There's a stretch of Vermont Route 4, between Bridgewater and Hartford, that's locally referred to as the "crash corridor." That section of road was the site of 392 motor vehicle accidents between January 1, 2008 and June 9, 2013. Included in that number are seven crashes resulting in eight fatalities - five of which occurred this year.
In June the crash corridor was the focus of a Highway Safety Roundtable, organized by the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance. A report on the meeting is posted on the Town of Hartford website.
On Monday, June 17, 2013 local, regional, state and federal highway safety stakeholders met to discuss crash data, crash trends, existing mitigation efforts and to identify opportunities for collaboration to reduce crashes on US 4 from VT 100A in Bridgewater to US 5 in Hartford.
While driving speed and road design were discussed as factors contributing to the high number of accidents, the greatest emphasis was put on distracted driving.
An overwhelming majority of those in attendance agreed that driver inattention was the greatest contributor to crashes along the corridor. While the data and information were not available, there was anecdotal information that cellular service or the lack thereof in the area may have been a contributing factor to increased driver distraction.
Discussion on addressing the problem area of Route 4 centered around what the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance calls the "Four E's of Highway Safety": engineering, enforcement, education and emergency medical services. A detailed discussion was held around each of these topics, and a responsible entity and contact person were identified.
The Town of Hartford website has a complete account of action items planned to improve the safety on this stretch of Route 4.
