Hartford ranked 5th worst city for fatal drunk driving accidents

A recent study found Hartford, CT to have the fifth highest rate of fatal drunk driving accidents of any city in the country. The cities of Waterbury and New Haven also cracked the top 75, placing 13th and 60th respectively. The state of Connecticut is the only state in the Northeast to have cities that made the list.

“Sadly, it’s not a surprise,” said Josh Morgan, Communications Director for the state’s Department of Transportation (DOT). “We see that data, we crunch the numbers, we see the crash reports, we see the trends.”

The study was conducted by Van Der Veen, Hartshorn, Levin & Lindheim, a Philadelphia-based law firm, using data compiled from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality and Injury Reporting System. The study compared the number of fatal drunk driving accidents per 100,000 people in the 300 largest U.S. cities from 2018-2022. It accounts for deadly accidents caused by drivers with a BAC of 0.08, the legal limit, or higher. It also provides the rate of accidents caused by drivers whose BAC was 0.15 or higher. Drivers caught at rates double the legal limit are considered aggravated drunk drivers and aggravated DUI charges carry more severe penalties.

According to the study, Hartford experienced 18 drunk-driving-related deaths from 2018-2022, with a rate of 14.91 fatal drunk-driving accidents per 100,000 people. Over that same period, Waterbury experienced 14 drunk driving-related deaths, with a per capita rate of 12.29, and New Haven 10, with a rate of 7.2. Of these 42 deaths, 27 of the drunk drivers responsible were found to have BACs exceeding 0.15%.

Morgan described reduction of drunk driving “absolutely a top priority for us.” Morgan said that year over year, typically 35-40% of vehicular fatalities in Connecticut are caused by drunk drivers.

“To put that into some context, that generally means that Connecticut ranks in the top three or top five states with the percentage of alcohol related and impaired related fatalities,” said Morgan. “The national average is about 30%.”

Connecticut’s issue with drunk driving is well-documented. Morgan’s statement echoes the findings of another study released earlier this year, which found 40% of Connecticut drivers involved in fatal crashes from 2017-2021 were caused by drunk drivers. 30% of them had BAC levels above 0.15, making Connecticut the state with the highest rate of deadly crashes caused by aggravated drunk drivers over that timeframe.

Driving-related fatalities as a whole have been on the rise in recent years and reached an all-time high in 2022, in which 367 vehicle related fatalities were recorded by UConn’s Connecticut Crash Data Repository . 2023’s numbers weren’t far off, with 311 deaths being recorded. This year’s number is on track to overtake last year’s; as of June 20, the state has experienced 152 vehicle related deaths this year, while by June 20 last year there were 138.

Morgan said that the DOT has invested money in targeted ad campaigns, billboards and road sign campaigns, and mentioned the work of the DOT’s Commissioner, Garrett Ecualitto, trying to get a bill passed in the past two legislative sessions that would lower the state legal limit from 0.8 to 0.5. Morgan noted that the bill was revised in this year’s session, to make drivers pulled over with BACs ranging from 0.5-0.79 only liable for infractions citations instead of criminal charges. While the bill made it out of the Transportation Committee, it died on the Senate floor.

“So it’s certainly not become law, but it’s been a conversation starter for sort of an educational campaign with legislators and the public,” said Morgan. “We view this as a real crisis, the drunk driving problem in Connecticut.”

The DOT is, of course, not the only state department that shares the responsibility of ensuring the safety of Connecticut’s roads. Traffic enforcement on Connecticut’s freeways has decreased significantly since COVID began, as has the number of officers in the State Police’s traffic enforcement unit, having only 15 officers in comparison to the 62 officers that composed the unit in 2018. Gov. Lamont has indicated he believes the decline in meaningful enforcement action is a result of these reduced numbers, while Republican lawmakers have taken aim at a number of Democrat-sponsored bills passed in recent years, as well as the fallout caused by the contentious racial profiling allegations surrounding the state police, that they believe have reduced their morale and ability to meaningfully enforce the law.

Morgan said that while the DOT has been busy and shall remain busy doing all it can to try and reduce the number of drunk driving fatalities in the state, it’s ultimately a problem that starts and ends with the state’s drivers themselves.

“Ultimately, the decision is resting with the person who’s making that choice,” said Morgan. “Too often, people will get behind the wheel when they know they shouldn’t.”

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