WEST HARTFORD — Amid calls for improved road safety, three crashes in five days have killed pedestrians in the town this year, including the latest incident in which a pedestrian was seriously injured Wednesday night. increased to 15 accidents involving According to the UConn Crash Data Repository, which compiles crash reports collected from police by the State Department of Transportation, there were seven car crashes involving cyclists in West Hartford this year.
In West Hartford, two of the 15 pedestrian collisions have been fatal, including the hit-and-run that killed 89-year-old town resident Eugenia Yurowski on Tuesday.
The next day, a DiGiorgi Roofing contractor finished work and a neighbor was reportedly hit by a car while he was helping him out of the driveway.
"He was a Good Samaritan when he was beaten," DiGiorgi said. DiGiorgi said the accident was determined by the state Occupational Safety and Health Department to be a road accident and not work-related.
Tuesday's fatality became the state's 69th pedestrian fatality in 2022, and Wednesday saw residents and members of the Bike West Hartford Group rally to demand safer roads.
Another pedestrian who died this year was 61-year-old Hartford resident Bob O'Neill, who died standing on the sidewalk at the intersection of Farmington Avenue and Main Street on June 3. In that accident, police said the driver, who had been charged with motor vehicle misconduct, failure to drive correctly and reckless driving, had suffered from "fainting, altered mental state and brain fog" for six months prior to the accident. He said that he was
Data shows that out of 15 crashes involving pedestrians, 4 occurred at the West Hartford Centre. One of them, Noah, on December 17, involved a pedestrian at South near the Webster Library, who police said had sustained serious, but not life-threatening, injuries at a pedestrian crossing on Main Street. was His two other incidents, a crash on South Main Street on November 3 and his crash on his Avenue in Farmington on November 11, resulted in possible and suspected minor injuries to pedestrians. said the accident report.
Elsewhere in town, several pedestrian collisions in parking lots have been included: an accident outside NBC Connecticut on May 4, an accident at the Westfarms mall on Aug. 3, and a crash at the Westfarms mall on Dec. 16. For example, the accident in the parking lot of Conard High School on that day.
The remaining collisions that injured pedestrians occurred on the town's busiest roads: Park Road, Mountain Road, New Britain Avenue and Flatbush Avenue. A South Main Street collision near the intersection of New Britain Avenue left him "severely injured," according to the accident report.
According to crash reports, other reported crash injuries vary between possible and minor injuries.
In one case, a car crash involving a cyclist occurred at approximately the same location on New Britain Avenue as an accident involving pedestrians. Both incidents occurred at the same entrance to the square in the area, which is home to various restaurants and other businesses. Another collision with a cyclist also occurred on New Britain Avenue.
Other crashes involving cyclists reportedly caused minor or possible injuries and spread throughout town. Two of them occur in heavily traveled Quaker Lane North and Quaker Lane South.
Activists have previously criticized the town for having bike lanes separated only by paint to indicate motor vehicle traffic. At Wednesday's Community Planning and Economic Development Board meeting, town engineer Greg Sommer recommended installing the town's first protected bike lane on New Park Avenue. The town is also implementing the West Hartford Center Infrastructure Masterplan Project, which could change the way automobiles, pedestrians and cyclists access and navigate the town center. It will be rebuilt in 2023 and Farmington Avenue will be rebuilt in 2024.