CONNECTICUT, USA — What do you get when you combine a holiday travel weekend with alcohol and bad weather? Dangerous roads.
Connecticut State Police just released some sobering statistics from the last few days.
State police recorded nearly 5,000 calls for service, 374 speeding violations, 21 DUI arrests and 244 accidents, including 32 of them with injuries. That is a marked improvement from 2023 when 472 were caught speeding, 29 were arrested for DUI and 3 people died.
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“I’m from Florida. It’s pretty aggressive down there but we’ve seen some doozies already,” remarked Kathie Fico of Florida, who is visiting Connecticut with her friend, Denise Steilberger, as part of a seven state New England road trip.
The pair said the numbers match what they have seen with their own eyes.
“Aggressive drivers. We’ve seen a lot of aggressive drivers,” said Steilberger. “It seems like people are in a hurry to get where they want to go. They are definitely less patient. They have very little tolerance to anyone doing the speed limit.”
According to AAA, nearly 44 million people are traveling this holiday weekend. That is a nearly 20-year high.
Out-of-state drivers said all the traffic hasn’t resulted in too many taillights.
“It was wide open coming down today and even at the merge from 91 to 84 no backups or anything,” said James Crowell, who traveled from Springfield, Mass.
Though no one was killed this weekend, several accidents were serious including a single car crash Sunday night on Buckley Hill Road in Thompson. Meanwhile in Bridgeport, two young motorists hit a 17-year-old pedestrian in the area of Fairfield and Clinton Ave. The teen is in serious condition.
With Memorial Day in full swing, law enforcement is reminding drivers to avoid road rage and celebrate responsibly to avoid becoming part of the statistics.
“It's all about them, they don’t care about if somebody is merging on the road or whatever is going on, they’ll tailgate you even if you are in the right lane going the speed limit,” said Crowell.
In addition to state police, the Department of Transportation also released some new statistics that show 115 people have been killed on Connecticut roads this year. That number is tied for the most in the last six years.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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