Description
This is the state of driving behavior and traffic enforcement in New Haven:
It is the Wild West! I was commuting in this morning heading south on Orange Street. At the busy Willow Street intersection, two cars ran the red light heading west on Willow Street. I then noticed that there were TWO NHPD cruisers stopped at the light on Orange Street heading north. Neither one of them pulled over either red light runner. (And neither officer appeared to be on another emergency call as they both drove away, lights off, with traffic when the light turned green.)
This summarizes where we've come to with traffic safety and traffic enforcement in New Haven.
This is not normal. We have accepted the normalization of this behavior: both the incredible number of drivers running red lights and stop signs or talking/texting on their phones while driving, AND the frequent lack of traffic enforcement by the NHPD.
This does not happen everywhere in the state. This does not happen everywhere in the country.
What can we do to change the cycle?
5 Comments
JohnH (Registered User)
meredith.miller (Registered User)
N (Registered User)
N (Registered User)
Jim Farnam (Registered User)
New Haven does not have red light cameras now -- there was an attempt to secure state authorization needed a couple of years ago that failed. Some people are worried about them as an invasion of privacy. I have also heard that they can cause rear end accidents when people suddenly put on their brakes at a light to avoid the ticket.
I have noticed an uptick in red light running, too-- today I saw a car brazenly run the red going south on State at Grand, taking advantage of a pedestrian walk signal.