The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Solutions discussed for wrong-way and impaired crashes in the state
State lawmakers say impaired driving and wrong-way crashes are major threats to public safety, and one measure to reduce fatalities would be to lower the allowable percentage of blood alcohol from the current .08percent, while implementing new ways to stop vehicles from improperly entering highways.
On Monday, the legislative Transportation Committee will hold a public hearing on a variety of safety-related legislation, including a bill that would require the state Department of Transportation to combat wrongway driving, along with new driver-education programs that underscore the dangers of wrong-way driving and ways to avoid such collisions.
For state Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, cochairwoman of the committee, the connection between impaired driving and wrong-way tragedies is so obvious that the committee is consider lowering the state’s .08 blood alcohol limit, which has been in effect since 2002, to .05 percent.
“What we’re seeing in a lot of these wrong-way crashes is, typically, there is a driver involved who was under the influence,” Cohen said in a Friday phone interview. She noted that there are so-called rumble strips that can be placed to warn wrongway drivers, and that Rhode Island has cut down on wrong-way crashes through a highway detection system, including overhead signage.
Cohen said that while Utah is the only state that has passed its now fouryear-old .05-percent law, crash fatalities declined by nearly 6 percent in the first year, making the law attractive.
“What’s clear from our agenda is that we want drivers and passengers to be safe,” said Cohen, noting the state’s associated increase in pedestrian fatalities and the goals of the state’s Vision Zero Council. Another bill up for public hearing on Monday would make penalties for distracted driving similar to those for impaired driving. “Our paramount concern is safety and we have to act accordingly,” she said.
Cohen admits that the issue of lowering the amount of allowable blood alcohol will be controversial. “But it’s no secret that we have seen an increase in DUI crashes and DUI arrests,” she said. “We have to look at what’s working well, and look inside our nation and overseas to see what are we doing wrong and what can we do better.”
She said that at a time when there is free municipal bus service and widespread ride-sharing, people who drink to excess have numerous ways to get home without their personal vehicles. Cohen noted that the National Transportation Safety Board also recommends the lower blood alcohol level. “There are so many options for people who
want to go out and have libations,” she said.
State Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto will be among the first to testify on various bills before the committee. “The risk of being involved in a severe or fatal crash is significantly higher for drivers with alcohol in their system than drivers with no blood alcohol content,” Eucalitto
said in a statement on Friday. “Although alcoholimpaired fatalities have decreased nationally, in Connecticut, there has been an increase in those fatalities over the last two decades, with Connecticut having the third highest rate of alcohol-impaired fatalities in the nation.”
He said scientific evidence shows that virtually all drivers are impaired when their blood alcohol rate reaches 0.05 percent.
Eucalitto’s office said that 2022 was “the deadliest year in recent memory” for fatal wrong-way crashes. In all there were 13 such events with 23 fatalities. Eighty percent of wrong-way drivers were impaired and most crashes happened between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. The DOT has conducted studies of more than 700 ramp locations, with 236 locations rated as high-risk.
State Sen. Tony Hwang of Fairfield, a top Republican on the committee, said Friday that he supports the lower blood alcohol percentage. “But you have to let people know,” he said in a phone interview. “Education has to go hand-in-hand,” he said. “I think we need to do a far far better job of awareness and education. Lowering blood alcohol must be done with fullout campaign on education. Also, people must become cannabis-aware.”
Hwang also supports legislation that would require the state DOT to construct sound barriers along sections of Interstate-95 and the Merritt Parkway in Fairfield that have seen many of the tree taken down along the highways, causing more road sounds to impinge on homeowners. That bill is also up for a public hearing on Monday morning at 11 o’clock in the Legislative Office Building.