Contributed photo
At the scene of Thursday's crash.
On Thursday at approximately 4:10 p.m., another serious motor vehicle accident occurred at the intersection of Peck Street and Blatchley Avenue.
This three-car motor vehicle accident, similar to the first, required yet another driver to be transported to the hospital via AMR and involved a baby that was also seated in a car seat in the second vehicle.
Since my last opinion piece in the New Haven Independent, published on Jan. 25, that documented the extreme need for traffic calming measures at this intersection, I was contacted first by Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller and later introduced to Alder Claudia Herrera regarding this matter. Alder Herrera suggested that we form a community Fair Haven Coalition to address all traffic issues in the Fair Haven District, and we set about to do just that.
Our second Fair Haven Coalition meeting with a group of community residents and traffic city officials was held on Feb. 24, at the intersection of Peck/Blatchley. At such time, the traffic city officials present informed us that this intersection did not warrant a raised island that the residents requested, because the motor vehicle statistics did not bear out that need.
We were told this, despite the officials’ admission that they had not viewed the New Haven Police Department’s Computer Aided Design (CAD) traffic statistics that I personally sent to the city when I initially requested speed bumps on Peck Street as a traffic calming measure solution back in September 2022.
In addition, these officials would only offer to install an additional two-stop signs at this intersection as a solution. When the community members pointed out that the existing two-stop signs previously invested at this intersection did nothing to deter motorists from running those stop stops, as implied by the noteworthy motor vehicle accidents that have already occurred, this did not encourage the officials from considering other reasonable options – except to advise us that an alternative measure proposed by resident Olga Rivera – the installation of a standard traffic light – was too costly to place in this area (officials estimated an installation cost of $30,000 for a standard traffic light).
I do not know what the city traffic officials’ criteria is for installing effective and reasonable traffic calming measures in our area that has experienced more than our share of reported and unreported serious motor vehicle accidents, but I do fear that the traffic officials’ lack of appropriate response to our communities’ traffic concerns, will result in a probable motor vehicle fatality or a child at play being struck by a motor vehicle, in the near future, at said intersection.
Of Note: I did receive a telephone call from City Engineer Giovanni Zinn, on March 22, that Peck Street, between Blatchley Avenue and Main Street, is scheduled for installation of two-speed bumps by the end of April 2023.
The Independent followed up with Asst. Fire Chief Justin McCarthy about Thursday’s latest Peck/Blatchley car crash. He confirmed that three cars were damaged in the crash. He said there were no air bag deployments, and that one patient was treated for neck and back pain and then transported by ambulance to the hospital.
Click here to read a previous opinion essay by Petisia Adger about a Jan. 25 car crash at that same Peck/Blatchley intersection.
Adger is a Peck Street resident, retired former New Haven assistant police chief, and founder of Urban Grants 4 Us, Inc.
I am in that area at least once a week for a volunteer commitment on Peck St. and can attest to the fact that the driving on Peck is out of control. With the street parking, there is barely enough room for two cars to pass but that does nothing to deter the people speeding between Ferry and Blatchley. The intersection of Peck and Blatchley can also be extremely difficult to navigate and when the Ferry Street bridge was closed, the driving there was extra horrendous. Please take Ms. Adger's testimony seriously and do something.