West Hartford officials are working to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists near West Hartford Center. (Courtesy of Town of West Hartford)

Despite outcry after recent a West Hartford pedestrian death, some data show the town streets have been getting safer over the past seven years.

This month’s death of pedestrian Bob Oneal in West Hartford’s town center spurred Car-Free Diaries blogger Kerri Provost to condemn the town’s safety measures as badly inadequate. She called the town’s road designs “garbage,” and insisted that it reduce vehicle speeds and make crossings safer.

But the University of Connecticut Crash Data Repository suggests the number of pedestrian injuries and pedestrian accidents has actually been trending downward in West Hartford, and local officials are hoping that a major redesign of the North Main Street thoroughfare will improve conditions for years to come.

That pattern is reflected statewide, according to Connecticut’s transportation department, which reports that fatal and serious-injury crashes involving pedestrians are both down since a peak in 2016.

Connecticut Department of Transportation data showing the statewide number of fatal and serious-injury accidents involving pedestrians. (Timothy Reck/The Hartford Courant)

Connecticut has adopted a series of laws since then to better protect cyclists and pedestrians, and to break down the decades-long belief among some motorists that cars and trucks are free to dominate roadways.

Vehicles are now required to stop when pedestrians at a crosswalk raise a hand, for instance. Another allows cities and towns to establish speed limits and pedestrian safety zones without state approval.

It’s unclear whether any legislation or roadway redesign could have saved Oneal, who was killed by a car when he was on a sidewalk. The driver, a 67-year-old West Hartford woman, suffered minor injuries. Police have not filed charges so far, and it is unknown how fast she was driving, whether her car sustained a mechanical failure or whether she suffered a medical emergency beforehand.

Town police see no clear pattern in pedestrian accidents in recent years. Capt. Daniel Moffo on Friday reported there had been 30 in 2019, 16 in 2020 and 25 last year.

UConn Crash Data Repository statistics, which are based on slightly different data, suggest a general improvement: There were 29 pedestrian-involved accidents in 2015, 26 in 2016, 26 in 2017, 30 in 2018, 23 in 2019, 17 in 2020 and 22 in 2021.

Town Manager Rick Ledwith said town police regularly assess data on speeding and accidents to direct traffic patrol, and noted that just this past week West Hartford permanently adopted the North Main Street road diet.

That plan — floated as a trial last year — reduced the primary north-south connector from two lanes in each direction to one in each direction. A turning lane is in the middle, and a bike path now enables cyclists to get from Bishops Corner south to Fern Street; part of North Main will be widened to accommodate an extension of the bike lane from Fern to Loomis Drive.

Statewide, police, public works directors and cycling and pedestrian advocates agree there’s still more that can be done on Connecticut roads. They cite some of the challenges as drivers owning larger and heavier vehicles, reckless driving increasing during the pandemic, and some state roads designed for an earlier era.

“Much of our infrastructure was not made for the level of vehicular traffic we see today. We’re also seeing an incredible degradation of driving behavior across the entire state,” said Michael Looney, Hartford’s public works director. “In Hartford, we’ve been very active in trying to bring a tactical urbanism approach. On Wethersfield Avenue, we installed planters and traffic delineators to protect cyclists using the bike lane. In the Frog Hollow section, we installed dozens of traffic calming poles to curb speeding.”

City officials are in the process of adding more traffic-calming measures in other communities, but they stress that there is no one solution.

“The state is not doing nearly enough,” said Mary Cockram, co-president of Bike Walk Connecticut, a pedestrian and cycling advocacy group. “So much more needs to be done to protect bicyclists and pedestrians in our state. This is truly shaping up to be an awful year for pedestrian safety.”

The first step Cockram wants is updating the state driver’s manual, which was last revised in 2019.

“The laws that went into effect Oct. 1 of last year are still not in the current Connecticut drivers manual,” said Cockram. “The manual being used was written in 2019, which predates our most current safety laws. So we’re not even teaching new drivers in the state about those laws. The manual is where people go to look up the laws in the state. How can you enforce a law when no one knows about it?”

In addition, Cockram wants the state to do more on state roadways with poor safety records. One such area is the stretch of Route 44 through East Hartford where a number of bicyclists have been struck and killed over the last few years; its painted bike lane is narrow and cuts out at certain intersections.

“Painted bike lanes are great, but paint doesn’t offer protection,” said Cockram. “The best thing is physically separated infrastructure. It’s a big-ticket item but has proven time and time again to save lives. We’ve had a complete streets law for over a decade, but non-vehicular users are regularly a secondary consideration for the DOT.”

Gov. Ned Lamont just announced an additional $12 million for pedestrian safety this year.

The projects funded include $395,000 to update the Quinebaug River Trail in Killingly; $377,000 to improve the bike trails and walkways around the entrance to Central Connecticut State University in New Britain; $224,000 for new sidewalks on Route 1 in Old Saybrook and $400,000 to improve the area around Ferry Street and Water Street in New London, where the train station and Block Island Ferry terminal are located. One project that has already been completed is the $400,000 realignment of Boxer Square in the west end of Stamford.

“Some really good results have come out of this initiative,” said Josh Morgan, spokesman for the DOT. “In 2020, the Boxer Square realignment project in Stamford won a national award from the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials for its innovation approach to adding bike lanes, crosswalks, ADA ramps, sidewalks and streetscape elements. These programs are already making a huge difference across the state.”

One of the programs the DOT will be piloting is automated traffic enforcement using speed cameras at school zones and work sites including construction projects on roads, highways and bridges around the state. Currently it is illegal for speed cameras to be placed at these sites, but if the pilot program is successful that may soon change. The program is expected to kick off at select sites across the state in the fall.