Town has 2nd vehicle-pedestrian crash in week

Incidents come as leaders announce plan to adopt ‘Vision Zero’ initiative to reduce traffic injuries

WEST HARTFORD — West Hartford police are investigating a collision that injured a pedestrian on South Main Street Friday, even as local leaders seek to shape a future with zero traffic fatalities and severe injuries.

According to the West Hartford Police Department, a vehicle struck an unidentified pedestrian as the individual pushed an empty shopping cart in the South Main Street roadway at the intersection of Meadowbrook Road at approximately 6:15 p.m. Friday. The pedestrian was transported from the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.

The crash came just two days after Town Manager Rick Ledwith announced West Hartford’s intent to initiate a “Vision Zero action plan” — a move that would seek to eliminate motor-vehicle-related deaths and serious injuries within a specified period.

Friday’s crash is the second motor vehicle vs. pedestrian crash to occur in West Hartford in 2023. According to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository, a 66-year-old woman was struck in the Elmwood Plaza parking lot off Newington Road shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 4. The woman received treatment at a local hospital for suspected serious injuries.

Outrage and unease over West Hartford’s traffic safety have come to a head in recent weeks after a string of collisions between Dec. 20 and Dec. 25 resulted in five deaths. In 2022, the town recorded seven motor-vehicle-related fatalities — the highest death toll since 2006. Of the more than 1,500 crashes recorded in West Hartford last year, approximately 23 involved pedestrians or bicyclists.

At the West Hartford’s Public Safety Committee meeting this week, Ledwith announced that the mayor would present a resolution to initiate the Vision Zero action plan during the Town Council meeting on Jan. 10.

Vision Zero is an approach to traffic safety based on the premise that motor-vehicle crashes are not inevitable accidents but preventable collisions. Municipalities across the country and the globe have implemented the strategy which emphasizes safe roadway design and speed setting.

“Over the last two weeks, obviously we’ve experienced some significant tragic accidents throughout town and certainly any loss of life on our streets is unacceptable,” Ledwith said.

“The action plan would take about a year to complete and would eliminate all fatalities within a defined time period, but this doesn’t mean that there are not things that we can do in the short term with regards to potential road design [and] speed reduction solutions, particularly along roads where the most recent accidents occurred.” he said.

Ledwith said that the town is placing its immediate focus on Boulevard, Mohegan Road and Simsbury Road. He said West Hartford will also look at Fern Street, Asylum Avenue and Albany Avenue.

The mayor’s plan will include an up to 16-person task force containing a technical advisory committee and a community advisory committee, a web page with up-todate crash information, public meetings, community out reach efforts and consultants.

Half of the task force would be staffed by current town employees including members of the police, engineering, public works and equity advancement departments. The remaining positions will be filled with resident volunteers with backgrounds in traffic planning, town planning, and other areas that align with the task force goals.

At the meeting, Public Safety Committee Chair Carol Anderson Blanks and Town Councilor and Committee Vice Chair Leon Davidoff noted the impact the recent fatalities have had on the community and West Hartford’s first responders.

“Our first responders witnessed the aftermath of each and every one of these episodes and I would just hope that we have provided the necessary resources and made them available to anybody who encountered any of these horrific scenes,” Davidoff said.

“One component of the Vision Zero is in the likelihood that should there be another tragedy, there are steps enumerated to address the concerns of those who unfortunately have to respond [and] to provide support services for the men and women of our public safety departments.” he said.

Blanks said she is hopeful that the Vision Zero action plan will “alleviate fears.”

“We’ve discussed the number of accidents in town, every time we meet, every time we have a committee meeting. And it seems like when we meet again it’s worse than the meeting before so clearly something is happening,” Blanks said. “We’ll get it right. It’s going to take some time. It’s not going to be overnight.”

In September, Stamford became the first Connecticut city to set a goal of zero traffic fatalities by joining Vision Zero. West Hartford plans to become the next city to take the pledge.

“I talked to the mayor of Stamford and their progress has been ongoing as they are just a few months into the development of their task force and they’ve already made what they think are significant changes,” Mayor Shari Cantor said at the meeting.

Cantor highlighted Stamford’s efforts to introduce small speed bumps and stop signs as well as the main pillars of the Vision Zero strategy.

“We’re not going to be waiting for 10 years to get to the real meat,” Cantor said. “These are things that we’re going to be addressing right away.”