Residents speak out on traffic safety

WINSTED — Downtown merchants are collecting signatures for a petition asking the town and Winchester Police Chief Robert Scannell to improve traffic safety.The petition was started by resident Karen Jacob, who is an employee at JB Appliance, 500 Main St.A lifelong Winsted resident, Jacob said traffic safety has been a major issue in town for years. “To work for this store, I have to park my car across the street,” she said. “It’s hard to cross Main Street because cars come around the curve fast heading towards Norfolk. It’s much worse at the end of the day when you have people going home because they all go so fast.”Jacob said she sees plenty of speeding drivers going up and down Main Street, with many of them not stopping for pedestrians who are attempting to cross the street in assigned crosswalks.“Over the years, we have had at least three people hit by cars on Main Street,” she said. “People are going too fast.”Jacob’s petition calls for Scannell to make six changes to Main Street speed enforcement: The installation of digital speed measuring signs to be permanently installed at each end of Route 44, pedestrian crossing signs at each crosswalk, “Speed limit strictly enforced” signs throughout Main Street, a reduction of the speed limit to 25 miles per hour, stricter enforcement of the law that prohibits cell phone use while driving and more visibility of police cars on Main Street.As of March 5, the petition had received more than 30 signatures.Scannell said he supports the changes proposed by Jacob, but because Main Street is part of a state road — Route 44 — he has no authority to make many of the changes she proposes.“Speed limit changes cannot be made by me, and the same with traffic lights and signs,” Scannell said. “The State Traffic Commission and the Department of Transportation are the ones in charge of making those changes. If someone comes to me with these requests, I can recommend those changes to the STC and DOT.”Scannell said a problem with Jacob’s proposed changes has to due with lack of funding. “The state would not fund putting up digital speed measuring signs because they are quite expensive. They cost in an excess of $5,000,” he said. “As for pedestrian crossing signs, we need funding for those and permission from the state to put them out there.”Scannell said the pedestrian crossing signs — sandwich boards that were placed at the ends of Winsted’s downtown median strips — cost nearly $500 apiece. The town has previously used the signs; they end up getting destroyed by cars and trucks that run over them.“Plus, we would need cooperation from business owners to put them out in the morning and take them down at night,” Scannell said. “We can’t take them from the police station and put them out because they are cumbersome to transport.”Scannell said that if funding would ever become available he would pursue these proposed changes.“But grant funding has been at a premium and the funding in our proposed budget will not provide for any of these changes,” Scannell said. “If there are any private benefactors out there willing to fund any of these ideas, we would be more than welcome to accept donations.”As for stricter cell phone law enforcement and increased visibility of cars on Main Street, Scannell said that this too involves funding.“It should be noted that the reduction of staffing in the police department reduces the number of opportunities to do any type of proactive work, including proactive traffic enforcement,” Scannell said. “In the past three years, the department has gone from 24 officers to 18 officers, including myself. We have no progress in hiring any new officers. Because of the officer reduction, officers are now spending more time with procedural work, in addition to responding to calls and crimes. We have spent more time being reactive than being proactive.”In the end, Scannell said he appreciates Jacob’s efforts.“I wish more people would come to me with these types of concerns,” he said.