REGIONAL

The South Central Connecticut Traffic Unit (SCCTU) Regional Traffic Enforcement Team will continue to prioritize safety for motorists and pedestrians in its coverage area this summer with its six-week summer campaign.

The campaign officially began on July 13, marking a significant return in patrol of its covered towns of East Haven, North Haven, North Branford, Branford, Madison, and Guilford, since reporting a successful inaugural year in 2022. According to Sgt. Joseph Mulhern of East Haven Police Department, it will be a more “aggressive” campaign this summer, but not in the sense of attempting to issue more citations to motorists. Instead, part of the goal is to “hopefully slow down the traffic” during what Mulhern described as a “very fast-paced time of the year” when an influx of violations and motorist and pedestrian accidents are likely due to greater numbers of people on the road and outdoors.

“There’s more people out there, here’s kids out there, people are on vacations…the shoreline communities are inundated with people from outside [the-state]...I think you’re gonna see a difference between December and July of how much traffic you’re gonna see in the shoreline.”

The other major aspect is to continue educating motorists on insurance and re-registering their vehicles. The campaign will also see the SCCTU apply what it learned from its first year of patrol and continue cross-departmental collaboration across its six coverage municipalities in its mission.

“It’s trial and error,” said Mulhern. “What we do is we listen to the supervisors of the given town that we’re gonna be in on that day and see what their concerns are, and then we address it. We found some things that work, some things that didn’t work, some things that work really well, but I think we need to adjust to each town for their needs.”

Deployment across multiple towns gave them a clearer sense of how dynamic the SCCTU mission is. Because each of the six towns it covers sees different kinds of traffic violations, different methods will be employed to lessen those violations during the summer.

“[In East Haven], we have our town beach…Coe Avenue has an influx of traffic based on that,” said Mulhern. “We do more of a speed-related enforcement up in Madison. [In] North Haven, we do more of a plate reader enforcement where we look for the unregistered, uninsured cars.”

The SCCTU’s campaign and their presence to target areas more susceptible to violations and infractions may also be a deterrent to adjacent crimes.

“In our Frontage Road area. We didn’t have any shoplifting the day enforcement was taking place because we were on the inbound thoroughfares of the town,” said Mulhern. “Obviously, it’s a deterrent to some people, probably.”

To keep safe on the road this summer, Mulhern stresses the importance of watching one’s speed, keeping their seatbelts fastened, and checking the status of their insurance. All of these and other steps can contribute to the continuation of the SCCTU’s mission during this face-paced time of year.

“We are fully committed to enhancing road safety within our region,” said Mulhern. “By conducting rigorous enforcement activities and raising public awareness, we aim to reduce traffic violations, deter reckless driving behaviors, and ultimately save lives.”