Looking west on Pearl at Lincoln
Would a Yale School of Management student have been struck last week by a vehicle near the intersection of Lincoln and Pearl streets if the speed limit were below 25 miles per hour?
That question was more than academic when neighbors described it this week, because the state is considering a bill to allow cities to drop limits below that 25 mile-per-hour threshold.
That question was engaged Monday night at the regular meeting of the East Rock Community Management Team (ERCMT), which drew 20 neighbors and officials to the community room of the mActivity Fitness Center on Nicoll Street.
In her report to constituents, Downtown/East Rock Alder Abby Roth referenced House Bill No. 6590 recently referred out of the Transportation Committee and due to have a public hearing in Hartford Wednesday.
The proposed bill would “allow local traffic authorities to establish lower speed limits on streets under their jurisdiction by holding a public hearing regarding such speed limits and providing notification of such speed limits to the Office of the State Traffic Administration.”
“I think this would be great for New Haven, especially on the smaller streets,” said Roth, in whose neighborhood the recent accident occurred.
Ever since 1901, when Connecticut became the first state to set motor vehicle speed limits — 12 mph in cities and a blazing 15 mph in rural areas—that power has remained in Hartford.
Yale community outreach police officers Martha Cedeno-Ross and Martin Parker, affectionately known as M & M.
Roth said that city Transportation, Traffic, & Parking Director Doug Hausladen had alerted alders to remind their constituents, if they cared about the issue, to engage the delegation with letters and other communications.
Roth said she thinks the power to lower current speed limits would make a big difference around schools and on smaller residential streets that become problematical at rush hour.
There was little disagreement about the inherent worth of the proposal. If you’re hit by a car at lower speeds, your chances of survival and with fewer injuries are greater.
ERCMT Secretary Deborah Rossi raised practical questions: “The police can’t do traffic enforcement already. So what good is knocking the limit down to … five miles an hour?” she asked rhetorically.
Yale police officer Martin Parker, who was attending the meeting with his policing partner Martha Cedeno-Ross, endorsed the idea. “It would alleviate speeding problems,” he said.
“It is a great idea, it’s fantastic on paper,” Rossi replied. “But is it practical when so many laws already aren’t enforced?”
ERCMT Vice Chair Kevin McCarthy reminded neighbors that new lower regulations could apply only to city roads, not to thoroughfares like Whalley Avenue, for example, where the state maintains jurisdiction.
Which roads would be candidates for the lower speed limits?
“They present it before the Police Commission,” said District Manager Lt. Manmeet Colon.
The “they” is Hausladen, either on his own initiative, based on traffic studies of areas, or at the suggestion of neighbors and alders. The Board of Police Commissioners, which doubles as the Traffic Authority, then has the power to make the final decision.