Safe Streets Traffic Initiative
East Hartford Police Announce
2023 Safe Streets Traffic Initiative
In 2021, the East Hartford Police Department realized an increase in the number of serious injury and fatal motor vehicle accidents in Town. In conjunction with these incidents, we saw an increase in aggressive and reckless drivers on our roadways.
In April 2022, in response to these increases, the East Hartford Police Department kicked off its Safe Streets Traffic Initiative (SSTI). Although there appeared to be a Nation-wide trend in these incidents, our agency made a commitment to take an active role in not only increasing traffic enforcement, but also in education and awareness as it relates to traffic safety. The ultimate goal of this initiative was to change driving behavior and make our streets safer for all residents. At the same time, we wanted to ensure our enforcement efforts were conducted in a fair and equitable manner. To achieve this goal, we combined traditional traffic enforcement activities with extensive communication, education, and outreach to inform the public about our activities and about safe driving.
Following the completion of the Safe Streets Traffic Initiative on August 31, 2022, data was analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the initiative. Between April 1, 2022 and August 31, 2022, we conducted 3,634 motor vehicle stops. One third of these stops resulted in a written or verbal warning as our campaign focused on awareness and education. Reviewing the data, we realized a 25% decrease in the number of accidents on our roadways in comparison to the same timeframe the previous year. Along with the success of reducing traffic accidents, we also saw a decline in the number of citizen generated motor vehicle complaints. This provided additional anecdotal evidence of the success of the initiative.
Because of the success of the initiative, we are preparing to embark on the 2023 Safe Streets Traffic Initiative. As with last year, we will combine intensive enforcement of specific traffic safety laws in areas where we have seen an increase in accidents as well as areas where we receive the most complaints from our community. We will couple this with extensive communication, education, and outreach to inform the public about our activities. The overall goals of this endeavor will be:
- To increase public awareness in the importance of following traffic laws and using seatbelts.
- To reduce the number of aggressive and reckless drivers on our roadways.
- To reduce the number of distracted and impaired drivers on our roadways.
- To reduce the number of motor vehicle accidents and accident fatalities.
- To increase overall safety on our roadways
ENFORCEMENT
High visibility traffic enforcement is a proven traffic safety approach designed to create deterrence and help to change unlawful traffic behaviors. Furthermore, it combines enforcement, visibility elements, and publicity strategies to educate the public and promote voluntary compliance with the law.
The Department will employ the following strategies:
- Utilize public service campaigns through social media platforms to bring awareness to, and help deter speeding, reckless driving and driving while distracted.
- Utilize Town message boards to inform motorists of our traffic enforcement efforts.
- Utilize electronic speed/message signs to advise motorists of their speed and provide alerts.
- Direct officers to operate marked vehicles with their cruise lights on when conducting traffic enforcement.
- Utilize a combination of directed patrols, safety and spot checks and traffic checkpoints.
- Hire additional officers to focus on enforcement measures and traffic related outreach at specific hours and locations based on relevant traffic and accident data.
The Department has also secured grant monies for motor vehicle related enforcement activities that will help us focus on specific enforcement areas.
- Distracted Driving Grant: 9 deployments: Month of April 2023
- Aggressive Driving Grant: 20 deployments: July 1st through September 4th
Deployment Focus Areas Spring/Summer 2023
- April Distracted Driving
- May Click it or Ticket
- June Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Motorcycle safety
- July Aggressive Driving and Speeding
- August DUI/Impaired Driving