Torringford Street residents risk their lives to get mail

WINSTED — Josephine “Babe” Ochotnicky has been a resident of Torringford Street for all 85 years of her life.Ochotnicky said that for many of those years, the Torringford Street neighborhood was a calm and quiet place to live.However, in the past 15 years, an industrial park has moved in down the road, along with Target and Walmart stores at the end of the street in Torrington. They have brought increased traffic to Torringford Street, with many cars and trucks speeding down the road.Ochotnicky’s mailbox, along with the mailboxes of other residents, are located on the east side of the road, which is across the street from their houses. She said that crossing the street to get the mail has become life-threatening due to the increased traffic.“The mailboxes have always been set up this way, but over the years we have gotten older and traffic has picked up tremendously,” Ochotnicky said. “You have all of this traffic speeding to get down the road. You also have all of the buses and kids going down the road from Northwestern Regional High School. I’m afraid to go across the street to get the mail.”Ochotnicky said that her fear is justified after her neighbor and friend Anthony Cannavo, 83, was killed in early December. The former mayor was hit by a car as he was crossing the street to get his mail.Torringford Street resident Leo Vaccari said he is afraid another accident will happen unless the mailboxes are moved in front of residents’ houses.“I know for a fact that at least 15 residents over the age of 80 have to cross the street to get the mail,” Vaccari said. “It’s very difficult for them to cross the street. An accident like the one that killed Anthony Cannavo can happen again unless something is changed.”Both Vaccari and Ochotnicky said they have contacted the post office to request the mailboxes be moved to ensure the safety of the residents.Christine Dugas, spokeswoman for the United States Postal Service, said that despite residents requests, there will be no changes in mail delivery.“A week after the accident that killed Anthony Cannavo, the district manager ordered a safety review for Torringford Street,” Dugas said. “The decision was made not to move the boxes.”Dugas said the east side of the road, which is where residents are requesting their mailboxes be moved, has a shoulder that is two feet narrower than the west side of the road.“Putting the mailboxes on the west side of the road would be much more dangerous, in our opinion,” Dugas said.Dugas added that residents who have any kind of hardship getting across the road to get their mail can contact the post office to see if they can qualify for hardship delivery.“They would need some medical documentation to do this,” Dugas said. “If they qualify, we can make an arrangement where we can either have a family member pick up their mail or deliver their mail to their house. Every situation is taken on a case-by-case basis.”Dugas said that only one resident applied for hardship delivery since the accident that took Cannavo’s life, but the resident did not follow through with the application process.