Hundreds died on CT roads last year. Officials want to reduce that number to zero.

HARTFORD — Federal and Connecticut officials on Friday broached a plan to help curb the nation’s dramatic increase in traffic fatalities over the past 10 years, which has become the leading cause of death for Americans under 54, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and has been shown to disproportionately affect minorities.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal joined Connecticut Department of Transportation officials in Hartford to introduce the “Road to Zero Resolution” that aims to end all roadway fatalities by 2050. They spoke at the corner of Broad Street and Farmington Avenue, one of the deadliest intersections in the state, according to Blumenthal.

According to the Connecticut DOT, more than 380 people were killed on state roads last year — the highest number in three decades. Included in this figure are the 73 pedestrians who were struck and killed in Connecticut in 2022, in addition to the 228 pedestrians who suffered serious injuries as a result of a car crash.

“This year has been the deadliest, the deadliest year on record for pedestrians and bicyclists,” Blumenthal said. “That is 10 times roughly just 10 years ago.”

“The national trend is very similar,” he said.

The CDC indicates that traffic crashes are killing more than 100 people every day. Blumenthal said those who use Connecticut roads deserve better protection.

“In Connecticut, there is no excuse for this new record,” he said.

“This is an issue that I take personally, that all of us at the DOT take personally,” said DOT Commissioner Gary Eucalitto.

“It’s really important for us to focus on what we can do to make our roads safer,” Eucalitto continued. “Every time we go in and do a project, we’re looking at how we can improve that intersection, how we can improve that roadway, the sidewalks, we can install bike infrastructure, but unfortunately it takes a long time to address the tens of thousands of miles of roadway we have in our state.”

The resolution — also endorsed by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois — calls on Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation to commit to working together to collect better data on traffic crashes and implement “proven countermeasures and interventions to prioritize transportation safety.”

“We know how to do it,” Blumenthal said. “There’s no magic or mystery here. Improve technology and increase investment.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 42,795 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2022, a small decrease from the 42,939 killed in 2021, but still about a 30% increase compared to 2011. The decrease, Blumenthal said, came following the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that included “historic funding” for transportation safety.

Additionally, the senator said the federal government just announced $2.5 million that will go toward communities in Connecticut to improve roads and walkways.

Without providing specifics, the Road to Zero Resolution also states it “supports efforts to address disparities and other equity-related issues related to transportation,” citing statistics provided by the National Complete Streets Coalition, a program of Smart Growth America, that indicates pedestrian fatalities compared to that of white, non-Hispanic individuals is 220% higher for American Indian and Alaska Native people, 100% higher for the Black community and 20% higher for Hispanic and Latinx people.

Complete Streets also estimates that low-income neighborhoods experience more than twice as many pedestrian fatalities as neighborhoods with the highest incomes.

“So far in 2023, we have already lost 29 pedestrians and two bicyclists, and this affects our most vulnerable population: people of color and also older Americans,” said Amy Watkins of Watch for Me CT, which is spearheaded by the state DOT.

According to the NHTSA, 7,388 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in 2021, which represents a 22% increase over the past five years and a 53% increase from 2012.

Some of the contributing factors to the rise in traffic fatalities include larger SUVs, drinking and driving, distracted driving, speeding, failure to wear a seatbelt and an increase in speed limits over the past two and a half decades, according to officials.

The NHTSA said alcohol-impaired crashes are a leading killer on the roadways of the nation, with 13,384 lives lost in 2021 involving drinking and driving. Distracted driving, the NHTSA said, was responsible for 3,522 deaths in 2021.

The NHTSA estimates that seatbelts prevented 14,653 fatalities and 450,000 serious injuries in 2019, saving a whopping $93 billion in “medical care, lost productivity and other injury-related costs.” In 2021, the NHTSA indicates 50% of passengers who died in a crash did not have a seatbelt on, and 85% of occupants who survived a crash were wearing a restraint.

Another contributing factor to an increase in traffic fatalities has been the increase in speed limits over the last 25 years, which the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates has led to about 37,000 deaths.

Speeding was blamed for 29% of all traffic fatalities in 2021, according to the NHTSA.

According to Consumer Reports, safety technologies available that are used in select vehicles could cut road fatalities in half if they were made standard on all vehicles, which could save about 20,000 lives each year.

“We have the technology available to help improve safety on our roadways,” Eucalitto said. “The technology for collision avoidance, automatic emergency braking, all the things that the senator has pushed for in D.C., is available and it shouldn’t be a luxury, it should be something that everyone should be able to have in their vehicle.”