West Hartford Council Embarks On Massive Safety Campaign

WEST HARTFORD, CT — West Hartford resident Kelly Hamman-Book would have loved to have walked before the West Hartford Town Council Tuesday to urge pedestrian and traffic safety.

Instead, the Maple Wood Lane resident and nurse at Hartford Healthcare had to be wheeled before the town's top elected board in a wheelchair wearing a neck brace and leg casts.

Her afflictions were what the council unanimously voted to combat later in the meeting as it officially committed the town to the "Vision Zero" initiative, a public policy where the goal is to, simply, eliminate traffic/pedestrian fatalities and severe injuries in town.

Hamman-Book's situation has her in the dubious distinction of being part of the latter.

'People don't feel safe'

On Dec. 17, Hamman-Book was struck and badly hurt while crossing Main Street in a crosswalk.

While speaking to the council Tuesday night, she listed her injuries: two broken legs; two broken cervical vertebrae; two surgeries on the right leg, which may never fully heal; traumatic brain injury; and spinal nerve injuries.

But while Hamman-Book spent 15 days and the recent holiday season in the hospital, five others lost their lives on West Hartford roads — two killed in pedestrian accidents similar to hers Dec. 20 and Dec. 21 as well as three killed in a Christmas Day head-on collision in town.

West Hartford's recent body count has prompted a universal response from community leaders and law enforcers.

"A crosswalk is not the safe place that we told our kids it is in West Hartford right now," an emotional Hamman-Book testified before the council.

She cited examples of drivers speeding through crosswalks and, even, passing cars that have stopped to let pedestrians cross in them.

A mother of elementary school-aged children who walk to school, Hamman-Brook said she and other parents fear for their children's safety amid a deteriorating environment on local roads.

"Parents are saying 'I'm scared to let my kids walk to school right now,'" Hamman-Book said.

She also had a message about why Vision Zero is such a vital plan.

"One thing, its not just the people who died. It's the people who survived too. While my injuries might not have been life-threatening, they're definitely life-altering. And I think that it's really important to recognize that we live in a town right now where people don't feel safe," Hamman-Book said.

'Vision Zero'

Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all, according to town officials.

The resolution approved requires the town manager to appoint a Vision Zero Task Force and regularly make recommendations and report on progress to the council, with a final report due in a year.

There are five, "fundamental principles" regarding the Vision Zero initiative, according to the approved resolution:

• Deaths and serious injuries caused by traffic crashes are preventable.

• Human life and health should be prioritized in all transportation systems and in all aspects of transportation planning and design.

• Human error is inevitable and transportation systems should be forgiving.

• Transportation planning should focus on system-level changes to influence all individual’s behavior.

• Speed is a highly important factor in crash severity.

West Harford Mayor Shari Cantor, a Democrat, said "Vision Zero" is a European-based initiative where municipalities dedicate as many resources as possible to lower deaths and injuries on roadways.

She said New York City was among the first American cities to adopt "Vision Zero" and traffic deaths have been cut by 28 percent in the past four and a half years.

Cantor said adopting "Vision Zero" policies requires an attack on all safety fronts, from better-designed roadways and pedestrian zones to increased traffic enforcement to initiatives to change both pedestrian and motorist behavior.

And, she said, part of doing that requires using concrete data on accident rates, the types of injuries and where and when they're happening, regularly informing the public as well.

"This fairly close group of tragedies, injuries and deaths hit our community very, very hard. We're broken-hearted by it and really shook," Cantor said. "This should not happen and doesn't need to happen and it's up to us to make our roads safer.

"Business as usual is not enough as systemic change is needed to be made for meaningful progress," Cantor said.

All in support

Both the public and council members easily supported the initiative Tuesday night.

West Hartford resident Mary Donegan, an urban planning professor at the University of Connecticut and local pedestrian/bicyclist activist, said aspects of the plan need to be enacted quickly and it just "can't sit on a shelf."

"We're very excited to see these changes coming to West Hartford in the coming months," Donegan said of the organization she belongs to, "Bike West Hartford."

Fern Street resident Ryan Howe said this problem needs to be addressed.

"I think its a problem that's pervasive all around town. It's completely unacceptable that, in a town like this, we as residents can't feel safe," Howe said.

As for council members, it was clear Vision Zero was a purely bipartisan issue, one supported regardless of the letter attached to each public servant's political affiliation.

"When we do budgets, maybe it gets political. This is not a political issue. This is a safety issue," Republican Mark Zydanowicz said. "This is about safety for our town and making sure that we provide an environment that is conducive to living a safe and healthy life here in West Hartford."

Democratic Deputy Mayor Liam Sweeney agreed.

He said he, often, will stand at the edge of a crosswalk with a stroller and/or his children pushing their bikes in town and just watch cars speed through crosswalks.

Said Sweeney, "This is the mentality of the drivers that we're seeing all over the place."

For the full resolution on West Hartford's Vision Zero initiative, click on this link and scroll to Page 402.

From Jan. 9: 'West Hartford Releases More Details In Traffic Safety Initiative'

For more information on the 'Vision Zero' initiative, click on this link.