Tag Archives: distracted driving

Unfortunate New “06880” Feature: Today’s Car Plowing Into A Storefront

Posted on November 3, 2016 | 52 comments

This happened just moments ago.

And yes, once again, it’s Compo Shopping Center.

another-car-into-another-storefront

(Photo/Betsy Pollak)

Yesterday I said, “Be careful out there.”

Today I’ll add, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

52 Comments

Posted in Local business, Transportation

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Sometimes It Just Doesn’t Pay To Park Between The White Lines

Posted on November 2, 2016 | 3 comments

“06880” is full of photos of folks who park in the most ridiculous ways, wherever they please. Nothing ever happens to them.*

Last week, I p0sted a photo of yet another driver who plowed into yet another building. I wondered why it happens so often.

Today though, this poor car was doing all the right things. It was parked between 2 white lines. It had not jumped the curb.

Then — pow!

dunkin-donuts-delivery-truck-accident

(Photo/Merri Mueller)

A Dunkin’ Donuts delivery truck smacked into it.

And pushed it up against the building.

That’s life in Westport parking lots these days. Be careful out there.

*Except for public shaming on this blog.

3 Comments

Posted in Local business, Transportation

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U Drive. U Text. U Pay.

Posted on August 3, 2016 | 17 comments

Look around.* It’s easy to see drivers everywhere in Westport using their cell phones. Texting. Probably looking for Pokemon too.

It’s easy to think there’s no enforcement whatsoever of Connecticut’s no-cell-phone law.

That’s not true. I get the police reports. I know that every week, our cops hand out a dozen or so tickets for illegal cell phone use.

Now through August 16, they’re handing out a lot more.

Texting is so much more interesting than paying attention to the road.

Texting is so much more interesting than paying attention to the road.

The Westport Police is joining the state Department of Transportation’s “U Drive. U Text. U Pay” initiative.

For the 2nd year in a row, law enforcement agencies are adding special patrols to catch distracted drivers — especially those on their phones.

The last operation resulted in over 12,000 tickets throughout Connecticut.

At $150 for a 1st offense, $300 for a second and $500 for each violation after that, that’s a lot of money.

And — hopefully — a lot of lives saved.

(For more information on distracted driving, click here.)

*But pay attention to the road!

Click here for “06880+”: The easy way to publicize upcoming events, sell items, find or advertise your service, ask questions, etc. It’s the “06880” community bulletin board!

17 Comments

Posted in Police, technology, Transportation

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Dangerous Driving: What Would You Do?

Posted on July 17, 2016 | 30 comments

Alert — and terrified — “06880” reader Ellen Patafio writes:

My kids and I just witnessed an extremely scary sight. We were turning left from North Compo Road onto Main Street, across from Clinton Avenue.  A very young girl in a navy blue Range Rover behind us came flying down Compo. She made the left turn onto Main, tires screeching and almost tipping over. She was on 2 wheels. She landed hard on 4 wheels, and rocked back and forth.

It was frightening to watch. I kept my eye on her in the rear view mirror, hoping that incident woke her up to the importance of driving carefully.

We were both stopped at the light in front of Crossroads Hardware. When the light turned green, I moved ahead and turned to the right. This young woman was distracted by her phone. She did not move. When she realized she was holding up traffic, she again floored the gas and took the turn at a high rate of speed.

Car with 2 wheels

Do not try this at home. Or in Westport.

I am sending this to “06880,” thinking if I was this girl’s parents I would want to know that she was in need of some additional education on how to properly drive. As a parent, I would want to take this opportunity to have a conversation of the perils of careless driving and the effects they have on everyone — not just the driver. This situation could easily have had a very different outcome.

I did take down the plate number in case I ever run into her again. I would gently suggest taking more care when driving. I would have done that at the time, but the flow of traffic prohibited the opportunity.

That’s quite a story. “06880” readers: What do you think? How would you have handled the situation? As a parent, what would you do if a stranger told you this story about your child? Should the police be involved? We want to hear from you. Click “Comments” below — and please use your full, real name.

30 Comments

Posted in Teenagers, Transportation

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Oops!

Posted on July 7, 2016 | 12 comments

I have no idea how — in the middle of a beautiful, clear day, and in the tight parking lot opposite Crate & Barrel, no less — this driver managed to park a car on top of a boulder.

Car on boulder - 2016

But if I had to guess, I’d say texting or talking on a cell phone might have been involved.

12 Comments

Posted in Transportation

Tagged

This Distracted Life

Posted on October 12, 2015 | 19 comments

Every week, it seems, WestportNow features an automobile accident that came out of the blue. They happen in broad daylight, on beautiful, clear days.

Whenever I see a photo like the one on Easton Road last week, I think: cell phone. The driver had to have been talking — or worse, texting. How else could someone hit a telephone pole — or another car — in perfect weather?

Alert “06880” reader Fred Cantor has been thinking about this too. He writes:

The other day I sat at a light at the intersection of Green’s Farms Road and Compo. It was a beautiful fall day, with trees starting to turn — what we live for in Westport. I enjoyed the scenery.

The light turned, but the car in front didn’t move. I waited patiently. I saw the driver. Her head was tilted down. I assume she was occupied by her cellphone.

Texting is so much more interesting than paying attention to the road.

Texting is so much more interesting than paying attention to the road.

I waited 5 seconds before tapping my horn. She started up like an Indy 500 driver. There was no “I’m sorry” wave. I guess she had been transported to another place, thanks to her cell.

A few days before that, my wife and I were at a bakery on a weekday afternoon. A man in a business suit came in with a middle school-age girl.

I thought: How nice. A busy dad picked up his daughter at school; now they’ve got some quality time together.

They got food, sat down, and proceeded to take out their cellphones. They looked down as they ate, with no conversation between them.

Recently at Compo, I saw a timeless scene: kids hanging out on the cannons at dusk. But as I got closer, I realized 2 of them were staring down at their cells.

Kids using cellphones on the Compo cannons. (Photo/Fred Cantor)

Kids using cellphones on the Compo cannons. (Photo/Fred Cantor)

I’m not a Luddite. I fully embrace the internet, and how we connect in ways unimaginable years ago.

But in the 1950s, television was seen as both a marvel and an innovation with downsides. My parents set clear rules about TV viewing in our home.

I would love to know what types of ground rules Westport parents set about cellphone access and use? Are they barred from dinner tables at home? At restaurants? What — if anything — are you trying to do to ensure that your kids are not only focused on what they’re doing, but that they know you’re focused on them?

Great questions, Fred! Let’s hear what “06880” readers have to say. Click “Comments” to share what happens in your house — the theory and the reality.

19 Comments

Posted in Beach, technology, Transportation

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Cell Phone Etiquette (Red Light Edition)

Posted on August 2, 2015 | 22 comments

Great minds think alike.

Alert “06880” reader Scott Smith sent this story idea along. But I’ve thought of it often. So, I’m sure, have you. 

Scott says:

Like most alert “06880” followers, I’ve enjoyed your postings about sloppy or selfish parking jobs.

And like any modern motorist, I’m aware of the dangers of distracted driving. I try to keep my best to keep my cell phone in my pocket when I’m on the road.

But I haven’t noticed any attention paid to a peeve that’s getting worse: The habit of some drivers to wait until they’re at a light to check their phone.

I’m sort of fine with that — except when the light turns green, and the driver in the car ahead of me still has his or her head down.

Cell phone use at traffic light

The car in front of theirs moves — but they don’t. The worst is when you’re in a quick left-hand turn lane. The driver in front of me usually notices the green arrow just in time to speed up and be the last car through.

This strikes me as a frustrating and growing trend. I wonder what the policy to counter such behavior should be. Do we give the cell phone driver a light tap on the horn?

Or do we just accept that traffic lights are a moment in time when you check your texts (or Google Map or Mapquest) for directions?

Either way, it’s driving me crazy.

“06880” readers: What’s the solution? Be creative — but not profane. Click “Comments” below to weigh in on this First World problem.

22 Comments

Posted in Transportation

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Dreadful, Dopey, Deadly Drivers

Posted on October 6, 2012 | 26 comments

From time to time — okay, a lot — I talk about Westport drivers.

Not in a real positive way, either.

Readers always comment, adding their own examples, insights and invectives.

But we’re the blog version of Sunday drivers, compared to another website.

Dreadful Drivers devotes itself twice a week — and solely — to the “anger, bafflement, disbelief and, very occasionally, amusement” created by the antics of Fairfield County motorists.

Yesterday’s post was a classic. Referring only to Westport, it read:

Holy smokes, it’s been a bad week on the roads in this little zip code.

Three incidents stand out:

An SUV driver pointed a handgun at the passenger of another car on the Wilton Road. What a nice fellow. According to the news report, the gun-toter overtook another car in a no-passing zone and when both cars were later stopped at an intersection, the passenger of the passed car  got out (terrible mistake! never do that!) and went to the SUV. Whereupon he found himself staring at a handgun. Police later tracked down the SUV driver and found him in – legal – possession of a Glock .40-caliber handgun. 

A woman driving on Bayberry Lane slammed her Buick SUV into a utility pole so hard that she snapped the pole. Bayberry Lane twists, winds, dips and climbs and would be Westport’s own rally track, except that it’s a public road, lined with (rather large) houses so the speed limit is 25 mph (and 20 mph in places). So either the driver had a medical incident (quite possible), wasn’t looking at the road (very possible) or was driving too fast (everyone does). Bayberry Lane is also popular with cyclists and runners, me included. I’ll avoid it from now on. If Buick driver can’t see steer clear of a utility pole, then moving targets have no chance.

This drunk driver could be any other, until you read the detail of the story. Police had tried to stop the woman driver on the Post Road, but she proceeded onto the I-95 northbound. While driving within the speed limit, she was swerving widely in her lane. Local and state police cruisers brought the car to a halt and the woman driver, smelling of alcohol, “could not stand up on her own and had trouble keeping her eyes open” according to cops. WTF. WTF! Take away her driving license and give her a bus pass.

Beyond dreadful.

“Dreadful Drivers” is right. It is beyond dreadful.

But also waaaaay  too typical.

26 Comments

Posted in Westport life

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Driving, Running, Talking About Slowing Down

Posted on August 30, 2012 | 63 comments

Tuesday’s accident — a Staples cross country runner was struck by a minivan driver on Long Lots Road — has caused quite a stir.

Drivers have to slow down! some Westporters say.

Joggers and bikers have to share the road! others counter.

Meanwhile, alert “06880” reader Kim Lake calls the accident “truly unsettling.”

But, she adds, “even more unsettling were the comments on WestportNow about kids and their attitudes about sharing the road. Wow!

In Westport, runners often take to the roads.

“I’m appalled at the absolute absence of empathy on the part of some people in our community sometimes, at their sense of righteousness when all the facts are not even known.”

(From all indications the Staples runner was not at fault. Coaches and runners followed all proper procedures.)

For a long time, Kim has wanted more legal, clearly defined bike lanes in town. When Diane Farrell’s administration held their public hearings on her version of a Downtown Plan, Kim spoke about bike lanes and walking paths. “I was disappointed that all my comments fell on deaf ears,” she says.

On a recent trip to Washington, DC, she was impressed that a company named Spotcycle has successfully set up a system where people can, for a small fee, easily use bikes to get themselves anywhere. They pick up a bike at one station and and drop it off at their destination.

As soon as she saw how well it works, she thought: “If only in Westport…”

A couple years ago, when Kim chaired the Green Task Force, she spoke to a town employee about bike lanes. Though an avid biker himself, he was distraught.

“He would love to provide bike lanes throughout town,” she notes. “Stringent federal laws, however, prevent taking action (something about all streets having to be widened). Can you imagine the discussions that proposal would generate?”

The ideal — bicyclists in single file, all with helmets — even without a bike lane.

Kim continues: “In light of this recent incident, and especially in light of the insensitive comments, I think we should have a Town Meeting, with politicians and the Police Department, about how we drive in this town.

“Between texting, cellphones and the rush to get somewhere (wherever it is) FAST, it’s time we stop and reflect about civility and safety on the roads.”

Laws and tickets are not the only way to get people to slow down and pay attention, Kim says.

“Community consciousness can have a tremendous impact. I hope that out of this sad incident, something good will happen.”

63 Comments

Posted in People, Westport life

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Accidents Happen

Posted on August 5, 2011 | 52 comments

“You should write about all the automobile accidents in Westport,” an “06880” reader wrote.

Why? I wondered.  They happen with such regularity, they’re just a fact of life here.

Covering car crashes would be like blogging that “the sun rose in the east today,” or “a new women’s store opened on Main Street.”

But Wednesday’s 3-car accident grabbed my attention.

2 of the 3 cars involved in Wednesday's accident. The other vehicle was just as mangled. (Photo by Dave Matlow)

It was early afternoon.  Skies were clear.  The stretch of Main Street in front of Willowbrook Cemetery is straight and well-paved.

Yet somehow the driver of a Ford Taurus managed to smash into both a Pontiac and Mercedes.  The Taurus driver had to be extricated.

All 3 vehicles were totaled.

Readers of WestportNow.com, which first reported the crash, weighed in.  One suggested speed was a factor.  Another figured cell phones.

I’m guessing both.

Is there any place in Westport that’s so important to get to that we have to drive like madmen (and women)?

Is there any reason for racing through every light and stop sign; tailgating every guy (and gal) ahead of us, and doing it all while yapping into a device glued with one hand next to our ear?

Driving past cemeteries is fine.  Ending up in one because some other Westporter (or New Yorker) thinks the world revolves around him (or her) is not.

I’m always amazed when parents bitch about the poor driving habits of teenagers.  Kids don’t grow up in vacuums.  They take their cues from everyone around them.

And they don’t start at 16.  That baby strapped in the car seat watches — and wants to mimic — everything you do.

A bumper sticker says:  “Shut Up And Drive.”

Amen.

Do it at a normal rate of speed, too.

If not for me and you, do it for our kids.

And yours.

Photographer Dave Matlow captures the aftermath of Wednesday's crash -- on a clear day, along a very straight stretch of the road.

52 Comments

Posted in Places, Police, Westport life

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