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January 8, 2025

Legislators plan comprehensive bill to try to curb highway mayhem; traffic cameras under consideration

HBJ PHOTO | DAVID KRECHEVSKY The State Capitol in Hartford.
By David Krechevsky

According to the University of Connecticut Crash Data Repository (CTCDR), 321 people died on Connecticut highways in 2024. 

That was a 4% increase from a year earlier, but 12.5% below the 367 who died on state roads in 2022. Still, that’s nearly 1,000 deaths on state roads over the past three years.

That is one reason state legislators are working on a comprehensive bill for the 2025 legislative session, which began Wednesday, to try to rein in the mayhem on state highways.

“Connecticut has the highest rates of reckless driving in the country,” said Rep. Kerry Wood (D-Rocky Hill), co-chair of the Insurance and Real Estate Committee. “We have some of the highest rates of DUIs and wrong-way driving in the country. And we all are tracking our roadway deaths because they're flashing in our face every time we drive on an interstate in the state.”

The increase in reckless driving and the accidents that result is raising auto insurance rates, Wood said, which brings the issue under the purview of her committee. 

“This is a major cost issue in the state right now that the legislature can solve tomorrow, and so I will be fully supporting that bill,” she said.

The comprehensive bill is still in preliminary discussions, including with officials at the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, but will likely be raised by the Public Safety and Security Committee, Wood said, adding it will address a variety of issues. 

That includes establishing a “traffic safety corridor” as a pilot program in which traffic cameras would be installed in an effort to slow drivers and catch speeders, who would pay hefty fines. 

Rep. Jill Barry (D-Glastonbury) is a member of both the Insurance & Real Estate and the Public Safety and Security committees. In addition, her husband is a police officer.

“The traffic safety corridor is a concept that's been used across the nation and has had very good results,” Barry said. 

New Jersey, for example, began its “Safe Corridor” program in February 2004, designating 12 sections of state highways where certain fines were doubled in order to help fund road improvements and enforcement. The designated corridors did see a reduction in motor vehicle accidents.

It’s too soon in the process to know which stretch of Connecticut highway might be designated for the pilot program, but Barry said early discussions have suggested using the stretch of Interstate 84 in Southington where State Trooper Aaron Pelletier was killed by a hit-and-run driver last year. 

Another major component of the bill is regulating driving under the influence of cannabis. Barry noted that it’s not currently illegal under state law to smoke a marijuana cigarette while driving. 

“It's illegal to drive impaired, but police cannot stop you if you are actively smoking cannabis in a car,” she said. “We would like to see that change.”

So would Rep. Michael DiGiovancarlo (D-Waterbury), vice chair of the Public Safety Committee, who has also served nearly two decades on the Waterbury Police force.

Before the law legalizing the sale and use of recreational cannabis took effect in July 2021, DiGiovancarlo predicted that wrong-way driving would increase dramatically as a result.

“I'm quoted somewhere saying that wrong-way driving is going to spike,” he said. “It spiked in Colorado, and it spiked wherever marijuana was legalized.”

The state Office of Highway Safety confirms that it spiked in Connecticut as well. According to its website, there were more wrong-way crashes and fatalities in 2022 than the previous three years combined, and last year there were “as many wrong-way fatalities in the first three months as there were in all of 2023.”

The state has already taken some steps to deal with this issue. The state Department of Transportation has begun a wrong way detection pilot program that features more visible signs, warning lights and systems that detect wrong-way drivers and alert the driver with large flashing red signs.

Those measures have been installed at 130 high-risk ramp locations throughout the state. The state DOT also has identified a second round that will include 208 high-risk locations. A total of $60 million has been allocated for this project since 2022.

DiGiovancarlo said he didn’t want to discuss too many details about the bill before speaking with other committee chairs, but did say he believes it may be time to “tweak” certain existing state laws to help police better enforce them.

“The penalty should fit the crime, and I don't think it does,” he said. “Without consequences, everybody's going to run wild. So, I think we're trying to address that.”

He added that he believes there is bipartisan support for the bill. 

“I think the Republicans would be on board,” DiGiovancarlo said. “I think you would be hard pressed to find a Republican that doesn't really want to maybe toughen up some of the penalties.”

Rep. Cara Pavalock-D'Amato (R-Bristol), the ranking Republican on the Insurance & Real Estate Committee, however, was less committed to the bill, saying the details still need to be ironed out.

“I drive with my child every day, and I know safety on the roads is such a huge issue now, because every time you get in the car, you're taking a chance, and something basically needs to be done,” she said. “People are getting 15, 16, 17 tickets, killing somebody, and then just get back on the streets, stealing cars. And that's going to continue.”

While acknowledging the problem, she said she believes the situation could be improved if existing laws are enforced.

“If we would maybe start enforcing what we already have, that would probably make a huge difference,” she said.
 

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