Ask any business owner in Deep River and you will find that we share a common denominator: We all love this quintessential New England town. As the anchor to the current and future success of the town, we also share a common grievance: We have had enough of the vehicles that are far exceeding the safe and legal posted speed limits in our community. Daily, we have front row seats to this dire situation, bordering on a crisis where the lives of our residents and visitors to our community are at stake. After numerous and repeated requests to our Board of Selectmen and to state transportation officials to take action by implementing traffic calming mechanisms, it is apparent that aggressive and reckless drivers have been accepted as the norm. We say this is not acceptable.

Study after study has proven that getting drivers to reduce their speed can save lives. Obviously it makes that driver safer, but it also makes everyone else on the road safer—other motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Just a small decrease in vehicle speed can have a huge impact. Research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that the force of impact on the human body is more than one-third greater at 35 miles per hour than at 30. Further, a reduction in speed by one mile per hour equates to a five percent reduction in car crashes. With the dangerous and potentially deadly consequences of speeding well documented, it’s imperative that the Deep River Board of Selectmen, in conjunction with the State Department of Transportation (DOT), immediately implement traffic calming mechanisms.

We believe that priority be given to speed table or speed cushions. A recent study of 179 different sites has shown that 12-foot long speed tables [raised areas of roadway] help reduce speeds by 22 percent and traffic accidents by 11 percent. However, these are not the only options. There are a myriad of steps that can be taken, including installing rumble strips and permanent radar signs, banning through trucks, adding signage, more crosswalks, pavement marking, sharrows [shared-lane markings], and implementing a community awareness campaign about the issue.

Traffic calming creates a situation that compels those at the wheel to drive slowly and more carefully. Enforcement alone is not enough, and our community needs to take immediate action to protect our residents, including our cherished children. We need to take back our streets from rushing commuters, beleaguered delivery drivers, and just downright careless motorists. Communities across the nation have been able to protect their residents from reckless drivers and it is time for Deep River to do the same.

We encourage all Deep River residents to contact our first selectman, Angus McDonald, and the other board members to demand that they take immediate action to keep our community safe. While we understand that these processes do not move as quickly as we would like, the merchants and concerned residents will not stand by and let this issue be placed in a holding pattern by the town or the state DOT officials. As the merchants of the Town of Deep River, we expect a detailed plan of this approach in a timely manner.