This Google Map image shows Route 67 (known locally as Bank Street) in Seymour. Ward-Miller Funeral Home is on the left. The Klarides Village shopping plaza is on the right.
HARTFORD — Following a hit and run that killed an 81-year-old man and left his wife fighting for her life in a Waterbury hospital, three state lawmakers are asking state transportation officials to conduct a “safety audit” of Route 67, a major thoroughfare through Oxford and Seymour.
Police are still looking for the driver who hit Shelton resident James Tamborra, and his wife, Barbara, as they tried to walk across Route 67 after attending services for an Oxford man at Ward-Miller funeral home.
A police officer was helping the couple cross the busy road when a motorist traveling at a high rate of speed ignored the officer’s signal to stop and struck the Tamborras. Seymour Police Chief Paul Satkowski said the motorist stopped momentarily, and indication he or she knew something was wrong — then sped away.
At an emotional press conference Tuesday, the couple’s family pleaded for the driver to surrender to police.
“If you’re the person who did this, please come forward. Please give our family closure to this tragedy,” Ken Tamborra, the couple’s son, said.
Anyone with information on the driver should call the Seymour Police Tips Line at 203−881−7638. Police believe the suspect vehicle was an Acura MDX built between 2014 and 2016. Click here and here for previous Valley Indy stories.
Police believed the offending motorist was driving this type of vehicle.
Also on Tuesday, three lawmakers who represent Seymour in state government — state Sen. Eric Berthel, state Sen. Republican Leader Kevin Kelly, and Seymour’s own state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria — said it’s time for the Department of Transportation to look at the road to see if safety improvements are possible.
“We are calling on the Department of Transportation to conduct a road safety audit for this area that will include not only an examination of lighting, but also of crosswalks, signage, and traffic volume, and any other factors that contribute to road safety for this area,” the letter to state DOT Commissioner Joseph Giulietti reads.
“Over the years this part of Route 67 has experienced tremendous growth in traffic volume, with many new families moving to our part of the state, and modernizations are needed in order to keep pedestrians and motorists safe,” the lawmakers wrote.
Kafi Rouse, a spokesperson for the DOT, said the agency will investigate.
“The safety of all users of our roadways is our top priority, and any death is one too many,” she said. “This is an unfortunate reminder of the unacceptable increase in fatalities on our roadways in 2020 and 2021, with Connecticut seeing a 27 percent increase in fatalities this year compared to 2019.”
All three lawmakers expressed condolences to the Tamboura’s friends and family.
“I cannot imagine the pain these families have now been forced to confront during the holiday season. Tragedies like this are preventable and while the ultimate responsibility rests with the cowardly driver who struck these people and fled, we’re requesting the DOT undertake a review of this area to identify needed safety improvements to hopefully prevent this type of crash in the future,” Rep. Klarides-Ditria said in a prepared statement.
