CT is outpacing a ‘horrible year’ in fatal crashes. Why we’re more at risk on local and state routes

Given  vehicles’ high speeds and wrong-way crashes seemingly at record highs, you might think the interstates are the state’s motor vehicle death traps.

But you would be wrong.

According to data compiled by the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center at the University of Connecticut, there are far more fatal crashes on state and local roads than on the interstate highways.

On March 5, a woman hit and killed a minibike rider at an intersection in Enfield, then fled the scene. On March 9, a man veered across a median on Route 9 in Stamford and hit a concrete sign and died.

Those are just two of what may turn out to be a record year for fatal crashes in Connecticut, beating 2022’s 366. That was the highest number of fatalities since 1989, according to Josh Morgan, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

Of those 366, 77 were on the interstates. The rest were on U.S. routes (50), state routes (144) and local roads (92). Three were unknown.

The year 2022 followed three years that had lower numbers because of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially 2019, which saw 250 fatalities.

Morgan called 2022 “our new normal, our post-pandemic reality.”

“More people going back to work, more people feeling comfortable going to sporting events, social activities, just generally society was back in some sense of where we were post-pandemic, with roadway volume and just people out about doing things,” he said.

By 2022, “speeds increased, rates of aggressive or reckless driving increased, rates of impaired driving went up,” Morgan said. 

This year may be on track to be worse, however, Morgan said. 

“As of March 4 in 2024, there have been 60 traffic deaths in Connecticut,” he said. “On that same date in 2022, which was the worst year in decades, there were 54 traffic deaths. So we are outpacing that horrible year. I know that we still have almost nine months left in the year. So we’re not off to a good start by any means here in Connecticut.”

Eric Jackson, executive director of the Transportation Safety Research Center, agreed speed and aggression are major contributors to deaths on the roads.

“Vehicle speeds have gone up, so the faster you’re going, the more severe injuries you’re going to have in that crash,” he said. “And then we’re seeing a lot more aggressive driving, so people are driving a lot more recklessly than they had been in the past, and that’s leading to a lot of road rage issues and a lot of people engaging back and forth on the roadways. … The aggressive driving has gotten really bad.” 

The safety research center compiles the Connecticut Crash Data Repository, a comprehensive database of every crash in the state. The numbers come from the Department of Public Safety and the DOT. New data is added nightly.

Road design and use matters

Jackson said it’s not just drivers who are dying.

“One of the police officers that talks to me, he generates the weekly stats for the DOT and he breaks them out versus driver deaths, passenger deaths, motorcycle deaths, pedestrian deaths,” he said. “He’s basically saying over the last three years we’re starting to see this kind of dramatic increase in the number of passengers that are dying as well. So now crashes are no longer just one fatality. There are multiple fatalities involving crashes.” 

Jackson said it may seem like the interstates are more dangerous, but in fact those roadways are intended to be driven at high speeds, and there are fewer opportunities for vehicles to come in contact with each other.

“Our interstates are designed with long, sweeping curves,” he said. ‘They’ve got a lot of clear areas, they’re more forgiving if you go off the interstate. They’re higher speeds, but they’re designed for higher speeds. Our local roads and our state routes, they’ve got guide rails right beside them along the side of the road, there’s trees, there’s intersections, so those are more prone to seeing more fatalities, simply because they’re not designed for the higher speeds that people are traveling. And there’s a lot more conflicts between vehicles.”

Driveways, intersections and drivers cutting others off are opportunities for crashes, even on the streets near our houses, Jackson said. 

“On the interstate, there’s on-off ramps, there’s not those T intersections that you have, there’s no traffic signals. So those opportunities on the interstates to be involved in those T-bone crashes or crashes where you have conflicts are much less,” he said.

“Our interstates are designed (to be) very safety focused, where all of our other roadways are designed for mobility and access,” he said. “Being able to get from one point to the other point most efficiently. … It’s not simply focused on high speeds and a lot of land.”

Morgan named two other elements that lead to fatalities that don’t usually exist on the interstate highways: bicyclists and pedestrians.

“Those are huge conflict points that are happening on state and local roads with vehicles,” he said. “And also on the highway there are much fewer entrances and exits. When you’re on the state road, local road, multiple intersections, more turns, more variable speeds. … The state and local roads have just more conflict points, more opportunities for vehicle crashes.”

While people are driving fast on the interstates, “they’re also carrying that behavior over on to state and local roads,” Morgan said.

“Yellow means step on it, red means if it’s been red for three seconds, keep driving,” he said. “The rules of the road are just completely evaporated nowadays.”

On state and local roads, “they’re going 60 or 65 on infrastructure that was not designed to handle those speeds,” he said. “So single-car crashes, vehicles leaving the roadway, obviously pedestrians — I think two or three pedestrians got killed last week. I mean, it’s just incredibly dangerous out there with what we’re seeing with the actions that drivers are taking.” 

It’s also simply a matter of miles driven.

“There’s also just way more mileage, there’s way more opportunities for people to drive on local roads, state roads compared to just the highway,” Morgan said. “Just the number of miles is much greater for both state and local roads.”

Morgan said the DOT is trying to design projects that will protect pedestrians and cyclists and slow down drivers. Speed tables and smaller travel lanes help, he said. On the interstate, the state police plan to increase enforcement.

“We’re moving away from designing infrastructure that’s meant for vehicles to get from A to B as quickly as possible,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure that mobility is there for everybody. We have to share space. Our infrastructure needs to work for vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles. That’s why our projects are going to include sidewalks, bike lanes or at least larger shoulders to protect the bicyclists who are out there.”

Ed Stannard can be reached at estannard@courant.com.