Shelton lawmakers said Friday they will request crash data to determine whether there is a pattern among a spate of car wrecks on Route 8.
The effort comes after a Stratford woman died near exit 13 on Thursday (May 7).
According to state police, Caroline M. Walls, 62, was driving a Honda Civic north when she veered into the center median, went through a guardrail, entered the southbound side of the highway and crashed into the side of a Saab sedan.
The Saab’s driver had minor injuries, state police said.
Walls died from blunt force trauma to the neck and head, according to the state Medical Examiner’s Office. Her death has been ruled an accident.
State police are investigating what caused Walls to lose control of her vehicle.
Emergency responders at the scene reported a person was in cardiac arrest, which led to speculation on social media that Walls lost control because of a medical issue.
However, that has not been determined — and victims can go into cardiac arrest from the trauma of serious accidents.
“The case is currently under investigation,” state police said in a written statement.
Valley Indy Facebook readers — and several EMS workers — have said Route 8 in Shelton between 12 and 14 has become increasingly accident-prone.
Thursday’s crash was one of 30 that have resulted in injuries to drivers or passengers or lane closures along Route 8 in Shelton since Nov. 1, 2014.
But specific data about crashes in the area was not available for confirmation Friday.
A state Department of Transportation spokesman referred the Valley Indy to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository, run by the University of Connecticut, but the site was offline for maintenance.
On April 25, a 31-year-old Naugatuck man was heading north in his 1997 Buick Park Avenue near exit 13 at about 7:45 a.m. when he veered off the highway and crashed into the trees in the median. State police said in a statement they do not know what caused the wreck.
On April 6, a 20-year-old North Carolina man was thrown from the vehicle in which he was a passenger. Police said speed probably played a role in that wreck, which also happened on Route 8 north near exit 13. That car also smashed into trees.
In January, a 33-year-old Winsted woman was seriously injured on Route 8 north near exit 13 after a crash involving a tractor-trailer.
State Lawmakers Check In
Rep. Jason Perillo said he’s reached out to the state to get more data on crashes on the highway.
He said he’ll look at the data before determining whether to ask the DOT to look into the issue more.
“Once we get some numbers from the state it will give us some direction on whether or not there’s the need for action down the road,” Perillo said. “Then we would start a conversation with DOT to see if there’s a need for some changes to design.”
Rep. Ben McGorty said Friday he’ll also be looking into the matter.
Residents and Valley Indy readers point to the fact motorists on Route 8 north often use a third lane reserved for slow-moving vehicles as a speedway to get around traffic. But the lane ends, and the passing cars quickly merge back into the normal travel lanes.
Kevin Nursick, a DOT spokesman, said the highway isn’t the problem.
“There is nothing wrong with Route 8 — there is something wrong with drivers — not just on Route 8 but all around the state, and country for that matter,” he said.
Nursick said drivers are at fault in most accidents, not the road’s design.
“Historically, virtually all crashes are caused by poor driver behavior,” Nursick said in an email Friday. “Public focus and media focus should be on the ongoing effort to get drivers to behave responsibly behind the wheel.”
Speeding is a serious issue, too.
“Design of roadways is virtually irrelevant when we can’t get drivers to obey even the most basic aspects of safe vehicle operation, like obeying speed limits, not tailgating, and staying off those cell phones (texting and driving),” Nursick said.
Rick Dunne, the executive director of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, said part of the problem with Route 8 is the state can’t see in real time what’s going on on that stretch of the highway that runs through the Valley because there are no traffic cameras there.
There are traffic cameras on Route 8 — but none locally.
“They’re not monitoring Route 8,” Dunne said. “They can’t do incident management. They don’t know what’s going on. As they’ve converted to that system in large parts of the state, they’re basically blind in one of the busiest parts of the state.”
