[BPt111]

Do you argee ?


Getting into a car in Connecticut may be safer than you think.

According to a recently released study by carinsurancecomparison.com, Connecticut has some of the best drivers in the nation, ranking number 45 on the “worst driver” charts. The study ranked the states and their drivers from one (being the worst) to 51 (being the best).

The company used five categories to determine the rankings: Fatality rate per 100 million vehicles miles traveled, failure to obey citations (traffic signals, seat belts, etc), drunk driving arrests, speeding tickets and careless-driving citations. The organization added up the results of those categories and listed the totals, with Connecticut at 87, and Louisiana, with the worst drivers in the nation, at 220.

The statistics used by the website to create the study were gathered by several sources, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Motorists Association and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “We look at it as a team effort,” when it comes to enforcing driving laws in Connecticut, said State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance. “We certainly rely on drivers to abide by the laws, and we also rely on them to be our eyes and ears and report violations, such as drunk driving. We like to constantly say Connecticut drivers should be polite and set the example, and it certainly shows.”

Kevin Nursick, Department of Transportation spokesman, said there are three contributing factors to 50 percent of the crashes that happen in Connecticut: failure to grant right of way, driving too fast for conditions and following too closely.

The DOT is a promoter of safety, Nursick said, and it funds enforcement campaigns, press events and advertisements to let the state know driving under the influence or texting while driving will not be tolerated.

“When it comes to accidents, 99 percent of crashes are 100 percent preventable,” Nursick said. “These accidents could be avoided if motorists obeyed the rules of the road. This is basic drivers’ ed motorists do know, but do not obey. Keeping the state safe is a year-round effort, I think the state is doing everything it can.”

Bristol Police Department Lt. Edward Spyros is in charge of traffic and said educating drivers is an effective way to keep the roads safe.

“We think an important part of traffic safety is education,” Spyros said. “We have traffic officers go to drivers’ education programs and talk to the new trainees. The speed trailer is a good device that we use because it informs drivers how fast they are going in comparison to the speed limit. There are also Driving While Intoxicated patrolers in Bristol who go out different nights to look for drunk drivers and get them off the road to keep others safe.”

New Britain police attribute their success in keeping drivers safe to their continued support from the DOT, which has given the city a grant every year for nearly a decade to deal with drunk driving and its contributing factors, including speeding and reckless driving, Capt. Thomas Steck said.

The city has received grant money funneled through the DOT to put two officers on the roads three nights a week to do directed DUI enforcement.

In 2013, they made 236 DUI arrests, with the grant funding directly responsible for 176 of those arrests. “A good portion of our fatalities involve alcohol, which is why the DUI grant really comes into play,” Steck said.

Nursick said there are three “E’s” of safe driving: engineering, enforcement and education. The DOT, Nursick said, builds the safest infrastructures, the police enforce the rules of the road, and the motorists are educated to learn the rules of the road. Out of all three, Nursick said the most important is education.

“We can’t stop you from driving like a maniac; that is up to the motorists behind the wheel and how they educate themselves,” Nursick said. “There is no such thing as a dangerous road, just dangerous drivers.”

Staff writer Lisa Backus contributed to thsi report.


Source: The New Britain Herald : New Britain, Conn., and surrounding areas (newbritainherald.com)

[NewJeffCT]

well, we do have trouble with turn signals and blocking intersections in CT, but I think I agree with the overall analysis about safe driving.

[Poseidon3290]

I'd agree we do.. we drive very fast.. but when I see a CT plate driving fast I can almost always tell what they are going to do, because generally it seems like people are willing to work as a group to get by that M*******, or the NJ guy in the fast lane going 60. Don't see much road rage, just a lot of fast driving.

Seems like NJ/NY/MASS drivers are the unpredictable ones.

[mrgmrg]

I don't think Connecticut drivers are particularly bad (especially considering our neighbors to the north in Boston...), but the methodology of the study is pretty suspect. Other than fatality rate, all of the criteria used for the survey are based on the number of citations given. So a state could score well just by failing to enforce its traffic laws strictly.

[SeaDoo342]

LOL @ this study.

[pulpfiction]

Typical example of lying with statistics.

One only need look at the I-95 stretch from exits 2-14. Practically every day there's a fatal accident on that stretch. While I realize this is only a small percentage of the state's overall road network, there are quite a few other stretches that are nearly as dangerous.

Never mind that it's nearly impossible to quantify the degree to which a) the majority of CT drivers left-lane camp and b) the mostly antiquated design of our roads.

Yeah, CT drivers are skilled in that they're able to handle high-volume situations...but I'm sorry, our roads are not safe by any stretch of the imagination.

[trishguard]

Every day I watch someone run a red light, so I can't agree.

[Zuzu85]

I don't agree with that report either lol. From my experience, the Midwest (aside from major cities like Chicago, Detroit, etc) has much safer drivers. People in Connecticut are much better drivers, but this also makes them more confident and aggressive... like speeding, changing 3 lanes to exit a highway, running red lights.... those people I'm sure don't get into accidents but they probably do rack up tickets time to time. And I don't call their behavior "safe" but they are definitely better than the occasional horrible driver I see... like the ones not really watching where they are trying to merge. And so far, CT drivers are much better than New York and New Jersey drivers.