Nov. 23 – On Oct. 28, a road construction crew working in a closed lane of Interstate 95 in North Stonington watched as a driver passed warning signs and flashing lights into the work area.
When an officer activated his flashing lights, the driver, later determined to be under the influence, stopped in the middle of the highway and blocked traffic. The driver, 46-year-old John Jimenez, fell asleep while the trooper waited for backup. He was arrested for driving under the influence and drug possession, among other things.
On Oct. 9, a 57-year-old Groton man was driving north on the southbound side of I-95 when he collided with a southbound vehicle in Westbrook. Mark Palumbo, 47, of Madison was killed. Troy Bree of Groton, who police said was driving the wrong way, was arrested for driving under the influence. Further charges in connection with the death are pending.
These examples of drunk, distracted and aggressive drivers are numerous and are being highlighted as part of an ongoing campaign by State Police to highlight what they face on state highways today.
The number of fatal crashes in Connecticut this year is on pace to surpass last year’s numbers, despite a months-long initiative against threats on the state’s roadways.
As of Nov. 12, there were 297 fatalities on state highways, more than the 268 fatalities reported during the same period last year. In addition to the 160 drivers or passengers, 74 motorcyclists, 59 pedestrians and four cyclists have been killed so far this year.
State police spokesman Sgt. Luke Davis said the Fatal Mitigation Initiative has been underway since March and involves assigning additional patrols to supplement daily patrols across the state. The soldiers are working overtime and conducting concentrated traffic patrols.
State police conducted 95,781 traffic stops in 2023 and as of Oct. 1, 2024, there were 77,133, about a quarter of the number of stops before the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear whether traffic stops will increase this year as updated figures were not immediately available. State police, which inadvertently published incorrect statistics last month due to a software glitch, said updated numbers are on the way.
State police are highlighting dangerous drivers
In addition to traffic patrols, Davis said his office is continuing a campaign to highlight the work of troopers and the circumstances that lead to arrests. The state police news website www.cspnews.org is chock full of examples of bad behavior on the roadways.
A typical example is the arrest on November 5 of 20-year-old Kodi Vining from Lebanon. A state trooper was on patrol on Route 2 in Lebanon when he spotted a car aggressively weaving through traffic and traveling between 120 and 130 mph. After leaving the highway, police said, Vining’s car reached speeds of 75 mph on a back road with a posted speed limit of 30 mph. Vining eventually stopped and was charged with reckless endangerment and reckless driving.
Davis said police have not changed their approach to passing potentially dangerous drivers and follow a national policy that allows police to pursue fleeing vehicles only if they pose a danger to the lives of others.
The policy also allows police to pursue a vehicle if they have reason to believe someone in the car has committed a violent crime. Traffic violations alone are not grounds to pursue a fleeing vehicle, according to the policy.
Davis said police use a variety of tactics to charge a driver suspected of a motor vehicle-related crime, such as driving under the influence. Either the driver stops within a reasonable time, or the police are forced to obtain an arrest warrant and catch up with the offender at a later time.
There were a total of 310 fatalities on state highways last year, 366 in 2022 and 302 in 2021, according to data from the state Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office.
Speeding is responsible for approximately one-third of all traffic fatalities nationwide each year. In Connecticut, 115 of the 366 traffic fatalities in 2022 were speeding, the DOT said.
Davis said police are experiencing what he called a societal shift and that drivers are “pushing the boundaries” with bad behavior and endangering lives.
Eric Jackson, executive director of the Connecticut Transportation Institute, said traffic enforcement in Connecticut is at an all-time low at a time when aggressive driving appears to be at an all-time high.
Jackson said DOT speed monitors across the state show that the number of vehicles traveling faster than 80 mph before 2020 was less than 0.5%. After the pandemic, Jackson said, monitoring shows 10% of vehicles traveling faster than 80 mph.
“We have seen a dramatic increase in vehicle speeds and many fatalities due to aggressive driving,” he said.
Meanwhile, Davis said the number of state troopers has also decreased. While the state once had a mandate of 1,248 men, its troop numbers are in the mid-20th century. It’s a recruiting problem, Davis said, and something that’s being experienced nationally.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, police statewide were conducting 500,000 traffic stops annually, up from about 313,000 in 2022, according to data collected by CTData.org. Because there is less police enforcement, Jackson said “the fear of getting caught is very, very low.”
“There is no stick,” Jackson said.
Why are the tickets sold out?
State Rep. Greg Howard, R-Stonington, a Stonington police detective and ranking member of the Public Safety and Security Committee, said he thinks overall enforcement has declined in part because of state Democrats’ policies.
Howard has opposed policies from fellow lawmakers that he says are harmful to police work, such as a bill proposed earlier this year to ban police from stopping vehicles for secondary violations, such as darkened windows or broken taillights.
Supporters of the bill said these stops could lead to over-policing of brown and black drivers. Howard said it was yet another attempt to ban police from carrying out their duties at a time when enforcement and traffic stops have already declined significantly.
The state’s Police Accountability Act of 2020, passed at a time when Howard said anti-police sentiment was at an all-time high, rolled back protections for police from lawsuits. The result, Howard said, has been a drop in morale and a corresponding drop in traffic stops that had already decreased during the pandemic.
“The country and especially this state have demoralized the law enforcement profession in 2020. I’m not sure this will ever recover,” Howard said. “If you look at any company, they will tell you that when morale in the company is low, productivity decreases. Right now morale is in the basement, you have to expect things like this to decrease.”
Howard also thinks new reporting requirements, upgrades in technology including body cameras and other factors have become so burdensome that there is less time to perform traditional police duties. Police are swamped with other time-consuming responsibilities, he said.
“I think while the number of traffic stops increases a little, it’s not enough to have a significant effect,” Howard said.
Jackson said he has heard anecdotally that the police accountability law may have served as a deterrent for police.
“Anyone driving 85 or 90 mph is not going to care about it because they don’t want that interaction with the driver or they risk being the next viral video,” Jackson said.
The Connecticut Transportation Institute, at the University of Connecticut, has staff who analyze traffic-related numbers and look at trends. Why people drive more aggressively is the subject of speculation, but Jackson said he thinks people’s attitudes have changed during the pandemic. There were fewer drivers on the road and less enforcement. People who were already dealing with the risk of death from illness apparently saw less risk on the roads.
One alarming trend this year, Jackson said, is the number of pedestrian deaths, which he said is on track to reach a record high this year. Last week, Jackson said, there were 59 pedestrian deaths.
Part of the answer to the decline in proactive enforcement, according to Jackson, is automation. Some municipalities are exploring the idea of red light or speed cameras thanks to legislation passed in 2023 that allows the use of the new technology.
g.smith@theday.com
Statistics from the Fatal Mitigation Initiative
Speeding offenses to date (January-October)
From January to October 2024, Connecticut State Police issued 19,607 speeding citations, an estimated increase of 229 citations compared to the same period in 2023.
Reckless driving charges to date (January-October)
From January to October 2024, Connecticut State Police issued 993 reckless driving citations, an estimated decrease of one charge compared to the same period in 2023.
Source: Connecticut State Police
