Speeding is, and has been, a problem in the U.S. since the introduction of the speed limit in 1901. Drivers tend to break the speed limit on a regular basis, especially new drivers, who are often stereotyped as reckless. However, Corporal David H. Johnson from the South Windsor Police Traffic Investigation Unit sees a broader issue happening recently in town.
“It hasn’t just been young drivers; it hasn’t just been older drivers, all drivers have been driving a little bit faster and unsafe lately. Motor vehicle violations, crashes, speeding, it affects everyone across the board pretty equally,” Johnson told The Prowl.
According to an article on October 17th in the Hartford Courant, Deadly days on CT’s roads highlights larger issue: Irresponsible behavior by drivers “Connecticut roads have become increasingly dangerous over the last five years.”
There is no clear identifiable reason behind the speeding. But there is a reason for the recent increase in traffic violations since 2020 in South Windsor, according to Corporal Johnson.
“I’d say a lot of it is due to Covid, because during that time not a lot of people were driving, traffic enforcement, unfortunately, went down because we were trying to limit interactions between the police and the public,” Johnson said.
It may seem confusing to link a global pandemic to an increase in speeding and traffic violations, but Johnson provided an explanation.
“During that time, people weren’t driving, were not gaining that experience of driving on the roads, and weren’t getting pulled over for violations, so I think it’s kind of a carry over effect from that COVID experience,” Johnson stated.
The lack of driving experience and the increased stay-at-home jobs meant less driving on the road during the pandemic. This was one of the reasons Corporal Johnson thought speeding tickets have been issued more often since 2020.
Some roads and streets in South Windsor experience more speeding than others. According to the 2024 South Windsor Road Safety Audit, “The Route 5 corridor through South Windsor has seen substantial economic growth and activity in recent years” as a result of companies like “Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Macy’s and Amazon” have moved their businesses into the area.
“Route 5 gets a lot of speeding, a lot of red light violations, Buckland Road, Sullivan Avenue, Ellington Road, all of these roads are kind of our main areas for crashes and people speeding, driving erratically,” Johnson explained.
These roads are straighter, wider, and usually have higher speed limits than the backroads in South Windsor. All these factors contribute to drivers being more tempted to speed on these roads.
Speeding in South Windsor has also been noticed on and near the school grounds. Officer Weiss, South Windsor High School resource officer explained how he has some encounters with reckless driving on school grounds.
“A small handful of students have driven inappropriately in the parking lot, for sure. There are things you can do to slow people down, but a lot of it comes down to common sense and education,” Officer Weiss said.
One of South Windsor High School’s teachers, Mrs. Dahms, commutes to the school on foot every morning, and has also noticed reckless driving and speeding on the roads in front of the school.
“Yes I feel unsafe, a lot of kids go by fast…They don’t always pay attention, they don’t always look at the crosswalk. In the mornings, it is not as bad, because the cars move slowly because of the traffic. In the afternoons, that is probably the scariest time to walk across the street,” Dahms explained.
Bobcat Prowl journalist Elizabeth Sinclair has been calling attention to this issue in her article “A Safe Place to Walk” where she wrote about how she and “Samiksha Mahenwaran started a petition to raise awareness of the lack of attention given to Ayers Road. The petition has up to 205 signatures and support from students and pedestrians” alike.
