An electronic sign captures a driver speeding along Old Litchfield Road in Washington, near one of three locations where town officials plan on rolling out automated traffic enforcement cameras. The small town is the first in the state authorized to use the technology by Connecticut Department of Transportation. | John Moritz/ Hearst Connecticut Media Group
By John Moritz | New Times
WASHINGTON — For years, Ashley MacDonald has dealt with cars that come hurtling past her home facing Baldwin Hill Road in excess of the 35 mph speed limit — and the occasional tragic consequences.
In high school, one of her brother’s friends was killed in a crash atop the hill, in a spot still marked by daffodils in the spring.
More recently MacDonald, 43, says she’s witnessed on several occasions cars “going flying” past school buses stopped on the road to take her two children to school. Nor has the installation of electronic signs displaying drivers’ speeds back at them done much to get people to slow down.
“This is certainly a road where people are not respecting the speed limit,” MacDonald said. “I’m surprised I haven’t seen more accidents, to be honest with you.”
In an effort to address the constant speeding on Baldwin Hill and two other locations in town, Washington officials are preparing to deploy automated cameras along country roads to capture pictures of the speedsters and send them a ticket in the mail. The new program starts next month.
Washington, with a population of 3,646, is known as a rural retreat for wealthy New Yorkers. Residents, however, say that speeding along country roads has become a nuisance. | John Moritz/ Hearst Connecticut Media Group
The Connecticut Department of Transportation signed off on Washington’s plan on Monday, according to an agency spokesman. The town beat out applications from a pair of much larger cities — Stamford and New Haven — to become the first municipality in the state approved to use automated cameras to enforce traffic laws. A one-year pilot program limited to active work zones on interstate highways issued more than 700 fines in 2023, according to DOT.
Both town leaders and local residents concede that Washington, with a population of 3,646 spread out across five villages in the Litchfield Hills, is a surprising candidate to be pioneering the technology.
“Obviously we’re a small town but speeding is the number one [source] of complaints my office gets,” said Washington’s First Selectman James Brinton.
When debating whether to give municipalities the authority to enforce traffic laws with automated cameras, a number of lawmakers and civil rights activists raised concerns about the spread of government surveillance and the potential disparate impact of such systems when deployed in lower-income and minority communities.
In order to alleviate those concerns, the law signed by Gov. Ned Lamont in 2023 was written to require that towns submit plans for DOT approval before they can begin using red light or speed cameras. Those plans must be renewed every three years, during which time towns must submit reports on the number of fines issued and revenue they collected to both the DOT and state lawmakers.
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