Man with child on bike was me. Honestly, of all the speeding cars that race up Chatham Street, and there are plenty, I've never seen a car going as fast as this one was. They flew through the stop sign at Downing and Chatham doing at least 60 mph, maybe more, and I could clearly see the driver and his buddy laughing as they did. They then proceeded west on Lombard, south on Clinton, and who knows where from there. These pigs are using our neighborhood streets as their own personal speedway. It's disgusting. When they kill somebody, will they even feel remorse?

Fortunately my son and I were nowhere near the intersection when they went through. And of course, thanks to the driver's illegal modified exhaust system, I could hear them coming from several blocks away anyway. But truly, what a shame that doing something as simple as going for a leisurely bike ride on my neighborhood street has to be a gamble with my and my son's safety. We need traffic calming now.

police take notice the streets are full of burnouts by atwater too. I cant believe how these maniacs get away with this and police no where to be seen.

Steve, that was truly scary! I was so glad you and your son happened through the intersection after that occured. My neighbor and I were outside shaking our heads fuming. I wished I had a camera on me when it happened, but the only thing I had was a tree trimmer. Sometimes I wish I had stop sticks, honestly! I am, admittedly, scared to say anything to the drivers, because I am scared of retaliation. It is obvious where I live if I am standing outside doing yardwork. Any thoughts, neighbors, other than trying to take down plate numbers and document these incidents? I guess I have to start carrying around a notepad and a camera in my pocket when I am outside...

Traffic calming. That's the only solution. I've emailed this ticket to our Alderwoman, Stephanie Bauer, pleading with her to be our voice in City Hall and get this problem solved. The police are clearly not able to contain this problem. The only thing that will fix it is physical modifications to our roads to make it difficult or impossible to drive in such a manner.

NHPD take notice? As Casanova clearly stated in the last community meeting he attended with the new Chief of Police present, if speeding and burn outs are what NHPD have to worry about then "we are doing a dam good job" I sat there is shock with such ignorant statement and he called his time in Fair Haven his baby. What a shame,we pay the highest taxes around and only a few of us are actually concerned about the quality of life. Place a million phone calls, give them plate numbers and exact location and good luck waiting for any response, been there done that

What can we do to help with street calming? Do you suggest we keep writing to and calling Stephanie Bauer? Is there anything else we can do as a community to slow people down? On a side note, I was irked to see that someone had "tagged" the speed hump sign on Front Street. What do they get from that?

As I understand it, traffic calming can be obtained by having multiple uses for the street--I and many other walk, bike, and run, on our streets, and yet things like this are still a common occurrence.

Are speed bumps the solution here? Any other ideas?

I plan to submit a Complete Streets request with the city, covering Chatham Street and this particular intersection. Chatham Street has been a constant hot spot for speeding due to how unnecessarily wide it is, and this has led to a serious problem of stop sign running at the Downing Street intersection. These streets are apparently too local to warrant regular police patrols. Physical traffic calming measures to bring speeds down to an appropriate level for these types of streets is the appropriate solution. I'd certainly encourage you to contact Ald. Bauer, NHPD, and also city transportation director Jim Travers.

You can view the city's Complete Streets Manual here: http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Engineering/pdfs/CS-Manual-FINAL.pdf

The request form can be found in Appendix A.

And yes, as the previous commenter mentioned, I think there's some merit to staying visible and "taking back our streets." But as a parent I have to balance that with thinking of my and my son's safety. I'm not willing to be a martyr for this cause. However, there's plenty we can do, such as walking more, and leading by example when we drive. I'd encourage all of our neighbors to drive at 20 mph or less on local streets, acting as a "pace car."

Bravo Steve! You have my full support, let me know how and when to help. I mean that.

BTW, when is dining out at Grand Pizza?

It's Carlos btw, err...cannot get my seeclickfix login to work apparently!

I would definitely support this request. There are a number of similar issues reported within this district. Do you think it would be possible to get the police supervisors in the area to sign on in support of a request?

I will chat with our District Manager Sgt. Johnson today and see if he can put a plan of action in place for the area. I know at times depending on availability he trys to see if we can get a traffic unit out here for enforcement.

I will see what he recommends as our local police rep. for the neighborhood.

Thanks, Alderman Rodriguez, we're going to miss you! Alderwoman Bauer, it'd be nice to hear from you, as Downing Street, in particular, is your ward. Thanks to everyone else who has voted to fix this, and to Carlos and Steve especially.

It seems any street that has been paved smoothly has this problem. Like Dover St where we've had a request in for a year for speed bumps. Only thing I can think of that is going to slow things down. We have very similar things happening such as described at the intersection of Downing & Chatham. However it is the entire length of the street between Clinton & Ferry.

Alderman Rodriguez, when you are speaking to Area Manager Johnson, please mention Dover St as well.

This issue was recategorized from Other to Traffic/Road Safety.

This is an older issue and therefore will be closed. If speeding continues to occur on this street, please report as a new post in the Traffic/Road Safety category. Thank you.