THE WATERBURY TIMES|
UPDATE MAY 28, 1:54AM
UPDATE: Waterbury Residents Flood FACEBOOK Comment Section With Frustration, Ideas, and Demands for Action
Waterbury– The response to The Waterbury Times’ Chase Avenue story has been immediate and intense.
Within 24 hours, the article generated more than 100 comments across social media, with residents passionately debating what — and who — is truly responsible for the growing number of deadly crashes across the city.
While some called for roadway redesigns and traffic calming measures, the overwhelming majority of commenters placed the blame directly on drivers themselves.
“The street isn’t the problem. It’s the people,” one resident wrote — a sentiment repeated throughout the discussion.
Others argued the issue extends far beyond Chase Avenue alone.
“This isn’t just a Chase Ave problem. It’s citywide,” another commenter stated, pointing to speeding, reckless driving, distracted driving, and aggressive behavior becoming increasingly common throughout Waterbury.
Still, many residents also pushed for concrete safety improvements and stronger enforcement.
Among the most common suggestions:
- Installing speed cameras
- Adding a median to Chase Avenue
- Increasing police traffic enforcement
- Cracking down on reckless and repeat dangerous drivers
- Expanding traffic calming measures citywide
Some residents specifically pointed to late-night speeding and what they described as a growing culture of aggressive driving throughout the city.
Others questioned whether enough has been done by local and state leadership despite multiple fatal crashes over recent years.
What became clear from the outpouring of comments is that roadway safety has become a major public concern in Waterbury — and increasingly, a political issue.
With state elections approaching, many residents say they hope state delegates, incumbents, and challengers are paying attention to what people are saying on the ground.
Because regardless of where blame ultimately falls — the street, the drivers, or both — the public frustration is becoming impossible to ignore.
ORIGINAL REPORTING BEGINS
The Waterbury Times | May, 26 2026
Waterbury- In Waterbury, people are starting to ask a harder question.
Not who is responsible for the latest deadly crash.
But what is being done to stop the next one.
After the death of Dwayne Hunter in a hit-and-run on Chase Avenue in May 2024, residents demanded accountability. Then came another fatal crash involving a 36-year-old pedestrian in December 2025. Now, nearly two years to the day after Hunter’s death, an 18-year-old has died following another violent crash on May 17, 2026.
Three deaths. One corridor. Growing outrage.
At some point, this stops feeling like coincidence.
Anyone who drives Chase Avenue already knows the reality. Large stretches of the roadway feel less like a city street and more like an open highway cutting through shopping plazas, bus stops, and pedestrian crossings.
The speed limit may say one thing.
Traffic behavior says another.
Cars routinely fly through the corridor at highway speeds. Drivers race yellow lights. Vehicles weave aggressively through traffic. Late at night, residents say the avenue can sound more like Interstate traffic than a commercial city roadway.
And yet people are expected to cross it on foot.
The danger has become normalized.
That normalization may now be costing lives.
The difficult truth is this: roadway design influences behavior. Chase Avenue is wide. Open. Forgiving to fast drivers. Long sightlines and oversized travel lanes psychologically encourage speed whether signs are posted or not.
Traffic engineers across the country have increasingly acknowledged that if roads are built to feel fast, drivers will drive fast.
Which raises the question many in Waterbury are now asking:
Why hasn’t more changed already?
Where are the traffic calming measures?
Where are the raised crosswalks, pedestrian refuge islands, flashing beacons, lane reductions, or aggressive speed enforcement details?
Why does one of the city’s busiest commercial corridors still function like a speedway in so many sections?
Residents are also questioning whether enforcement has kept pace with the problem. Complaints about reckless driving, speeding, illegal passing, and late-night racing have circulated for years.
Yet the fatalities continue mounting.
And every new crash reopens old wounds.
This is no longer just about individual drivers making reckless decisions.
It is about whether the roadway itself is designed in a way that practically invites dangerous driving behavior.
Because at some point, when multiple people die on the same corridor over a relatively short period of time, the conversation has to shift from isolated accidents to systemic failure.
The people of Waterbury deserve answers.
More importantly, they deserve action before another memorial appears on Chase Avenue.
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