Courtney Luciana photo
Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez at Thursday’s press event: This can save lives
New Haven police are rolling out a new effort to combat distracted driving.
It is doing so through a $56,268 grant through an awareness and enforcement program called Connect2Disonnect. The city is undertaking the program in conjunction with the Connecticut Department of Transportation Highway Safety Office and the United States Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Officials announced the effort at a press conference held Thursday on the steps outside police headquarters.
New Haven had 5,000 motor vehicle crashes in 2020, with a total of 19 fatalities. So far in 2021 there have been 1,323 crashes in New Haven, including four fatalities, two of whom were pedestrians. The latest pedestrian death occurred earlier Thursday.
Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez said the department has heard the community’s call for increased enforcement of motor vehicle laws.
“This grant gives us the ability to have more resources on the street and to be able to target more of the shifts of motor vehicles. These groups work during the day, but now we’re able to put them on the evenings or put them on the weekends under this grant,” Dominguez said. “It’s really a great opportunity to have more visibility and target specific things that we know lead to fatalities and motor vehicle crashes.”
The NHPD Traffic Unit plans to focus on hot spots like Howard Avenue, Foxon Boulevard, Grand Avenue, Whalley Avenue, and Route 80.
Dominguez said that aside from texting and driving, people also tend to run red lights and speed due to the lack of enforcement.
“It’s really a great opportunity to have more visibility and target specific things that we know lead to fatalities and motor vehicle crashes,” Dominguez said. “It’s all of these little things that we can fix. Even if it’s just education through talking face to face with the officers, I think if it changes the behavior of one person, it’s going to decrease accidents.”
The grant is specifically for motor vehicle enforcement and education.
Those who are pulled over due to distracted driving will faces a $150 fine. State law prohibits holding a cell phone while driving.
Mayor Justin Elicker compared the need to raise awareness of deadly distracted driving to the work advocates did decades OK to raise awareness of deadly drunk driving.
“It’s so important to keep our community safe by being responsible. We all know this, but we’re still attracted to check out our phones when we’re at a stop light and driving,” Elicker said. “Pull over, put your car in park, send a text message, put your phone away, and then drive again. You could make a mistake that costs someone their life just because you want to check out your phone.”
Lt. Stephan Torquati at Thursday’s event.
Deputy Patrol Commander Lt. Stephan Torquati said the department has already begun stepping up enforcement after receiving the grant several months ago.
“Now in April we’re going to do double the efforts,” Torquati said. “Distracted driving is preventable. All you’ve got to do is put your phone down and you can prevent getting into an accident.”