Description
3 serious problems on Buckland in SW and Manchester. People should NOT be in the left lane unless they are about to almost immediately take a left turn. People are now text messaging. Cellphones are bad enough. Getting off the HOV lane onto Buckland 6 or 7 cars run the light. Correction, many of them don't run the light, they have no idea there's a light or they just don't care. State wants to close a deficit, then issue tickets for speeding, using hand held cellphone, running lights, and hovering in the left lane. Driving on Buckland is like being in a War Zone.
25 Comments
Doug Hardy, Journal Inquirer (Guest)
Hi Kathy,
Couldn't agree more about dangerous intersections. There's new camera technology available that is making intersections much safer in other states like Illinois, where I visited this summer. Ticketing cameras at intersections tend to penalize people who run reds or blow through yellows and otherwise violate traffic laws. They raise revenue and apparently cut down on the number of accidents and injuries at specific intersections. People tend to remember a fine at an intersection more than a fine when they were caught in some random location for speeding.
At the moment, however, Connecticut isn't using that technology. What has been attempted is a pooling of police resources in an effort to focus a lot of enforcement on specific locations. This group is called Metro Traffic Services. I suggest contacting your local police department and asking which officer, if any, are assigned to that group and suggest this location for attention.
In South Windsor, I believe the MTS officer is Chris Duchene (644 2551) but at the moment I don't have a contact at Manchester PD. If any of you are reading here, please feel free to comment and get in touch with Kathy.
Let me know if you
Doug Hardy, Journal Inquirer (Guest)
Kathy C (Guest)
Doug Hardy, Journal Inquirer (Guest)
You're welcome, Kathy.
However it sounds like you're talking about people driving on I-84, rather than town roads, so I think you'd want to contact the state police.
But I completely agree about distracted driving. That's the offense, by the way - distracted driving. Frankly I think we need cameras to bag people using cellphones behind the wheel. Like most traffic offenses, it's just not realistic to expect our officers to be able to change driver behavior with hands-on enforcement.
The guy on the Merritt is going to kill himself or someone else if he keeps driving like that. Sad and unfortunate.
Kathy C (Guest)
Doug Hardy, Journal Inquirer (Guest)
So you were pretty lucky there... funny how that works sometimes.
In terms of who to call, I'd try Chris Duchene and give him a good description of ask him about jurisdiction in terms of which department is responsible for that stretch, if not both. It's probably the busiest intersection east of the river.
All that said, I wonder if police would want to target that spot simply because any additional activity there could lock up traffic like a domino effect along Buckland, but I would hope that they could manage that.
Good luck, let me know how it goes.
Kathy C (Guest)
Sent the note below by email to Town of Manchester, Citizen Service Center:
Tried to find a "traffic control" link on the police website (very good website). Below is the link from the Journal Inquirer's "click fix" describing my complaint about Buckland Road in Manchester (also SW). However, chronic running the lights on Buckland where the HOV intersects, relates to Manchester. I don't know if this is a State Road and a State Issue or if Manchester has some jourisdiction. Also realize that the town has to turn the money over to the State, so there's little incentive for a town to issue the tickets. This could be a way to help reduce the State Deficit and protect the lives of Manchester (and other) residents. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/7733
Kathy C (Guest)
Acknowledged CTNewsJunkie.com (Registered User)
Good for you... let me know if you hear back from them.
I'm planning on writing something about this for the newspaper as well. Speeding and erratic driving are so rampant that it might be time to try some other things, such as traffic cameras at intersections.
Bad driving in intersections can be the cause of a lot of accidents and injuries. In Illinois, they have invested in cameras that monitor driver behavior at busy intersections. Folks receive tickets in the mail if they break the law. The cameras are successful on two levels: making intersections safer and raising a lot of revenue. I'm starting to think that there simply are not enough police officers on the job to enforce traffic laws and cameras are on duty 24/7.
What do you think?
Kathy C (Guest)
Hi, Doug!
I'll let you know. Have already received acknowlegments from Manchester Town Hall and the Police Dept. I think your idea about doing an article is great!!!
When I exit the HOV lane toward South Windsor, I look left and right 2 times before I proceed. Also look to make sure everyone has stopped. One time I did that the person in back of me honked his horn. I did not budge. To my left a car quite a distance down the road, ran the light. He was far enough away, that I would have successfully made it through the light. The impatient person in back of me would have been T-boned and most likely killed. When I slowly proceeded through the light, he also crawled through. I'm sure he realized that I saved his life.
Thanks for doing this and all your hard work. Have enjoyed all your articles in the JI.
CTNewsJunkie.com (Registered User)
You're quite welcome.
And boy it sounds like you lucked out.
The camera concept isn't new. I've written a few stories about it myself, back in the 1990s covering the danger of driving on Route 6. Andover residents were desperate to slow down traffic there, and suggested the state try a pilot program with speed cameras. But people raised the privacy issue (privacy on a public road?) and killed the idea.
But cameras at intersections might be the compromise. I'll do some research on the program in use in Illinois and other states. Might take me a week or two to get it all together.
Kathy C (Guest)
Hi, Doug, A very speedy response from Manchester PD. Sent a thank you reply back. Kathy
The Police Department does not condone anyone running traffic lights on Buckland St.
I will have our district officer give the area some extra attention. I will also pass your complaint onto the supervisor of our Traffic Division (Sgt. Minor 643-3325) so that he can put some resources on the issue. Please realize we have limited resources and can not place an officer on Buckland St all the time.
Captain Neiswanger
Town of Manchester
41 Center Street
Manchester, CT 06040
Doug Hardy (Registered User)
Doug Hardy (Registered User)
Hi Kathy ... mentioned your report in today's column:
http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2009/09/21/page_one/doc4ab793e1802df533215035.txt
Mark (Guest)
Doug Hardy (Registered User)
Kathy C (Guest)
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
Definitely! Check for traffic in New Haven and you'll find tons of issues there, too. We need to make this into a statewide issue.
Right now, the towns only get $10 per ticket (regardless of the value of the ticket) in revenue, so they have less of an incentive to enforce the laws since it costs them so much in policing resources. I think the ticket revenue should be split 50/50 between the state and the towns.
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
Please contact your legislators and encourage them to pass legislation this session that:
1) makes texting while driving equivalent to drunk driving (as it is in Utah for example... see the ongoing NY Times series about this); and
2) allows communities to begin testing "red light camera" automated enforcement systems. They are currently used in 400 cities around the country, but Connecticut currently doesn't allow that. That would be easy enough to change with a few words in a bill.
Kathy C (Guest)
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
Kathy, I've been told that if a police officer clearly observes the hand held being used for more than two blocks, they can make the stop.
Unfortunately, it's hard to prove that someone was eating when they are in a crash. But it's easy to determine if they were texting or talking on their phone -- that's why states like Utah have passed laws making texting equivalent to drunk driving.
If you text and get in a crash, you will be sent to prison for 10 years. I'm glad they recognize how dangerous this behavior is and I hope we'll see similarly swift action at the state and federal levels.
Doug Hardy (Registered User)
CTNewsJunkie.com (Registered User)
Here's today's story on the speeding topic:
http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2009/09/28/page_one/doc4ac0f39cbe4db550752367.txt
Kathy C (Guest)
Morning Commuter (Guest)
The entire stretch of Buckland Road from the Exit 62 off-ramp to Pleasant Valley Road is a disaster.
It starts at the off-ramp. People turning left from the far left lane cut off people turning left from the middle lane. This causes near accidents under the overpasses.
Continuing towards South Windsor, people just can't figure out which lanes do which. People in the "straight" lanes jockey left to turn on Pleasant Valley, while people in the left lanes cut off traffic because they actually meant to go straight.
It's really frustrating for those of us who actually know how to follow the basic rules of the road.