State lawmakers announced April 10 that rumble strips will be installed in the center lines of a deadly stretch of Roosevelt Drive in Derby.
The grooves in the road are designed to alert motorists if they are drifting into oncoming traffic while driving through “Pink House Cove,” an unforgiving and curvy portion of Roosevelt Drive from roughly Cullens Hill Road to Lakeview Terrace. The photo shows the aftermath of a crash from Nov. 2012.
There is debate among the public and public officials as to what contributes to the crashes within that approximate 1‑mile stretch of road.
The public, at least the residents who post on the Valley Indy Facebook page, blame speeding motorists.
Public officials, including state transportation employees and local police, put the cause on distracted drivers.
Whatever the cause, the fact is four people were killed in crashes within the Pink House Cove section between 2010 and 2013, including Nicole McDonald, a 25-year-old Seymour mother who died after a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer last July.
McDonald left behind a husband and an 8‑year-old daughter.
In October, her estate put the City of Derby on notice in the form of a letter warning that a lawsuit could be coming.
The reason? Roosevelt Drive’s “defective condition,” its inadequate line of sight, inadequate warning signs, inadequate road shoulder and, in general, the road’s “defective design,” according to the letter from the McDonald estate to Derby.
The lawsuit was contingent upon the conclusion of a police investigation into the crash that killed McDonald.
McDonald’s lawyer, Peter M. Dreyer, did not return repeated calls for comment over the last two weeks.
However, Derby police said Monday the investigation into the fatal crash determined that McDonald was at fault for the wreck, and that a toxicology report revealed the presence of morphine in her system. Police also noted she did not have a driver’s license at the time of the crash.
The rumble strips are expected to be installed at some point this month, according to a press release Thursday from Theresa Conroy, Themis Klarides and Joseph Crisco.
“If it saves one life from an accident, then it will be well worth it,” Conroy said April 10.
There were 27 accidents between Cullens Hill Road and Lakeview Terrace (Pink House Cove) between 2007 and 2011.
There were four crashes within Pink House Cove in 2011, but 2012 saw 11 crashes.
The idea for rumble strips have been kicking around since at least late 2012, after the Valley Council of Governments, Derby police and officials from the state DOT held a meeting to discuss safety issues on the road.
Click here for an in-depth story the Valley Indy published about the issue last year.
In July 2013, lawmakers sent a letter to the DOT asking them to look at potential safety improvements Route 34 from the Stevenson Dam in Oxford to Derby.
The DOT opted to make Pink House Cove part of a pilot program in which the state uses rumble strips to make roads safer.
A 2005 National Cooperative Highway Research Program study concluded that center-line rumble strips can reduce head-on and sideswipe injury crashes by 25 percent.
In Washington state, center-line rumble strips reduced “crossover collisions” with serious or fatal injuries by 57 percent.
But the public, and some local public officials, were underwhelmed by the DOT’s decision to put in rumble strips.
While many decry speeding on the road, officials point out that speed enforcement is up to local law enforcement.
“These safety improvements are welcome news – but it is still important to slow down on Route 34,” Conroy’s press release said. “I am happy DOT heard our voices, looked and the accident data and acted.”
David Lenart is the chief of the Derby Storm Ambulance Corps. He said Roosevelt Drive is tough because the road’s composition within Pink House Cove lends itself to head-on crashes.
Lenart is also a Derby Alderman.
“It’s a start, but they can, and should, do better,” Lenart said in a message April 10.
Rick Dunne is the executive director of the Valley Council of Governments. He’s been pushing for safety improvements of some kind for years, even using social media to solicit suggestions from motorists.
“I’m very, very happy about (the rumble strips). That was the main, initial recommendation from our review,” Dunne said. “We thought it would provide the best, immediate notice to drivers when their vehicles were crossing over into the oncoming lane.”
Len Greene, Jr., lives on Route 34 and is a member of the Seymour Board of Selectmen, as well as a former state lawmaker. He has also been critical of the DOT for dragging its feet regarding Route 34. Safety improvements are also needed on the road in Oxford and Seymour, Greene said.
“I’ve had two accidents in my front yard. It seems that every few weeks there’s an accident on that stretch somewhere between Oxford and Derby,” Greene said.
Conroy said she hopes to convince the DOT to eventually install rumble strips on other parts of the road, and she’ll push for more improvements for the road next year.
