Thanks for commenting. Please pass it on to other residents affected by this issue. Hopefully they will also comment here and/or contact the mayor or city councilor as well.

I shared this page/issue with the group Discussing Fitchburg Now on Facebook as I know some of your Connors St neighbors are part of that group as they helped me find my missing cat this last year. He happened to have gotten himself stuck in a tree in one of their back yards, and through DFN they were able to contact me. This speeding/traffic issue drives me nuts. Coming off of Chalmers one time to come home and a guy got severely @#$% at me because I was taking too long and he floored his car burning rubber around the left side of me. He raced down Abbot, down Patton, and up Connors. That is what caused me to reach out to the mayor and the Leominster & Fitchburg police departments. The FPD said that they could not do anything about what happened at Chalmers because it was technically in Leominster, and LPD never responded to my complaint. The Fitchburg Mayor passed it along to the FPD Chief.

I feel your pain. The Abbott Ave/Patton St/Connors St shortcut is a unique route in that it has direct access from Route 2 AND terminates at a point where there are two problem areas of the city. I have also been passed by speeding cars on my own street. The route is not patrolled and those speeding drivers are well aware of that. This city, like others, has a rampant speeding problem. As residents, we are certainly qualified to register a complaint about anywhere in the city it happens; but, at this point we have a right to complain about what is happening in front of our own doorsteps.

Trevor Bonilla assigned this issue to AJ Tourigny

Thanks. Great to a cruiser sitting on Connors Street today and a few times this last week. Once the road clears up, the cars should be flying. Good hunting!

Though I have seen a cruiser on Connors Street 4 or 5 times over the last few weeks, this continues to be an ongoing problem. Inclement weather tends to slow the cars down a bit. But when the roads are dry, they fly down my street. I have yet to see anyone stopped for speeding. Yet the cars racing (many of them to the projects) continue. Someday I'm sure there will be a car driven into one of the homes on the straight-away section of Connors Street. Any enforcement will take a little time to have an impact. This section of roadway offers direct access from Route 2, bypasses the main roads, provides a shortcut that is generally unpatrolled, and ends at the entrances to problem areas.

Issue 3117606 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

Issue 3115297 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

Cars continue to thunder unabated down Connors Street especially in the mid afternoon and rush hour. However, the problem is rampant city-wide. Speeding, failure to keep to the right, failure to stop at stop signs are the big offenses. The problems are even more severe, as anyone who happens to be driving after 10PM in the city will note. Each resident has to bring attention to these problem on his/her own street to begin with so that enforcement of traffic law will become a higher priority for the city council and the mayor. That is probably the only way the police department will acquire the funding necessary to adequately address the problem.

Now that it's Spring, Connors Street will be converted to a drag strip as cars exit off of Route 2 and use it as a shortcut, roaring down the street during rush hour times. Is there any hope? I think there will be a car in my living room one day.

Mr. Lomaglio, your police department has committed substantial resources addressing the issue of speeding vehicles on Connors Street, and we will continue to do so. Our evening traffic officers have been instructed to make Connors Street a priority. Thank you for your concerns.

There is a need to maintain a record of citizen concern with respect to the problem of speeding in the city. I cannot, in good conscience, elect to "close" an issue that still persists. The problems of speeding, failure to stop, aggressive driving are all widespread and they are acutely felt in the Connors Street area - some so flagrant they defy belief. I've even encountered drivers on the wrong side of the road, forcing me on to the sidewalk or over the gutter. Although I am certain Fitchburg's finest are aware of these problems, it is my responsibility as a citizen to continue to maintain a spotlight on these issues for as long as it takes. It will be incumbent on the city council and the mayor to make the enforcement of traffic law a priority in the city and to more fully empower the police department to at least stop some of these flagrant violators who constitute such a significant risk to other drivers (and often to people who just go out to their mailboxes).

I live on Phillips Passway which is part of the Indianapolis 500 shortcut ie Rt2 to Abbott to Patton to Connors. On Thursday morning between 6am and 7:30am one of these drivers ran over and killed our family cat, Hoymie, and left him in the middle of the road to die alone. My neighbor sent me a text at 7:30am to alert me as her niece reported to her she saw a dead white cat in the road on her way to the bus stop. His body was just short of the stop sign at the intersection of Patton and Connors when the driver should have been slowing down. Thank God it was not one of our children walking to catch the bus!! Nonetheless, our fur babies are part of our family!! We are grieving over our loss. Since buying my house 5 years ago I have been a victim of blatant road rage which I reported to the FPD, I have had drivers honk and drive behind me aggressively because I was going the speed limit, and this past Winter the morning after a major snow storm my plow truck broke down at the intersection of Patton and Abbott. I had my caution lights on and was outside shoveling the poorly plowed road so that cars would be able to pass by. I had drivers yelling and screaming at me because they could not turn left down Patton at their high rate of speed and had to continue down Abbott with one guy flipping me off double digits and screaming F&%$ YOU at me. While the FPD cannot do much about the current state of depravity in society, it would seem pertinent to at least try to do something about the assaults and reckless driving. Perhaps speed bumps could be installed on Patton at the area with all the potholes so they have to slow down coming down the hill before the flat straight away, and install one on flat straight away on the top of Connors. Also speed limit signs, and we love our children signs. I shouldn't have to worry about one of my children dying in the street like our beloved family pet! You can see clearly in the attached picture the pool of blood in relation to the stop sign.

J. Lofton - condolences on your loss. Keep your children safe.
Well as the weather gets nicer and the temps go up, so do the speeds of vehicles barrelling down Connors Street. Yesterday the rush hour was ridiculous. Since the radar cart was placed on Patton Street, I have seen only one cruiser. Half of the drivers don't even pay attention to the radar cart. I have yet to even see a car pulled over on Patton Street or Connors Street since the radar cart was on either street. The only way anyone cares is if there is enforcement. This is a residential zone with closely spaced houses and kids on the street. This is clearly a city-wide problem. But the unique route of Rt.2-Abbott Ave./Patton St./Connors St. presents a particularly significant problem as a highway to city and city to highway shortcut with no way to control the speed of cars.

As a concerned, tax-paying citizen of the city, I can never consider an issue closed when said issue continues to pose a hazard to law-abiding and innocent people of this city. The problems of cars speeding, failing to stop, failing to keep to the right, failing to yield continues on a rampant basis, apparently with little confidence that it will stop any time soon. Rt.2-Abbott Ave./Patton St./Connors St. represents a unique problem logistically. It forms an alternative to South St. and Route 12. It is not patrolled and drivers know it. To the best of my knowledge, the city has 2 traffic officers for a city of 40,000 people and maybe twice that number in automobiles. Obviously, the current approach isn't working on such a large scale problem. It is either underfunded or not as high a priority. Perhaps the State Police might be interested in what is happening on my street. Who knows what they would find after stopping vehicles for traffic violations. My guess is that they would find unlicensed drivers, drugs, etc. It is a backdoor to the city that is never monitored. The key is enforcement. It makes no sense to put an officer on the street at 10AM or on a Sunday afternoon at 3PM or on a holiday. Those times are not representative of the problem. Well, at least the mailbox on my curb opens from the back.

Just to continue the discussion here, last week a vehicle drove off of the road and almost into a house less than half-a-mile from Connors Street. This is an example of exactly what I’m afraid will occur on Connors Street. There’s a good chance that if the house on Canton Street hadn’t been located above a wall, the car would have ended up driving into that house. God help anyone else who might be sitting in a home on street level. There would be nothing to stop a vehicle from impacting such a home or killing someone going out to a mailbox.

This vehicle was traveling uphill and still had so much momentum that it drove over the curb on the opposite side of the street, over a lawn, across a driveway, up and over a stone wall and banking, taking out the wrought iron railings on the house’s front brick steps. Pieces of the car took out a wooden fence on the other side of the yard. How much speed is required to cause such multiple impacts? The answer is “too much.”

Given that this incident occurred a short distance from Connors Street, I consider this to be a neighborhood incident and something that I have been concerned about happening for a long time. Cars are racing down back roads that function as shortcuts in the city. Given its proximity and direction, the Canton Street incident is part of the Abbott Ave./Patton St./Connors St. problem and a prime example of what is happening citywide.

Though I’m well aware that speeding is a serious problem all over the state and throughout the country today, we have to start dealing with it somewhere, sometime and that somewhere has to be where we live - now.

My intention is to keep this issue open until I see sufficient action appropriate to the scale and severity of the problem - which is yet to happen. Otherwise, I'd better hunker down and brace myself for the inevitable vehicle destined to drive into my own home or kill us in the process of getting the mail.

Once again, I'm doing my duty as a resident by continuing to comment on this problem. However, I believe this Clickfix method of reporting problems in the city is completely useless for a problem such as this. The responsibility for ensuring the public safety falls squarely on the shoulders of the mayor and city officials. Obviously the current method of handling the pervasive lack of compliance with traffic law is not up to the task OR city officials do not view it as serious enough to change the way it is handled. Connors Street, like many streets in the city, is a virtual raceway. God help anyone who drives after 10 PM as well. The volume of traffic is less; but the level of offense is even worse. I witnessed a driver run a red light while traveling on South Street at the intersection of Electric Avenue by driving in the oncoming lane past three cars and through the red light, almost hitting the back of my car at a high rate of speed. Failure to yield, failure to stop, failure to keep to the right and speeding sum up the rampant offenses occurring at night, along with even higher rates of speed on Connors Street. The radar cart is a ridiculous piece of equipment unless it is followed up by enforcement. I never saw a driver pulled over on my street after the radar cart had been there. The only true measure of the effectiveness of enforcement practices is the LEVEL OF COMPLIANCE IN THE ABSENCE OF POLICE. Nothing, on average, has the potential to affect more people on an everyday basis than driving a car. The mayor and city council have to make traffic law enforcement a priority in Fitchburg. A two-man police task force to handle 45000 people and maybe twice that number of cars is not enough. It is completely unfair for those of us who attempt to comply with the law to be put at risk every time we get behind the wheel in this city. High traffic volume is the result of long-term demographic trends. It is an unfortunate reality that alone is not inherently dangerous. After all, one can only travel as fast the car in front. The problem is the volume of unsafe, unfit, and non-compliant drivers who pose a risk to the rest of us. So I guess the rest of us just have to buckle up, cross our fingers and make sure our auto, life, and home owner's policies are paid up and hope we won't be victims.

All potentially serious issues having to do with public safety with respect to traffic law enforcement should be forwarded to the mayor and city council. They are the only entities empowered to change the way resources are allocated to enforce the law. These bulletin boards are okay for reporting potholes and missing street signs, etc. However, this option of reporting serious, city-wide problems having to do with such gross disregard for public safety should be reported directly to the officials who can actually make changes to the way things are done in the city.
The problem of speeding cars continues on Connors Street and other city streets. The radar cart was recently placed on Patton Street. It is a useless piece of equipment unless backed up by actual enforcement (and that doesn't mean placing a cruiser in the area for an hour or two). The smart thing to do would be to leave the cart on Patton Street and THEN place a cruiser on upper Connors Street, about half way, to enforce the speed limit on cars coming up the hill to the end of the street.
There HAVE to be other ways to utilize resources to try to reduce the pervasiveness of this problem.

they are not even good for reporting missing street signs. I reported a missing No Parking sign several weeks ago. I has still not even been acknowledged. This used to be a useful way to report some issues. Now they ignore it just like the ignore all the tax paying residents.

Well, my issue has been outstanding for over 300 days according to this site. That is over 300 days (and counting) of speeding cars driving through the neighborhood posing a continuous threat to life and property. This problem has been years in the making and it appears that the issue will be handled in a "business as usual" manner. These complaints should be forwarded to the city council as well. Perhaps they can change the way in which this problem is handled in the city, whether it is through reallocation of resources or some other "out of the box idea." Right now, it seems that a proactive approach of enforcement is not on the table that will be proportional to the severity of this problem. Sometimes I have to ask myself, "What do I get for my taxes in this city?" Apparently the answer is: plowed roads, curb-side trash pickup, and the fire department if my house is on fire. The common link between all those is that they occur AFTER something has happened. I guess I'll have to wait for a car to actually drive into my house or someone to be hit by a car on my street before there is attention. That doesn't sound too fair to me, a person who attempts to comply with the law.

Mr. Lomagilo, your concerns have been outstanding for over 300 days, however they have been addressed daily. Since your very first post concerning traffic related matters, the Fitchburg Police Department has committed substantial resources to address the issue of speeding vehicles. Since your first post dated 12/26/16 the Fitchburg Police Department has conducted 377 motor vehicle stops for speeding. Of the 377 motor vehicle stops 73% resulted in some type of corrective measures. Of the 377 stops 46% of these stops happened between the hours of 4PM and 7PM. Your issue shall NOT be closed and FPD will continue to enforce the speeding violations in your neighborhood. I would suggest voicing your concerns directly to my traffic supervisor, Sergeant Sullivan at 978-516-9367 ext 1267

Chief Martineau,
I have taken time to consider your points.
No citizen could have more respect for the call to serve than I have, the nephew of a 33-year veteran of the Fitchburg Police Department – so much respect as to briefly consider following in his footsteps. That consideration was deterred due to an awareness of what I believed at the time (and continue to believe today) to be profound conflicts of interest. I believe that the political-economic system can impose limits on what might be achievable and, more importantly, needed by police action and this serious issue of rampant violations of traffic law endangering residents’ safety is one of them. The truest measure of compliance with any law is the compliance rate in the absence of police. What I have learned from my family is that my duty as a citizen is as important as your duty as a police officer.

Your response to my post concerns me greatly for many reasons. First, it does not address my concerns regarding MY street. A radar cart without follow up enforcement is useless. Police presence on my street for 1 or 2 hours once or twice a year does nothing to curb the serious violations taking place. I have witnessed a cruiser on Abbott Avenue more rarely than occasionally. That certainly constitutes an occasional police presence “in my neighborhood” as you have said. However, why is Connors Street not given any attention? My street is a key portion of a shortcut in the city for those drivers avoiding South Street and Route 12 entirely. From Route 2 to Patton Street to Connors Street, this shortcut is unpatrolled. There are factors of which I am sure you are aware that make this a unique entry point accessing the city directly from Route 2 without supervision. I have otherwise witnessed very little police presence in my neighborhood.

My other concerns with your response are in regard to your statistics. First, how many stops have actually been conducted “in my neighborhood” in the last year? More importantly, since I am the concerned citizen reporting this issue, how many stops have been conducted on MY street in the last year? You mention that there have been 377 stops since I reported the issue almost one year ago. If that is an accurate number of stops in the city during one year, it represents an average of about ONE stop per day. Is that correct? I am not certain what is more alarming, that there have only been 377 stops during the year or that 377 stops is considered adequate to maintain public safety in a city of 40,000 people and thousands more cars than that. How does the total of 377 stops per year compare with the number of driver-miles PER DAY or the number of driver-hours PER DAY? Per year?

Correcting bad behavior is a messy job and it’s going to take a lot more than 377 stops per year to make a difference. If slightly less than half of those stops occurred during rush hours, that represents an average of one stop every other day. I am not privy to what “substantial resources” means in terms of what has been devoted to this problem, nor in the context of the city’s budget. However, as a driver and resident taxpayer in this city, I can confidently say that whatever it means, it is not enough. I have been passed on the left, tailgated, run off of the road multiple times, had items thrown at me by moving cars and had cars failing to yield, failing to stop, and failing to keep to the right. Those incidents continue to occur every day and become even more flagrant at night.

I feel that concerned citizens and the police department need to be on the same page here. To the extent of being a positive force in this city, it is my duty to report what is happening. True acknowledgement of the scope and severity of the problem is imperative. Only then can current measures be evaluated accurately and appropriate changes made to effectively deal with this problem because right now, it isn’t working. The best example of the ineffectiveness of the current approach is the incident of a car almost launching into a house on Canton Street. That, if nothing else, should be a wake up call. If we are not in agreement in terms of what is really happening and why, problems will not be solved. It may serve to look at the city of Cambridge to see what it has done to deal with rampant speeding and traffic volume in residential neighborhoods as a result of neighborhood streets being used as shortcuts during rush hour. Their experience appears to parallel what we are experiencing on some Fitchburg streets, especially Patton and Connors streets, which are tucked between South St. and Route 12.
I will be in contact with Sgt Sullivan soon.

To all interested in this issue:
I'd like to note that a cruiser was finally positioned on Connors Street on February 1st in the afternoon. I was encouraged when I saw the traffic officer stopping vehicles (about 3 vehicles during the 1 - 2 hours he was here). I also feared for the officer's safety as he was doing his job, since drivers were speeding as they approached him. I am certain he must have been a bit surprised to see the number of vehicles traveling on a residential/neighborhood street and at the speeds they were traveling.

I have not seen another cruiser on Connors Street stopping vehicles since that day. Now that Spring is coming, vehicle speeds will be increasing as a consequence of roads unimpeded by snow. I hope to see future instances of cruisers stopping speeding vehicles on my street - or even surrounding streets.

In terms of this problem in general, Fitchburg should consider the actions of two other Commonwealth cities, Cambridge and Worcester. Cambridge has instituted a ban on nonresident traffic traveling through neighborhoods being utilized a shortcuts during the rush hours. It may seem drastic, but residents' safety is at stake and this is an answer to drivers who have no regard for public safety. These drivers are not simply driving 5 MPH over the limit. They are traveling 15 or 20 MPH over the limit and pose a risk to people even when residents are in their homes. The other major city attacking this problem is Worcester. See the attached picture. The city is calling for a halt to city-wide speeding. The city of Fitchburg should be looking to these examples as models of action. Plans should be put into place to appropriate the funds necessary to curb this dangerous trend.

Residents of upper Connors Street would appreciate some renewed police presence on UPPER Connors Street toward Wanoosnoc Road to combat the continued use of the Abbott Ave.-Patton St.-Connors as a highway off-ramp from Route 2. Considering the recent hit-and-run on Abbott Ave., it's obvious that this problem continues.

This issue has represented a significant problem in the city that has existed for quite some time. Connors Street is part of a short-cut that experiences a high frequency of lawless drivers. Just yesterday I witnessed a vehicle traveling toward Wanoosnoc Road PASS another vehicle at a high rate of speed. That speeding vehicle had to be traveling at least 50 mph and raced to the end of the road only to find himself behind another car waiting at the end of the street. This is ridiculous!. The volume of speeding cars continues to increase. Residents of Connors Street need some consistent traffic law enforcement before some tragic event occurs. The current situation is not acceptable.

It would be nice if they would paint yellow lines in the middle of Connors street so people would stay on their side of the road.

I too have been driven off of the road numerous times in Fitchburg. I've also been passed on the left on city roads. I'm not sure these drivers would care about or even see yellow lines on the road. All we can do is hope that we can get out of their way in time before we get killed. One of the many problems on Connors Street is that it is used as a short cut by speeding drivers trying to avoid Rt 12 or South Street and they're coming down Abbott Ave to Patton Street to Connors Street and they know it is not patrolled. We need some consistent enforcement on upper Connors Street during rush hour. It is a unique entrance into the city - who knows what they'd catch if they patrolled it regularly. Stay safe Lynn B and let your neighbors know about posting here for this problem so that when I contact city councilors they will see many concerned citizen complaints.

If this issue persist we should open a new ticket.

For whatever good it does, we should open a new ticket since the issue has never been addressed and is worse than ever. I registered this issue 3 years ago and saw one cruiser on upper Connors Street for a mere 2 hours on one day in 3 years. The response from the city falls pitifully short from even barely adequate action.