By Stephen Kurczy
Published on 9/7/2006
Shore Publishing - Madison,CT
Groton- Like people, accidents congregate. There were 911 accidents in Groton last year, and several intersections in town emerge as roads where a lot of cars pass and accidents happen.
Most accidents in 2005 occurred on dry roads, in clear weather, in daylight, between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. About one-third of all accidents were caused by a driver following too close, which means that many accidents are not caused by poor sight-lines or bad roads, but by people.
For every town in the state, the Department of Transportation studies accident reports over three-year periods.
“We look at patterns,” Bob Tworkowski, in the DOT's Traffic Engineering Section, said. “You just can't take raw data and make broad generalizations.”
Based on the 2005 traffic accident reports supplied by the DOT, The Times has divided Groton's roadways into six categories, including state road with the most accidents, state road with the least accidents, road with the most injuries, and highway exit with the most accidents.
Two additional categories – an accident waiting to happen, and a history of complaints – were based on tips from the Town Council and Traffic Authority, which hear complaints directly from residents.
Just because a road has a lot of accidents does not mean it is necessarily dangerous, Groton's Traffic Authority was quick to point out. Some roads are trafficked by so many cars that it is a surprise there are not more accidents.
Compared with towns throughout the state, Groton is relatively safe, according to Sgt. Randy Bronson, who works in the records division of the Groton Police Department.
“There's nothing in town that makes me go, 'Oh, no,'” he said. “As long as you drive properly and cautiously, you're fine.”
In 25 years, Bronson said he has been in two accidents – in a parking lot when someone backed into his car, and when a deer jumped in front of his cruiser.
To alleviate accidents the Traffic Authority has added stoplights, speed humps and signs, such as “Children at Play,” to roads and intersections around town.
A stoplight was recently added at the top of Fort Hill near Fitch High School, and the traffic light at the intersection of Route 117 and Route 1 was recently installed with special equipment to give ambulances the right of way.
“So many things can cause an accident,” police Chief Kelly Fogg said. “Somebody might have been changing a CD in their car. When you say intersections are dangerous, what makes it dangerous? The number of accidents? The severity of accidents?”
Fogg once filed an accident report for a Volkswagen Beetle. Just before colliding with a car, the driver had been bragging to the passenger about having never been in a car accident. As the driver looked down for a piece of wood to knock on he failed to notice the lead car's brake lights.
“A lot of accidents are simply caused by being inattentive,” Fogg said.
With that in mind, The Times announces its study of the most accident-prone roads in Groton.
Most Accidents:
Junction of Route 12 and Route 184
In 2005, more than 50 accidents occurred at the junction of Routes 184 and 12, where the two routes create a cloverleaf with I-95, and a major shopping plaza attracts thousands of customers daily.
“There's a lot going on there,” Fogg said.
“It's one of the worst intersections in the state, I've heard,” Mayor Harry Watson added.
Of all accidents along the entire stretch of Route 184, more than a quarter (30) occurred at this junction. Most were minor fender-benders and did not cause injury.
“The stats don't lie,” Bronson said. “That's a very heavily traveled intersection.”
However, considering the extraordinary number of cars that use the intersection every day – commuters to Electric Boat, the Naval Submarine Base and Pfizer – it could very well be the safest intersection in town, Colin Kelly, an engineer in the Public Works Department, said.
“There is a direct correlation between the amount of traffic and the number of accidents,” Town Manager Mark Oefinger said.
Bronson added that the intersection was worse before it was reconfigured in 2000 with the construction of a new Route 12 overpass.
Two other intersections in town that seem problematic are the junction of Route 12 with Crystal Lake Road, where 20 accidents occurred in 2005, and the intersection of Clarence B. Sharp Highway with Meridian Street Extension.
About one-third of the 60 accidents on the entirety of Clarence B. Sharp Highway (which extends from I-95 to Eastern Point) occurred within a half-mile of Meridian Street Extension, most often because a driver was following too close.
Least Accidents:
Allyn Street
In all of 2005, Allyn Street (Route 614) saw nine accidents. Allyn Street is a straight, wide road with ample sight-lines.
“There's less opportunity to make a poor decision,” Kelly pointed out.
In fact, the 2.5-mile street saw the same number of accidents as did the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot in downtown Groton. In 2005, nine vehicles trying to turn left out of the Dunkin' Donuts driveway collided with oncoming vehicles on Route 1.
“Cars drive like they're on the highway,” said a Dunkin' Donuts worker who has witnessed five accidents in the driveway in the past year.
“People will just stop in the middle of the road (while pulling out of Dunkin' Donuts),” Oefinger said. “I go through there every day and I just lay on my horn.”
While none of the accidents at Dunkin' Donuts caused injury, other roads in Groton have a lower incidence of accidents but a higher incident of lethal accidents.
Most Injuries:
Town Roads
Two of the four life-ending accidents in Groton in 2005 were caused by drunken driving and occurred on state roads. More dangerous than poor sight-lines or heavy traffic, it seemed, was irresponsible driving.
Of the 911 accidents in 2005, 95 percent occurred on state roads.
However, more than 75 percent of all accidents on state routes and highways did not cause injury, whereas every accident on town roads did result in injury. According to DOT statistics, while you were more likely to get into an accident on a state road, you were more likely to be injured on a town road.
Most accidents on roads like I-95 or Route 184 merely resulted in property damage.
The Traffic Authority could offer no explanation for why town roads appear to cause more injury.
Most Accident-Prone Exit:
Number 89
In 2005, there were 18 accidents at Exit 89 off I-95, more than on any other of Groton's interstate exits. The majority occurred on the northbound off-ramp onto Allyn Street.
“They're pretty frequent,” the captain of the Old Mystic Fire Department, Chris Clarken, said.
Just before the exit, the highway converges from three lanes into two, which Clarken said adds to the congestion. There are no traffic lights, and many side roads dump into Allyn Street near the exit.
Town Councilor Heather Sherman Bond said her car was rear-ended at the exit ramp last summer.
“It's nuts, even in the morning,” Bond said. “That's definitely a bad traffic spot. I've had other people say that to me also.”
Accident Waiting to Happen:
'Snake Hill'
Some roads have high accident counts. Other roads are accidents waiting to happen, local drivers say. “Snake Hill” in Noank is such a case, according to Town Councilor Paulann Sheets, who only drives it in daylight because two of the streetlights are out.
“When is somebody going to do something about this?” Sheets asked.
Snake Hill is the proverbial name for Palmer Court, which turns into Riverview Avenue as it twists steeply down toward the ocean.
“It's a beautiful view, as you can see,” Ed Johnson, a Noank resident since 1978 and a member of Noank's fire department, said as he walked up the hill. An SUV drove by, and in the distance an enormous yacht anchored at Noank Shipyard loomed. “A lot of cars want to come along, stop and look.”
Two years ago Snake Hill was lit by four streetlights, but one toppled when part of the road eroded and another has a broken bulb. Today, only two lights – one at the top of the hill, another at the bottom – light the way.
“It's a risk not only as far as cars are concerned, but for pedestrians,” Johnson said. “I'm the one who has to think of safety. I'll have to respond one of these days, and I'm not looking forward to it.”
Public Works is studying a way to stop the street's erosion and is also working to repair one of the streetlights.
Noank's narrow and winding roads are already problematic, but Sheets said Snake Hill poses an especial threat to lost tourists and reckless drivers.
“Somebody is going to go over the side,” Sheets said. “This is a nasty accident waiting to happen, and everybody is going to say, 'How could they have let that go on?'”
A History of Complaints:
Brook Street and Route 215
Every month the Traffic Authority addresses and assesses roads in Groton that residents report need more signage. At the most recent meeting, the safety of nine roads and intersections was discussed. The Traffic Authority must ask, is there a problem or is there an anomaly?
In response to complaints about Groton Long Point Road, the state recently reassessed the speed limit on Groton Long Point Road. It was reaffirmed as 45 mph.
One resident on Brook Street said she has been complaining for decades about the speed of cars at the intersection of Brook Street and Route 215.
In June, Diane Kolnaski of Mystic was driving south on Groton Long Point Road to take her dog for a walk at Esker Point Beach. Like many parents, she also takes the road to get to Noank Elementary School.
“It was in the morning, at 11 o'clock, on a Wednesday,” she remembered. “Another driver came out of Brook Street and passed right in front of me. I didn't see her until I saw her crossing right in front of me.”
The front of Kolnaski's Subaru withstood about $4,000 damage when it collided with a merging van.
“I often drive down there to bring my kids there or to take my dog for a walk,” Kolnaski said. “It is a bad spot, I think, with all the people that jog or ride bicycles.”
Just a month after Kolnaski's accident, a motorcyclist driving south on Groton Long Point Road collided with a merging car.
“It's a tricky spot,” Bond said.
Russell Fowler lives at the corner of Groton Long Point Road and Brook Street.
“People really get going here,” Fowler said, referring to vehicles speeding along the straightaway. “All you have to do is stand here a few minutes and watch the traffic. We hear a lot of screeches and near-misses. I call 911 and say, 'We've got another one.'”