Connecticut State Police have more than doubled the number of their traffic stops this year as part of an effort to combat the reckless driving and traffic fatalities that seem to have become endemic since the pandemic year of 2020.
State troopers made 68,196 stops of non-commercial vehicles as of Tuesday, compared to 26,030 for all of 2023, said Ronnell Higgins, who took over in November as the commissioner of emergency services and public protection.
More than 35,000 of the stops this year were for reckless driving, speeding or traveling unreasonably fast.
“So it’s really been a full court press, a focused approach, utilizing data and holding people accountable,” Higgins said Wednesday. “They’re doing it, and I’m proud of them for doing it, and we want to keep it up.”
All police agencies in Connecticut reported a precipitous drop in traffic stops in 2020, when COVID-19 exploded and police were on the defensive after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Higgins said the increased stops by his troopers was by design, not happenstance.
“It was clear direction,” Higgins said. “I’m the commissioner. They’re sworn law enforcement. That’s our work. If not us, then who?”
Overall, traffic stops reported by all police agencies in Connecticut fell from 513,000 in 2019 to 242,000 in 2020, according to numbers analyzed by CTData.org. They have increased each year since to 313,000 in 2022, still significantly below the pre-pandemic numbers.
Traffic fatalities reached a 40-year high of 366 in 2022 and fell to 310 in 2023. As of Oct. 2, the state had 245 fatalities, an average of 27 every month. If that pace continues, the state will end the year with about 327 deaths.
Higgins spoke to reporters Wednesday at a press conference with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, Gov. Ned Lamont and others about efforts to tame reckless driving. He noted there were local incidents in the previous 48 hours of men arrested after being clocked at speeds of 100, 120 and 126 miles per hour.
More than 35,000 of the state police stops this year were for reckless driving, speeding or traveling unreasonably fast.
Higgins said a pilot program for enforcing speed limits with cameras in highway construction zones has been a success.
“In 2023, there was an 18% drop in average speed in construction zones during a pilot program in Norwalk and other communities. Speed matters,” Higgins said. “The Connecticut State Police is tracking when and where and what days of the week fatalities are most frequent, and we are focusing our resources there, using specialized enforcement.”
The state police traffic unit has focused on data-driven hot spots such as I-91 between New Haven and Hartford, I-84 from Hartford to the Massachusetts line, Route 9 from New Britain to Middletown and Route 8 from Waterbury to Torrington.
“The pandemic changed us all, but what we’ve seen change on our roadways is especially concerning, from speeding to distracted driving, to impairment and wrong-way driving,” said Laoise King, the deputy transportation commissioner. “We are employing a range of strategies to prevent these deadly behaviors.”
The state DOT has been installing new signage and other safety measures at on-ramps to protect against wrong-way drivers and recently begin a public-education campaign focused on fatalities.
Murphy, who makes an annual walk across Connecticut, said he is especially sensitive to traffic. He recently asked the U.S. Department of Transportation for recommendations on further strategies in Connecticut.
“I have a group of middle schoolers that I meet with on a regular basis in my neighborhood in the South End of Hartford,” Murphy said. “They talk to me all the time about their safety fears, and they have two safety fears: one, the fear of gun violence; and two, the fear of erratic drivers.”