Most Greenwich Accidents Caused by Traffic Volume

GREENWICH, Conn. – No matter the design, all the intersections in Greenwich are problematic, says Sgt. John Slusarz, head of the traffic section of the Greenwich Police Department. "The problem becomes volume – that’s the big issue.”

“What we’re seeing is that most collisions are occurring not in the intersection, but on the approach to a light,” he said. “People are on their phones or distracted in other ways, and they bump the car in front of them. It’s not a high-speed crash, but they cause property damage.”

Rear-end collisions resulting from drivers following too close account for more than a third of all motor vehicle accidents, according to the most recent Connecticut Traffic Accident Facts report from the state Department of Transportation.

The intersections with the most volume in Greenwich are along Route 1, and that’s where most rear-end collisions occur. Other roads that carry high amounts of traffic include Sound Beach Avenue, North Street and Glenville Road.

“There are thousands and thousands of cars that drive along Route 1 every day, and it’s bound to happen,” said Slusarz. “Even when you change the designs from a four-way to a T-intersection, these accidents still occur.”

Volume will pick up this weekend in Greenwich with Memorial Day events and the unofficial beginning of summer. “It’s traditionally a huge weekend for DUI operators to be out and about on the road,” says Slusarz. The department usually receives a grant to saturate patrols beginning Thursday night through Monday evening, he said.

“There’s going to be a lot of enforcement out there, not just in Greenwich, but statewide and nationally. Drivers need to be aware and be cognitive of what’s going on around them,” he said. 

During Memorial Day weekend last year, the Greenwich Police Department made three drunken-driving arrests in addition to citing 86 other driving infractions. “It’s historically a high weekend for DUIs, though we obviously hope there will be no drunken drivers on the roads,” he said.

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