Update: Pedestrian Identified In Fatal Whalley-Ramsdell Crash

When Whalley Avenue was widened 12 years ago, everyone know that multiple pedestrian deaths and serious injuries each year would be the direct result.

The street is designed as a highway, even though it passes right through a densely-populated district with thousands of residents within a few blocks who are elderly, disabled, children, or persons with limited income who do not own cars. There are few places on the planet that would design roads like this in urban areas like this.

ConnDOT said that the 25 mile per hour signs would help, but then proceeded to design the road in a way that makes it easy for drivers to cruise through at 50 miles per hour. ConnDOT should be sued for dozens of counts of injury and negligent homicide.

I one hundred percent agree with anonymous' comment! We need the state to redesign the state roads in cities and towns in residential areas and pedestrian/bicycle riders frequented commercial areas with traffic calming, pedestrian and bicycle safety as a top priority. We need to hold the state responsible for road design that prioritizes moving vehicles rapidly and smoothly at the expense of the residents safety in the city or town that they live and work in.

100%.

The only way to prevent these deaths is to change the infrastructure to one that doesn't encourage deadly behavior.

Was the stated goal of the DOT in the widenibg of Whalley at Ramsdell really so vehicles could go faster?

So 12 years ago the state widened Whaley ave and you want to sue the state because there have been three deaths in the past year? Maybe the city should take the responsibility for their poorly time traffic signals, and have the pedestrian phase come up every time even though there is no one around. New Haven has the highest pedestrian deaths in the state because their failed experiments. Maybe the victim's families should sue New Haven. Seems they might want to look at what they did this past year that helped to cause these unfortunate deaths.

Very sad and unneccesary.

I'm with Budman, doesn't seem like a state problem but a city problem. Also, people need to take accountability for themselves. I'm not referencing this latest sad death because none of us know the details. I am referencing the thousands of morons who walk in New Haven, cross during green lights, who NEVER use crosswalks properly and for those that don't even both to press the button to bring up the crosswalk signs.

We live in lets all play the victim society and it's nauseating, especially in the state of C.T. and New Haven. I invite those of you commenting about the state to go and sit at any major intersection and observe the timing of these traffic control signals. Look at the timing of some of the crosswalk signals. It's not rocket science but for some reason the City of New Haven can't get these issues corrected. This city continues to be a black hole of obscurity and ineffective leadership on all levels.

It's a state of CT problem because these crashes primarily keep happening on state controlled roads. The state designed these roads for the priority of vehicles, and did not take into account pedestrian or cyclist safety in their road designs. The city has little control over state controlled roads, and is at the mercy of the state.

@elmcitybornandraised, when a negligent pedestrian has the same capacity to kill and maim as a negligent driver, ONLY then will it make sense to blame pedestrians for their violent deaths at the hands of drivers. When driving in a highly populated urban area, drivers should expect that there will be children, slow-moving seniors, cyclists, and other kinds of unpredictably moving human beings on and near the roadway. Accordingly, they should drive under the speed limit, put away their phones, and stop at red lights (no matter how inconveniently timed they may be)! Likewise, road design should take these vulnerable users into account. This is not a "play the victim society," it's just basic humanity and common sense.