31 Mega-Speeders Snagged In 3 Hours

Like shooting fish in a barrel. Now if only the politicos found a way for the state to share the fine$ with the city, then we'd really be in business instead of reporting on a once in a blue-moon photo op.

Some of these are pretty extreme cases of speeding. The state should revoke licenses, impound the vehicles, suspend the registrations for several weeks, like Ontario has been doing for several decades, with even greater penalties for those convicted of street racing.

https://driving.ca/auto-news/local-content/slow-down-and-watch-out-ontarios-new-safety-laws-are-coming-into-effect

I will use Google Maps and Trapster.Also Read the Pros and Cons.

Pros and cons of LIDAR

https://lidarradar.com/info/pros-and-cons-of-lidar

Now catch the dirt bikes!!!!

Good. Should be done all day, every day, all year, shifting to different speedways.

As someone whose mother was hit by a car and killed in another CT town I applaud this effort. But why not charge these people w reckless driving? They're endangering the lives of others. Also the ticket costs more and repeat offenders can go to the slammer.

you're gonna spend however many articles & years scrupulously documenting new haven's EGREGIOUS pedestrian deaths & then turn around & open an article about, what, people doing 54 down whalley or whatever with "he simply had so much on his MIND"-styled sob stories? come on, indy. really?

Personally I am glad they are doing this (though I wish it didn't have to hit poor folks' pockets so hard.) I try my best to drive close to the speed limit - generally pissing off the cars behind me. Then, when they zoom around me I scoff as I pull up next to them at the red light. Speeding cars is the reason I no longer ride a bike in this city. And there are only a few streets where I DON'T fear walking. Even on those streets I'm looking out for someone flying over the curb.

But I gotta say, driving the speed limit on this stretch of Whalley (and many other spots in this town) is DIFFICULT! You almost have to ride the brake to do 25. My car idles faster than that. I swear I think I parked on that block of Whalley one time and my car was doing 30! Okay, I might be embellishing but you get my drift. I know it is our responsibility to obey the laws but you could help us with design.

@lifer - jesus christ, i am so sorry. oh my god.

That particular stretch of Whalley Ave is designed in such a way that it encourages speeding. All my life they have set up speed traps there off and on, but as soon as the police go someone else, the traffic returns to their normal speed. If the road was narrowed by adding protected bike lanes and bike left turn boxes and a traffic roundabout/circle at West Rock and Whalley and Fountain, that would help to slow down vehicles as they enter and leave the village. If they had raised crosswalks at Harrison and Whalley and Harrison and Fountain, and also at Central and Fountain and Central and Whalley, that would help protect pedestrians by slowing cars down in the village. The entire stretch of Whalley from Route 15 to Broadway and Elm should have bike lanes, bus stop pull off standing spots, a shared center left turn lane, and raised crosswalks at major cross street intersections like Sherman and also Ella Grasso Blvd (where there should be another traffic circle,)and heavy pedestrian crossings like where the Stop& Shop plaza is. They should also have a roundabout/traffic circle where routes 63 and 69 meet Whalley, and raised crosswalks at Emerson and Ramsdell on Whalley. The design of the road and the timing of the traffic lights should automatically encourage you to drive at the posted speed limits. This will protect pedestrians, bike riders and drivers to follow the rules of the roads, even when the speed traps aren't there. Then the police will be freed up to do community policing instead of temporary feel good traffic control. Red light/speed cameras would also eliminate unconscious bias in traffic stops, and provide proof of a vehicle speeding or running the traffic lights, which would save lives and enforce traffic rules without risky police stops.

Thank you RevKev - you are exactly right - this straight away, divided road, without street or driveway entrances is an often used speed trap revenue generator. Ive been unfortunate to get pulled over here myself. If you go 25mph in this stretch you will be going slower than the rest of traffic and will more likely be a cause for an accident. When I asked why they didn't instead move down the block coming into that first intersection in Westville, where I've been a first neighborhood responder to more accidents than I can count, of course got the dismissal. Same trap they use on the Q bridge coming into NH. So many other more useful ways to use $50k than this.

Good job NHPD. That's 30+ less people speeding tomorrow and that is a good thing. When you are done there, you can come to Truman Street where even WITH speed humps you would think this 1/4 mile of City street is a quarter mile drag strip where drivers are pushing their cars to the speed limit! No … really … a 4 block stretch with no STOP at the intersection where cars have reached speeds top speeds in excess of 60MPH!!! And this poor neighborhood is MY neighborhood, but economic status is not a license, reason or excuse to disobey traffic laws. It's 'all the more'' reason to be compliant ($477 ticket for multiple safety infractions ???!!!). For those that need to be compelled to behave responsibly, this is a good reason! Again, thanks NHPD!

Why in the world would anyone speed along this particular stretch of Whalley? Why is it always the cars heading southeast toward downtown and away from Westville? Answer: These are frustrated drivers.

They just came from stopping every 50 feet for six unsynchronized traffic lights along a short stretch of Westville and a wide open road unveils before them. The cops wait on West Park Avenue because they know that some drivers will try to make up for lost time there. It doesn't make speeding right, but the speed trap takes advantage of human nature.

If New Haven wanted to cure the problem -- instead of raising ticket revenue -- those traffic lights would be synchronized and drivers could ease through Westville at a comfortable and safe 25mph. And when they got out of Westville, there'd be no reason to step on the gas around West Park Ave.

@ 1644...

Agreed 200% all day every day all year all over the city.

Dear RevKev-- poor people don't get a pass to break the laws and endanger our lives, so save your pity for all the pedestrians and drivers injured and killed. No sympathy for Mr. "Got a lot on my mind" either.

On a State road, the State of CT gets the lion's share of the fine and that's OK because I pay STATE INCOME TAX, too.

ALthough this is just electioneering photo ops; I wish the effort to make our roads safer for all would continue. As people, we will do what we think we can get away with. Make the pinch and maybe you save a life down the road!!! Thanks, NHPD

If getting a speeding ticket will hurt you financially, the solution is simple - just don't speed. People will complain that speeding tickets are unfair to those with a lower economic status, but the reality is, don't endanger the safety of yourself and everyone around you and you won't get a speeding ticket. You're in full control of your car, you have a speedometer right in front of your face, there's no excuse for speeding.

RevKev: no car idles at 25. It's not difficult at all to obey posted speed limits. It's just engrained in our car culture minds that being in an automobile means we're supposed to go fast, because cars = freedom and all the car commercials show drivers drifting through empty city streets at 60 mph, so that's what drivers expect their experience will be like too.

Now let's get automated enforcement approved so we can have 24/7, unbiased speed enforcement and really help create a culture of safer driving in our city.

The city should do this every day to improve the quality of life for all of us. People still speed through the light at Davis and Whalley, where that poor little girl was killed years ago, and cruise through most stop signs in Upper Westville. Hit these reckless drivers where it counts and get them off the road if that's what it takes to clean up this city.

Rev Kev, "poor folks" should be driving as respectfully and carefully as all other folks - if anyone chooses to drive recklessly, they live with the consequences (of which, a steep fine is nothing compared to what Lifer and others have experienced). And, Whalley feels like an expressway BECAUSE of the speeding. You have everything backwards. You should be preaching accountability, free will, and civic responsibility.

It would seem that this enforcement activity, funded by state dollars, more than pays for itself. (All the ticket money goes back to State coffers.)

Can we please keep the grants coming? The driving behavior around town is reckless, and often deadly. Calming it down is sure to save lives.

Please show me any car, even police car that travels 25mph on Whalley? That's ridiculous. So, the police were, hitting "cars with the speed checker JUST as they "reached the crest of the hill" with the sign in sight." Was the speed higher before that? Even so, seems kind of crappy to check just as they were able to see the sign. End of the month though, and they maybe have quotas to meet? Next time I'll just speed past them doing 80mph on an illegal dirt bike and they won't do anything!

RevKev, that is funny but you are right. When a road appears to be designed to go 50, it takes a big mental effort to go half that speed. We should combine enforcement in the short run with design changes in the medium and long run.

Heather C.: You are absolutely right. You've got my vote for the next traffic Czar.

AverageTaxpayer: Ninety percent, not all, of the ticket revenue goes to the state. The town keeps yen per cent. In any case, law enforcement should be a cost, not profit center. A major problem in Ferguson was that fines had become a major revenue source for the city. The goal here should be no fines because there are no violations. Of course, there will never be no violations, but if those who do egregiously violate the posted speed limit have a near certainty of a summons, most motorists will modify their behavior. "The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them." -Bobbie Peel

@heather c - yeah, that's hilarious. i work across the street from what is possibly new haven's MOST OSTENTATIOUS crosswalk on whitney ave - raised pavement, zebra stripes, absolutely MASSIVE pedestrian signs, flashing lights, the works. hilariously excessive, you would think, for a downtown business & residence heavy street. a few weeks before covid sent me home for work for the last eighteen months, i tried to cross that particular crosswalk to get a coffee - QUITE responsibly. quite carefully, as ALWAYS - and some dude in a huge truck took massive issue with my wish to traverse the road while those lights were flashing. i was caught in the middle when someone in one lane had stopped appropriately to let me pass, but he did not. i gave him a rude gesture, sorry to admit. this dude pulled over, rolled down his window, & screamed at me "WHEN MY CAR IS MOVING, YOU STOP". again: probably at THE SINGLE MOST OSTENTATIOUS CROSSWALK IN NEW HAVEN. the problem with respect for pedestrians in this city runs real deep. REAL deep. i have incredibly limited sympathy for people who actively choose to ignore posted signage. i don't care what the street seems to "encourage". drivers are informed. drivers know better. it's a matter of what they are accustomed to getting away with & a matter of what consequences they actually expect. i'm a lot more concerned about what was on the minds of the dead pedestrians & cyclists they seem to be near constantly annihilating in our city, hahah, i am so VERY sorry if anyone here feels that's somehow unreasonable.

again @heather - what i should have clarified in my previous comment is like, yeah, whalley should probably be structured differently, sure. it does encourage certain modes of thought, i guess, although my sympathy for that remains very very limited. the point is, even in the streets most ELABORATELY structured to reduce speeding or pedestrian-rights violations, it simply doesn't matter. it's really, really, REALLY not the structure of the streets. it's driver mentality.

I'm luvin the observations by the readers. Wonderful perspectives from everyone stuck watching the madness of others.
I hereby create the citizens traffic commission with the following members:

Traffic czar: Nero (Yes you, the person you nominated gets a close second and is deputy czar in your absence)

Members: Heather C, John Tulin, Smashcat.

Alternate member: RevKev. Great points, but tends to let cars and people's wallets off the hook. Can only attend meeting when another member calls out sick.

Remember that motorists caught speeding in this location were actually driving uphill, so they were hitting the gas pretty hard. It isn't as though they were going down the hill toward the Village and just waiting to tap the breaks.

Driving 40 mph in that section of Whalley Ave is not dangerous. The problem is the speed limit there (like most places in the US) is ridiculously low. The vast majority of drivers completely ignore speed limits in the US for this reason - they aren't there to tell people what the safe speed of travel is, they are there to allow police a reason to pull someone over if they feel like collecting more revenue (as in this case). Like many have pointed out, nothing changes long term with "enforcement drives" like this. All this does is cost people time and money who are unfortunate enough to be caught.

@ NHCritic-- you don't know if 40 mph is safe all the time. 40 mph is the maximum allowed; it is not what you are entitled to. Good drivers adjust for the conditions of the road as needed and we should all obey the limits. Period. But what the heck; we can't even get drivers to put their lights on in fog and rain because they are so dumb they think the lights on are for THEM to see. They don't seem to comprehend that it is also so they CAN BE SEEN. Very reckless and dangerous drivers on our roads

Maybe, if in addition to the fines; licenses could be suspended or revoked, some of our less bright drivers might get the message that the goal is safety not revenue--- we all want to get where we are going -alive. Leave earlier and you won't have to speed.

To expand on 1644's comment on ticket revenues - it's complicated. For speeding and certain other common violations, the municipality gets $20. This can be more or less than 10% of the total ticket revenue, depending on the violation, The split is the same, whether the violation occurs on a local or state road. For all other vehicle violations, the state gets all of the ticket revenue. This OLR memo explains the allocation of revenues from a speeding ticket. https://www.cga.ct.gov/2019/rpt/pdf/2019-R-0285.pdf

The state faces a conundrum when it comes to vehicle fines. If the state transferred part of the existing revenue to municipalities, it would decrease funding for the Special Transportation Fund and the fund that provides compensation for crime victims, among other things. (The STF funds mass transit as well as roads.) On the other hand, if the state raised fines, giving the new revenue to municipalities, this would encourage more people to go to court to contest their tickets. The courts are already clogged.

Anonymous, the last point is also relevant to the penalties you mention. A driver might not contest a $200 ticket if this requires taking a day off of work. They almost certainly would contest a ticket if there was a chance that their vehicle would be impounded.

As others have said here, we need MORE of this. I would love to see this kind of enforcement 7 days a week on our roads. Thank you NHPD! If there is no enforcement, people will do as they please - speeding, not registering their vehicle, driving without insurance, and using those illegal paper tags from whatever state they can buy them. My goodness how I wish this could continue beyond September 6. Honestly, this is the best use of $50k from the state that I can think of. More please!!

The usual picking of the low hanging fruit. This is an easy location to catch speeders. This is an election year, so guess who wants to look good? No doubt many of those caught deserve it, and if they can't afford the fines, too bad. They should learn that their behavior affects others. The big problem here is the lunatics driving on side streets get away with it, and always will. In my experience it's a twenty year old in a souped up twenty year old Honda or Toyota going through red lights, or across roundabouts, or seventy miles an hour along a side street. Get the cops out at known hot spots, and increase fines. Twenty thousand dollars should have some deterrent effect.

"Driving 40 mph in that section of Whalley Ave is not dangerous. The problem is the speed limit there (like most places in the US) is ridiculously low. "

A common misunderstanding about speed limits, typically made by people suffering from bad cases of 'windshield bias' is that speed limits are only about the comfort and (perceived) safety of the driver.

In a densely populated and heavily traveled area like Whalley Avenue, the safety, comfort, and convenience of people walking, riding bikes and simply existing in that space has to be paramount.

smashcat- yes, Whitney Ave is another high risk street with road design encouraging speeding and not prioritizing pedestrian or bike safety. The traffic calming measure road design comments I made about Whalley also go for Whitney, Dixwell, Quinnipiac Ave, Fountain St, Middletown Ave, and I am sure other speedways with State controlled portion roads in and out of the city. Also Ella Grasso Blvd and Route 80 which are semi-highways in and out of the city need more crosswalks and crossing lights and sidewalks and protected bike lanes and bike left turn boxes and also some pedestrian and bike overpass ramp bridges because you need safe routes across them without tying up traffic. For the crosswalk near Audubon on Whitney, I am very familiar with that area. The rise in Whitney Ave over the Farmington Canal and the narrowness of that stretch from Grove to Trumbull should make drivers slow down, but the wideness of Church to Whitney from MLK JR Blvd to Grove and from Trumbull to the Hamden line and even beyond to the Hamden/Cheshire line on Whitney makes drivers feel they have the right to speed. If bike lanes and bike left turn boxes, and raised crosswalks were put in along Whitney and Church at major intersections with heavy pedestrian traffic, then it would help take away that sense of entitlement. Traffic lights that are synchronized to encourage posted speed limits would help drivers stay in check. Narrowing roads with bike lanes that allow for parked car doors to open safely and bus stop pull off lanes to get them out of the travel lane when they stop for passengers helps traffic flow, a shared left turn lane for both directions helps the flow of traffic. Red light running cameras and speed cameras with hefty fines for scofflaws will make it expensive to break the law and would free up police to do more important community policing work. It's really hard to follow the posted speed limits when the road design unconsciously creates higher speeds, road design is key.

William Kurtz: This section of Whalley is populated by copses and corpses.

I believe in equal enforcement of motor vehicle laws. So when is NHPD Going to go back to this.

Jaywalkers Nabbed At Crosswalks


https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/pedestrian_and_cycle_safety_pilot/

"So when is NHPD Going to go back to this.

Jaywalkers Nabbed At Crosswalks


https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/pedestrian_and_cycle_safety_pilot/"

Hopefully never because that was dumb and a complete waste of time.

They could use this technology along Briarwood and Skokorat in Seymour.

Very interesting read from 10 years ago..

posted by: Rob Smuts on September 8, 2011 3:30pm
Safety on our roads is achieved by three methods working together: education, engineering and enforcement. For education, think the "Street Smarts" campaign and all those in-road pedestrian signs. Engineering is the range of physical changes from speed humps to round-abouts. And enforcement is critically important, and certainly has a more immediate impact since changing the physical roads takes a long time because of cost.

From 1998 to 2008, the City averaged 14,717 motor vehicle (MV) citations per year. In 2009, that rose to 25,052 and stayed at 24,297 in 2010. See page 12 and 13 at: http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/ChiefAdministrator/pdf/NHPD 2011 review.pdf for more detail. All the snow in Jan and Feb skewed the numbers for those months, but the annualized rate from Mar-Aug is 25,784 MV citations in 2011.

As for measuring a result, MV accidents with injury or fatality averaged 2,931 from 1998 to 2008. In 2009 they were 2,474; in 2010 2,311; and Mar-Aug annualized would be 2,090 for 2011.

Total accidents: 1998-2008 were 6,220 annually; 2009 saw 5,851; 2010 saw 5,648; and Mar-Aug annualized would see 5,164 in 2011.

We tend to focus on physical changes, but "John Q. Public" is right to focus on enforcement too (if wrong about how the police are doing at it).

Physical changes are a critical part of making safer streets and I am certainly not denigrating their importance, but even if money were no object it would take a long time to build enough to change behavior across the city on their own. Let's be sure to look at all the necessary components together and make informed, data-driven decisions.

• Rob Smuts, Chief Administrative Officer

@Nero Yes you are absolutely right. Please god can this city synchronize the lights instead of whatever nonsensical setup they've had my whole life? Great suggestions from others as well. I don't know if traffic circles/roundabouts are the answer to everything but all sorts of changes could be implemented to make this city more pedestrian friendly and frankly, less frustrating for drivers. If we weren't so atomized we would band together to try to implement some of these.

posted by: William Kurtz on August 30, 2021 5:02pm

"So when is NHPD Going to go back to this.

Jaywalkers Nabbed At Crosswalks


https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/pedestrian_and_cycle_safety_pilot/"
.
Hopefully never because that was dumb and a complete waste of time.

No it is not dumb and a complete waste of time.In fact like I said. New York And Other States Are Using VISION ZERO.What I like about VISION ZERO is responsibility is shared.

Vision Zero is a global movement to end traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by taking a systemic approach to road safety. First implemented as the national road policy in Sweden in 1997, Vision Zero has now been adopted by more than 20 cities around the world.Check this out.Notice this Guy I do not give A Shit

For many New Yorkers, crossing the street in the middle of the block or against the light is a way of life, part of an attitude that tells everybody, 'I'm walkin' here!'

'Of course I jaywalk!' says 70-year-old Peter Standish, a retired corporate attorney and lifelong New Yorker, adding that he occasionally texts, reads and even does crossword puzzles while crossing. 'I do look up often,' he noted.

But with 12 pedestrians deaths so far this year, new Mayor Bill de Blasio is taking aim at that defiant attitude with steps that include increased awareness of the dangers and, in some places, a crackdown on an offense that has been long ignored. Police are actually handing out tickets to jaywalkers.

This is why NYPD Is Cracking Down.They need to do the same here in New Haven



https://visionzerochallenge.org/vision-zero

Many Comments seem to disregard that the article took efforts to point out that drivers were stopped & ticketed for exceeding the speed limit by 20 mph or more. I think that fact should address those who protest that 25 mph is too low a limit, even though it is within city limits and heading into a more congested & busy part of the city.

I live at the bottom of that incline, and frequently I cross Whalley Avenue at West Rock Avenue. I always pause and look both ways before doing so, even though the walk sign lasts for a very short period. A shockingly high number of drivers run the Whalley Avenue red light (traveling in either direction), often doing so at speeds that would be deadly to me if I'd instantly stepped off the curb to cross the street.

Switching focus, I am surprised that - as to Whalley Ave - I'm far more in agreement with @threefifths than with @WilliamKurtz regarding jaywalking.

The stretch of Whalley from roughly Ella Grasso Blvd to Broadway and extending along Elm past the New Haven Green, can be semi-terrifying for a driver, given the prevalence of jaywalking along that path, truly at all hours. But that's not all.

I am a walker (including from downtown along Whalley just last week), an automobile driver, AND a bicycle rider.

Whalley-through-Elm can be a dangerous road for bike riders, BUT it can also be threatening to pedestrians who encounter bicyclists who ride

• against traffic,
  
• not infrequently on sidewalks,
  
• often wearing earbuds,
  
• regularly without helmets, and
  
• commonly without legally required lights when skies are no longer light.
  
  There are good reasons, easily witnessed, for complaints to be lodged against walkers, riders, and/or drivers BY walkers, riders, and/or drivers. No population makes a solidly good showing, and no population is free of concerns for their safety or protection from unexpected potential liability.
  
  Whalley Ave has enough width to accommodate many remediating changes. Currently, it is complex & dangerous