugh Bailey is editorial page editor of the Connecticut Post and New Haven Register. He can be reached at hbailey@hearstmediact.com.