Stamford Officials Plan To Address Safety On Wire Mill Road

STAMFORD, CT — In the wake of the fatal crash involving a pedestrian and a marked police car on Wire Mill Road in Stamford two weeks ago, city officials are planning to review the safety concerns of the roadway and implement solutions in the near future.

Stamford's Vision Zero Task Force met last week and discussed the crash that killed the Rev. Tommie Jackson on the afternoon of July 26.

Police said Jackson, 69, had just retrieved mail from his mailbox on Wire Mill Road around 4 p.m. when he was struck and killed by a police car driven by officer Zachary Lockwood, 24, who was responding to a call for service.

Police noted a right-hand curve in the road near where the crash took place. Wire Mill Road runs from High Ridge Road to Long Ridge Road near the Merritt Parkway.

The Connecticut State Police are handling the investigation into the incident.

Last September, Mayor Caroline Simmons launched a Vision Zero initiative with the goal to eliminate all traffic fatalities and injuries by 2032. A task force made up of technical advisors, transportation and engineering officials, as well as public safety officials and community advocates, was formed.

During last week's monthly task force meeting, Stamford Director of Public Safety, Health and Welfare Lou Derubeis urged the public to be patient with the investigation and the gathering of facts.

"It's my experience that these types of investigations are fairly lengthy, and it could take at minimum several months to get some initial information back," he said.

Rather than wait for the investigation to be complete before roadway safety is looked at, Board of Representatives member Ashley Ley (D-20) asked if some measures could be implemented now.

She said the safety of Wire Mill Road "has been a concern for an extended period of time," especially in the last six months since there have been more vehicles utilizing the road because of nearby bridge projects.

Ley noted a number of comments she has received from the public about safety measures city officials could look at adding, such as speed bumps, moving mailboxes to both sides of the road instead of just one, clearing brush to improve sightlines, adding mirrors around sharp corners, and increasing speed enforcement and adding speed signs.

"To the extent that we can advance any of these suggestions before the investigation is complete, I really think we should do so. There is a sense of urgency in the neighborhood to see these traffic improvements done sooner rather than later," Ley said. "They are things that were asked about prior to this incident, and there has been a lot of increase of traffic on that roadway with the [two nearby bridge projects]."

Stamford Transportation, Traffic & Parking Department Director Frank Petise said some of the suggestions can be looked at "in the near future" since they're independent of the fatal pedestrian crash and part of the regular traffic calming complaints the department has received over time.

Ley also mentioned revisiting a report that was put together in 2020 by the transportation department that looked at safety improvements on Wire Mill Road after the road was paved.

Petise noted some improvements were made to the roadway, such as the addition of white edge lines to narrow travel lines, and updated signage denoting curvatures.

"We're definitely going to be revisiting that study," Petise said.

Luke Buttenweiser, chair of the Vision Zero Task Force and a member of the city's transportation department, said the Simmons administration is already looking to see how to work with the post office to relocate mailboxes on Wire Mill Road.

Ley suggested putting together more information and a timeline to keep the public updated on improvements to Wire Mill Road.