Traffic Fatalities Increasing Nationwide, But Decreasing in Connecticut

Across the United States, the number of traffic fatalities increased 14 percent in the first six months of 2015 compared with a year ago.  In Connecticut, however, the number of motor vehicle deaths dropped by 20 percent. From January through June of this year, there were 95 motor vehicle deaths in Connecticut, compared with 119 during the same period in 2014 and 116 during the first six months of 2013. Connecticut’s percentage drop in the number of traffic deaths was the 5th largest in the nation, comparing the first six months of this year to a year ago.

Nationwide, the number of traffic deaths rose from 16,400 during the first half of 2014 to 18,630 during the first six months of this year.  According to the National Safety Council, which analyzed the data, the increase in fatalities in 2015 likely reflects the effects of the low gas prices that have averaged 30 percent below 2014 levels over the first two quarters of 2015, helping to produce a 3.4 percent increase in cumulative vehicle mileage through May.

Distracted drivers – specifically those behind the wheel attempting to talk or text on a cell phone – are also pushing the numbers. The NSC says cell phone related activities are to blame for 27 percent of all crashes.

Connecticut is one of 15 states where the number of traffic fatalities has dropped in the first six months of 2015, compared with a year ago.  The others were Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.

Three states – California, Texas and Florida – have seen more than 1,000 deaths through June of this  year.

Medically consulted motor-vehicle injuries for the first six months of 2015 are estimated to be about 2,254,000, an increase of 30 percent from 2014 nationwide, the National Safety Council (NSC) indicated. The NSC estimated that the nation appears headed towards the deadliest year, in terms of traffic fatalities, since 2007.

“While the statistics point out a dangerous trend, we have the ability to influence outcomes through our choices and behavior,” said Deborah Hersman, president and CEO of the NSC. “Take your responsibilities behind the wheel this summer seriously and ensure that you get to your destination safety.”

In addition to the personal toll, the estimated cost of motor-vehicle deaths, injuries, and property damage through June was $152.0 billion, a 24 percent increase from 2014, according to the data reported by the Illinois-based NSC. The costs include wage and productivity losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses, employer costs, and property damage.

The number of traffic deaths reported this year nationwide is greater than the number for the same period in recent years; in 2012 there were 1,755 deaths, in 2013 there were 16,617; in 2014 there were 16,400.  The NSC counts both traffic and non-traffic deaths that occur within a year of the accident, while NHTSA counts only traffic deaths that occur within 30 days, so the numbers reported will differ.

Founded in 1913 and chartered by Congress, the National Safety Council, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to save lives by preventing injuries and deaths at work, in homes and communities, and on the road through leadership, research, education and advocacy.  Deaths are reported by state traffic authorities, and all figures are preliminary.

Correctional Institutions or Institutions for the Mentally Ill? Governments Seek New Solutions

How to effectively respond to the fact that America’s prisons have rapidly become de facto institutions for the mentally ill is increasingly gaining attention in policy circles and the news media.  In recent days, The New York Times, Governing magazine, and other publications have focused both on the alarming statistics and some innovative approaches across the country. There are now 10 times as many mentally ill people in the nation’s 5,000 jails and prisons as there are in state mental institutions, according to a study last year by the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit group that supports expanded access to treatment, the Times reported.

In Connecticut, out of the 16,154 inmates in state prisons, about 3,423 have a serious mental illness, 21 percent of the total prison population, Michael Lawlor, undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning at the Office of Policy and Management, told the New Haven Register earlier this year. Just a few years ago, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) estimated that approximately 16 percent of the state’s prison population consisted of persons with mental illness.

The State Department of Correction confirms that those defined as “seriously mentally ill” include 17 percent of the male population, 66 percent of the female population, and 20.8 percent of the overall prison population in the state.

According to the Council of State Governments, jails in the U.S. report that between 20 and 80 percent of their inmates suffer from a mental illness, Governing reported.   Today’s acute challenge has been decades in the making.  In the mid-1950’s, the publication indicated, more than 500,000 people were held in state psychiatric hospitals.  “By the 1980s that number had fallen to around 70,000.  During this period, the number of people with mental illnesses who were arrested and ended up in local jails surged.”

Chicago’s Cook County Jail, now referred to by local officials as the nation’s largest mental institution in the country, has 8,600 inmates – an estimated one-third of them suffering from mental illness.  The newly appointed warden of the facility is a clinical psychologist – underscoring “how much the country’s prisons have become holding centers for the mentally ill,” the Times reported.

Writing in the Connecticut Law Review, Christina Canales observed that “Many supported deinstitutionalization because they believed that the mentally ill would benefit from being released from the state hospitals.  They believed that with the assistance of anti-psychotic medications, the mentally ill would be able to live independently in the community and that the community mental health centers would provide the additional care, treatment, and follow up services.

“Although a good plan in theory,” Canales concludes, “deinstitutionalization quickly became one of the main reasons for the substantial increase in mentally ill people in jails and prisons. Patients were ejected from state mental hospitals at a substantially faster rate than community mental health programs were created.”

The Law Review article, published three summers ago, concludes that “the United States faces a crisis in that prisons are among the largest mental healthcare providers. Some mentally ill individuals turned to crime after deinstitutionalization left them on the streets with no support system. Others wound up in prison because police officers lacked the proper training to identify persons as mentally ill and in crisis, or mistakenly believed that individuals receive adequate treatment in prison. The change in civil commitment laws also made it harder to commit the mentally ill, and society as a whole wants these individuals punished, mentally ill or not.”

Earlier this year, the Connecticut state legislature considered – but did not approve - a bill that would have established a pilot program to serve courts in New Haven, New London and Norwich to identify and track the mentally ill, along with homeless and addicted individuals entering the criminal justice system. The idea behind it was to get these individuals treatment and help as an alternative to incarceration and to prevent future arrests, according to published reports. The initiative also called for a formal assessment of its effectiveness.

In Chicago, the Times reported, “before becoming warden, Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia oversaw mental health care at the jail, and under her guidance, Cook County began offering services that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. All inmates upon arrival now see a clinician who collects a mental health history to ensure that anyone who is mentally ill gets a proper diagnosis and receives medication. The jail then forwards that information to judges in time for arraignments in the hope of convincing them that in certain cases, mental health care may be more appropriate than jail.”

According to a report by the Virginia-based Treatment Advocacy Center, 95 percent of the public psychiatric beds available in 1955 in the country were no longer available by 2005, the New Haven Register reported.  The Center recommends a minimum of 50 beds per 100,000 people, a standard that no state meets. Connecticut has about 20 public psychiatric beds per 100,000 people, according to the center’s website. Between 1995 and 2013, the number of inpatient psychiatric beds, at both public and private hospitals, decreased from 160,645 to 107,055 nationally, according to data from the American Hospital Association.

Connecticut, which recently approved a Second Chance Society Act proposed by Gov. Malloy that reduces some criminal sentences for nonviolent offenses and drug possession, is expected to reduce the number of people incarcerated for drug use, which officials expect will also reduce the number of mentally ill in prisons, “since drug use and mental health problems frequently coexist in a significant group” of the population.

The Governing article highlights a diversion system in Miami-centered Dade County in Florida, a post-booking alternative program that permits individuals arrested for “misdemeanor offenses and identified as having acute mental illnesses” to be transferred to mental health treatment facilities.  The results, according to the publication:

“About 80 percent of people offered the chance to participate in the program accepted it.  What was surprising was how many people stayed out of the system afterward.  An evaluation conducted soon after the program began found that recidivism rates one year out among participants who complete the program was just 20 percent.  In contrast, 72 percent of peers who did not participate in the program were back in jail within one year of their release.”

https://youtu.be/zSbFbv2Bs_0?list=PLQ9B-p5Q-YOP2OVnCPdYKLSmPkqLA2igT

FEMA to Upgrade Emergency System at WTIC-AM Tower As Station's License Renewal Remains Unresolved

As the license renewal application of WTIC-AM radio continues to languish at the Federal Communications Commission, nearly one year after the station’s broadcast license expired, another federal agency is proceeding with WTIC on a local project aimed at assuring the availability of broadcast communication in the event of an emergency. This week the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, testified at the Avon Planning and Zoning Commission outlining a plan to upgrade the Primary Entry Point System (PEP) facility which is located on Avon Mountain at the site of the station's transmitter and operated in conjunction with WTIC. 

The facility is part of a nationwide network of about 70 such installations, which for the past 30 years have provided a “broadcast-based capability to communicate critical life-saving information to the public in times of extreme emergencies,” according to FEMA officials.  FEMA coordinates with local broadcast stations with the most far-reaching signals in their respective regions.  WTIC is the only PEP station in Connecticut.

Also this week, an official at the FCC indicated that the "enforcement hold" status of the station’s license renewal was "unchanged," and the station continues to operate until a decision is made, as is customary with delayed renewal applications. The WTIC-AM license renewal application has been on enforcement hold at the FCC since the license expiration date of April 1, 2014, as the agency’s Enforcement Bureau continues to consider “an alleged violation of FCC rules,” according to an FCC official. The renewal application was filed by the station almost 16 months ago, on November 27, 2013. Stations must file an application for license renewal) four months prior to the expiration date of the station’s license.

The facility at the WTIC broadcast tower and antenna in Avon would be the last in the country to be upgraded by FEMA.  After hearing a FEMA presentation and comments from local residents, the Avon Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the plan and construction is slated to begin later this spring.

FEMA, noting that the PEP system “proved invaluable” to the New Orleans community in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, places back-up generators and diesel power at the transmitter sites of key commercial radio stations, to assure that they stay on the air to broadcast emergency information if other media is off-line due to power outages or other “extreme emergencies.”  Such was the case in New Orleans with WWL-AM, which, like WTIC-AM, is a 50,000 watt broadcast station.

Federal officials noted that “WTIC is the only original PEP station that has not been upgraded with long-term back-up components.  This leaves Connecticut and its local communities in a very vulnerable position when a major disaster strikes.”  The plan approved this week calls for installation of a new emergency back-up transmitter, two state-of-the-art generators and diesel fuel tank that would enable the station to transmit broadcast signals for longer than two months if necessary.  Nationally, FEMA continues to upgrade and expand the PEP system. The agency's website indicates that direct coverage of the nation’s population will expand from approximately 67 percent in 2009 to over 90 percent through 77 PEP stations by the end of this year.

WTIC-AM, which is licensed to Hartford but operates from studios in Farmington and has its broadcast tower on Avon Mountain, can continue broadcasting under the license that expired  on April 1, 2014, until the FCC acts on its renewal application. Until the enforcement hold is lifted the FCC Media Bureau cannot proceed with a decision on whether or not to renew the station’s broadcast license.  The Enforcement Bureau must first determine whether or not a violation of FCC rules has occurred.  If the allegation is substantiated, the agency has a range of options, such as warning that the violation not be repeated or imposing a monetary fine on the station, officials said.

Precisely what the allegation under review involves is not made known to the public, officials reiterated this week.  That information is only made available to the licensee or their attorney, FCC official have said. The agency can, and often does, communicate with the station as part of their review process.  WTIC has declined to comment on the ongoing review process at the FCC.

Hartford Attorney Ken Krayeske filed an informal objection last fall to WTIC’s broadcast license renewal, alleging that the station “demonstrated serious malfeasance” and “helped conceal violations of federal law,” related to former talk show host John G. Rowland’s use of his radio program to promote the Congressional campaign of Lisa Wilson-Foley. Krayeske had filed a previous complaint in 2012 that did not result in FCC action against the station.

When the license renewal application does reach the agency’s Media Bureau, they will consider “how the allegation of violation was resolved,” as well as a range of other factors in deciding whether or not to renew the station’s license.  The other, more routine, factors include whether any other objections have been raised about the station, whether the station has been adequately serving the public in their area of license, their history of compliance with FCC regulations, and their overall performance.  License renewals for radio stations are issued by the FCC for a period of eight years.

School Suspensions Down, But Students of Color, Low Income Receive Disproportionate Share

There’s good news and bad news in a new analysis of suspensions, expulsions, and arrests of students in Connecticut schools.  The report, by Connecticut Voices for Children, found that overall significantly fewer students have been excluded from the classroom in recent years, but that suspension, expulsion and arrest rates were much higher for minority students, special education students, and students from poorer districts. The report also found that “many of these discipline measures were used for behaviors that were probably not criminal and could likely have been handled within the school.”  Stressing that “children learn best when they are in school,” the report indicated that “arrests, expulsions, and suspensions are often costly, ineffective, and unnecessary.”

Connecticut Voices for Children is a research and advocacy organization that works to improve opportunities for the state’s children, youth and families. The report, “Keeping Kids in Class: School Discipline in Connecticut, 2008-2013,” uses data provided by local school districts, found that in 2013, 7.4 percent of all students received at least one expulsion or suspension, down from 8.5 percent as recently as 2011.

First, the good news:

• The number of students arrested, expelled, and suspended in Connecticut has decreased significantly in recent years. In the 2013 school year, Connecticut schools arrested 35 percent fewer students, expelled 31 percent fewer students, and gave out of school suspensions to 47 percent fewer students than in 2008.

The not-so-good news:

• Despite the overall reduction in these “exclusionary” school discipline practices, many students are still removed from the classroom for non-criminal behaviors that could, in the view of Connecticut Voices, be managed in the classroom. “School policy violations” – such as skipping class, insubordination, or using profanity – were involved in 9 percent of student arrests, 6 percent of expulsions, 50 percent of out-of-school suspensions, and 79 percent of in-school suspensions in 2013.

From 2008-2013 the percentage of students suspended out-of-school fell from 4.9% to 2.7%. During the same time period, the percentage of students suspended in-school increased from 4.9% to 5.2%.

Of particular concern was the data related to students of color and those with limited financial resources or disability:

• In 2013, black students were 4.7 times more likely to be arrested, 4.9 times more likely to be expelled, and 6.5 times more likely to be suspended out-of-school than white students.
• Hispanic students were 3.1 times more likely to be arrested, 2.6 times more likely to be expelled, and 4.4 times more likely to be suspended out-of-school than white students.
• Special education students were arrested at 3 times the rate of general education students, and they were 1.8 times more likely to be expelled, and 2.6 times more likely to receive out-of-school suspensions.
• Students in the poorest urban areas were arrested nearly 23 times more often, expelled over 17 times more often, and suspended out-of-school 24 times more often than students in the wealthiest suburban areas.

Based on the data, the report makes a series of recommendations for the state Department of Education and policymakers to consider, including:

• Require districts with police stationed in schools to create a memorandum of agreement between the schools and police that sets ground rules concerning arrests. Promote police and educator training, such as that provided by the state’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, which offers instruction to officers and educators in understanding and responding productively to adolescent behavior.
• Implement preventive strategies and alternative discipline measures to reduce racial and other disparities and ensure those excluded from school are provided equal opportunities.
• Establish and support community collaborations across the state. National studies show that engaging all stakeholders in the discipline process positively impacts student behavior and achievement.

The top 10 reasons for expulsion in 2013:  1) drug/alcohol/tobacco, 2) weapons, 3) fighting/battery, 4) personally threatening behavior, 5) school policy violations, 6) theft/theft related behaviors, 7) verbal confrontation/conduct unbecoming 8) violent crimes against persons, 9) sexually related behavior, and 10) property damage.

The report concludes that “the disproportionate rate by which students of color and students from poorer districts are excluded from school may in fact contribute to widening the achievement gap; students from less privileged backgrounds will continue to perform worse than their more advantaged peers if they are excluded from the classroom in the first place.”

The report also recommends expanding access to behavioral and mental health services and utilize Juvenile Review Boards (JRBs), locally-run groups that offer a diversionary alternative to the court system for youth who have committed minor delinquent acts or misdemeanors.  In addition, it calls for improving data collection by clearly defining “student arrests” (not currently defined by the state) and collecting and publishing data on all student arrests (currently not required for all incidents resulting in arrests).

“This report tells us that many schools in Connecticut have reformed their disciplinary practices and reduced student arrests, expulsions and out-of-school suspensions,” said Ellen Shemitz, Executive Director of Connecticut Voices for Children. “Yet these reforms have not benefited all children equally. How can we hope to reduce the yawning achievement gap when school disciplinary practices push minority children out of school at disproportionate rates?”

13 Connecticut Mayors Head to D.C. for National Conference

When 300 of the nation’s Mayors convene in Washington for a three-day conference beginning on Wednesday, a baker’s dozen from Connecticut will be among them.  Thirteen chief elected officials from Connecticut comunities, including two who serve as co-chairs of key committees, will be participating in the 83^rd Winter Meetings of the National Conference of Mayors.  The organization convenes on the heels of President Obama’s State of the Union Address, just as the new Congressional session gets underway.  The Mayors will engage with Administration officials, Congressional leaders business leaders to “ensure the health and economic recovery of America’s cities,” according to program organizers. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to address the Mayors on Thursday.

Attending from Connecticut are Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, Bristol Mayor Ken Cockayne, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc, Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, New Haven Mayor Toni Harp, Norwich Mayor Deberey Hinchey, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, Stamford Mayor David Martin, Stratford Mayor John Harkins, Trumbull First Selectman Timothy Herbst and Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary.

On Wednesday, the Mayors’ Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task Force, which is co-chaired by Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch will meet.  The panel is co-chaired by the Mayor of Carmel, Indiana.  The session will include a discussion of recommendations of the President’s State, Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience.

On Thursday, the Immigration Reform Task Force, which is co-chaired by Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait will gather to hear from the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson.

Topping the agenda, according to officials are community policing, the economy, innovation & transportation.   The Mayors will head to the White House on Friday afternoon, concluding the conference.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1400 such cities in the country today.

Concussion Education Plan Due to School Districts on January 1; Advisory Panel Meets Today

Three weeks from now, Connecticut should have in place a state concussion education plan to be used by local and regional boards of education.  That’s according to a law passed by state legislators earlier this year in response to growing concerns about the potential lifelong effects of concussions on students injured in school sports. Local school boards will be responsible for implementing the plan using written materials, online training or videos, or in-person training.

The Connecticut Youth Concussion Advisory Group, coordinating the state’s effort, has met four times this fall.  Minutes of the most recent meeting, on November 6, were posted to the group’s website more than a month later, just days ahead of the meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 11.  That meeting is to include an update on the Concussion Education Plan, according to the meeting agenda.

Although the law was approved in May, it was highlighted in public ceremonies in September in Westport, the hometown of three mothers who were instrumental in advocating for passage of the law. Each of their sons’ lives were changed by concussions. Ann Sherwood, Pippa Bell Ader and Diana Coyne came together to form the Parents Concussion Coalition, FOX Connecticut reported.

Public Act 14-66 requires the state Department of Education to consult with the state Department of Public Health, the governing authority for intramural and interscholastic athletics, an appropriate organization representing licensed athletic trainers, and an organization representing county medical associations to do the following:

• By January 1, 2015, develop a concussion education plan to be used by local and regional boards of education. Boards of education will be responsible for implementing such plan using written materials, online training or videos, or in person training.
• Develop a signed informed consent, which must include a summary of the concussion education plan, and a summary of the local board’s policies regarding concussions. For the school year beginning July 1, 2105, local boards of education must prohibit a student athlete from participating in intramural or interscholastic athletic activities unless the student athlete and a parent or guardian returns such form.
• Collect and report to DPH all occurrences of concussions, including the nature and extent of the concussion and the circumstances in which the student sustained the concussion.

The law also requires that a training course regarding concussions be developed or approved, and that “a refresher course regarding concussions, including current best practices, and, for football coaches, current best practices around the frequency of games and full contact practices and scrimmages.”  That provision was effective on October 1. 

At the November meeting of the Advisory Group, “there was discussion regarding the pros and cons of mandating a specific time frame between stages of recovery from a concussion versus considering each case individually and relying on the student’s physician,” the meeting minutes reported.  Among materials reviewed were a Concussion Web page, Concussion Education Initiative Course feedback, and an annual review and refresher course.

Regarding data collection, the Advisory Group “discussed what will work best for schools; what is an ideal versus realistic approach.”

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Board of Control is requiring all CIAC member schools (including private and parochial schools not covered by the law) to develop a plan and begin implementation in the 2014-15 school year.

Westport’s Staples High School is among the Connecticut school that now provide concussion protocols on their websites, so that students, parents, coaches and the community are aware of expected practices.  According to the Staples site, “links include concussion education, the concussion care plan that is to be filled out by your physician when a concussion occurs, our procedures for concussion management, and our Return to Play protocol that will be followed by all athletes before returning to competition after sustaining a concussion.”

Connecticut was one of the first states in the nation to adopt a concussion law, in 2010, following Oregon and Washington, which implemented similar statutes in 2009.  The law dealt primarily with training requirements for coaches.

Video 1       Video 2

Jewel Mullen: Public Health Commissioner At Center of State's Ebola Response

Described on the Yale School of Public Health website as “a leader in building effective community-based chronic disease prevention programs,” Connecticut’s Commissioner of Public Health, Dr. Jewel Mullen, has a long academic association with Yale, even as both were catapulted into the breaking news spotlight with a possible case of the Ebola virus in a patient under care at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Mullen is also well-acquainted with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, having served on public health advisory committees, appointed by the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Little known by state residents outside of the public health community, she is well regarded within those circles.

She is the New England regional representative to the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) Board of Directors and chairs ASTHO’s Prevention Policy Committee. In 2013, she was appointed to the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Quality Measures for the Healthy People Leading Health Indicators.

Appointed as Commissioner by Governor Dannel Malloy at the start of his administration in 2011, Dr. Mullen has combined clinical work, research, teaching and administration throughout a career focused on improving the health of all people, especially the under served. Board certified in internal medicine, Dr. Mullen received her Bachelor (1977) and Master (1996) of Public Health degrees from Yale University where she also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in psychosocial epidemiology.

Earlier this month, Malloy declared a public health emergency in Connecticut, issuing a precautionary and preparatory order that allows state public health officials to coordinate a targeted quarantine in case Ebola arrives in the state, with decision-making authority residing in Commission Mullen.  Without the Governor’s declaration, there would not be a statewide ability to isolate or quarantine – instead, the authority would have remained with individual local public health directors.

Prior to joining the Department of Public Health, Dr. Mullen was director of the Bureau of Community Health and Prevention at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In 2012 the CDC appointed Dr. Mullen to its advisory committee on health disparities, a subcommittee of the Advisory Committee to the Director.  Earlier in her career, she was the medical director of Baystate Mason Square Neighborhood Health Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. She graduated from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine where she was elected to AOA, the National Medical Honor Society, after which she completed her residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

In addition to being a physician, Mullen is also an educator, who has taught medicine at several different universities including New York University, the University of Virginia, Yale and Tufts University. . She also holds a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is currently listed as a lecturer in epidemiology (chronic diseases) and in public health by the Yale School of Public Health and is an ex-officio member of the state Board of Regents for Higher Education.

Her priorities at the Connecticut Department of Public Health, according to the Department website, include chronic disease and injury prevention, health care quality and safety, health equity, and supporting local efforts to create healthy communities.  She has lived in Connecticut since 1992.

Anti-Texting Enforcement Intensifies as Study Indicates Law Can Save Lives

An unprecedented anti-texting enforcement effort by the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office, part of the “U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” campaign, concludes this week on September 24.  The nearly month-long enforcement mobilization marked the first time the state has used dedicated federal funds to curb texting while driving. Connecticut was the only state in the nation to receive $2.3 million in federal Distracted Driving prevention funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The joint effort by state and local police enforces Connecticut’s law that prohibits motorists from texting and/or using hand-held cell phones while driving. Under Connecticut’s cell phone and texting law, violations involve heavy fines, ranging from $150 for a first offense and $300 for a second violation to $500 for each subsequent violation.

Using data from the Governor’s Highway Safety Administration, the National Conference of State Legislatures summarizes state cellular phone use and texting while driving laws.

• Hand-held Cell Phone Use Ban: 13 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from using hand-held cell phones while driving.
• All Cell Phone ban: No state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, but 37 states and D.C. ban all cell phone use by novice or teen drivers, and 20 states and D.C. prohibit any cell phone use for school bus drivers.
• Text Messaging ban: 44 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers. Four states prohibit text messaging by novice or teen drivers and three states restrict school bus drivers from texting.

Texting bans can reduce teen traffic fatalities by as much as 11 percent, according to a new study of the effect of such state laws.  Texting bans aimed at teens and that allow primary enforcement of the law —they don’t require officers to have another reason for the traffic stop — have had the most dramatic effect, a team of researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health found in a study published in the August edition of the American Journal of Public Health.

“[O]ur results provide strong evidence that the primarily enforced texting laws seem to be reaching the intended subpopulations who are most at risk for texting while driving,” the researchers indicated.

According to the website distraction.gov, the official U.S. government website for distracted driving, Connecticut law includes:

• Handheld ban for all drivers (Primary law)
• Ban on all cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for bus drivers (Primary law)
• Ban on all cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for novice drivers (Primary law)
• Ban on texting for all drivers (Primary law)

Connecticut defines novice drivers as those under the age of 18 or with a learner's permit.

In the recently published research, the team examined 11 years of data from the 48 contiguous states. They controlled for other factors that may influence crash risk, such as economic, legal and population-specific indicators. (Unemployment, for example, can influence risk because fewer workers means fewer drivers on the road. Income and gas prices can affect how much people drive, again exposing them to more risk.)

Just having a texting law was linked to a 2.3 percent decline in overall traffic fatalities for all drivers.

“Our results indicate that states that have not enacted any primarily enforced texting bans are missing out on opportunities to prevent avoidable roadway deaths,” said one of the authors, Alva O. Ferdinand.

The first of the researchers’ three main findings was that primary enforcement really matters.  At the time of this study, Alva O. Ferdinand, Nir Menachemi, Bisakha Sen, Justin L. Blackburn, and Michael Morrisey were with the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Leonard Nelson was with the Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, Birmingham, AL.

While the focused enforcement mobilization will end Sept. 24, the Transportation Department says enforcing Connecticut’s tough hand held mobile phone ban remains a priority.

Remembering Connecticut's Enduring Loss on 9/11

“Jeff Gonski does not need a network television special or a commemorative newspaper edition to remember what he cannot forget: It has been 10 years since Amy Toyen, his 24-year-old fiancée, vanished in a cloud of toxic smoke and twisted steel at the tip of lower Manhattan. When American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, Amy was on the 106th floor preparing to make a presentation at a trade show for Boston-based Thomson Financial.” Boston magazine, in 2011, began its feature article with that stark recollection.  Legacy.com begins its remembrance by describing how that morning began.

“To catch her early flight on Sept. 11, Amy E. Toyen arose in Boston at 4 a.m. so she could arrive in New York City at 6:45 a.m., in plenty of time to attend the trade show in Windows on the World at 1 World Trade Center. Ms. Toyen, 24, was demonstrating a software product of her company, Thomson Financial in Boston, when her fiancé, Jeffrey Gonski, got a call at 8:58 a.m. — his caller ID showed it was her cellphone — but when he answered, no one was there.

Mr. Gonski had met Ms. Toyen, who grew up in Avon, Connecticut, at their alma mater, Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., and had managed to pull off an elaborate proposal.

"We had just ordered her wedding dress," recalled her father, Martin Toyen. "She was so happy in her life — a woman in love, who loved her job." The wedding was set for June 16, 2002.

Toyen had lost a coin flip among business colleagues to decide who made the trip on Sept. 11; the night before, her flight from Boston to New York was canceled due to bad weather – but she was able to book a flight out of Logan International Airport at 6:00 the next morning.

After her death, Toyen’s parents would reflect on the luck that placed her in the worst part of the 110-story skyscraper, at the worst possible moment, the website MassLive reported. “It’s as if fate was telling her not to go,” said her father, adding that his daughter’s diligence pushed her to rebook the flight to get to the twin towers on time.

Since 9/11, Amy Toyen is remembered by those who knew her and loved her, those whose paths crossed hers along life’s journey, and by countless others, in her hometown of Avon, her native state of Connecticut, and well beyond.

A life size sculpture of a young Amy, funded by the student government of Avon High School, sits in the garden of the Avon Public Library.   Canton artist Marilyn Parkinson Thrall designed and executed the 22-inch bronze statue depicting Amy, sitting cross-legged on a bench and cradling a teddy bear as she reads a book on her lap.  Amy’s family sorted through many pictures in order to help Thrall capture her essence, incorporating her favorite daisy-print dress, tiny sneakers, and ponytails tied with pompom rubber bands. The statue sits upon a granite bench with a plaque that tells the full story.

Amy Elizabeth Toyen is one of the 2,977 people whose lives were tragically and abruptly ended on September 11, 2001, and one of 153 individuals named on Connecticut’s official memorial at Sherwood Island at Long Island Sound.

When the viewer faces the inscription on the state’s memorial stone they are oriented across the Sound to the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City, which had been visible from that scenic location. The inscription reads, "The citizens of Connecticut dedicate this living memorial to the thousands of innocent lives lost on September 11, 2001 and to the families who loved them."

Report Calls for Transition to Livable Communities Across Connecticut

In Connecticut, more than one-third of the population is over the age of 50, and that proportion continues to increase. Connecticut’s Legislative Commission on Aging has issued “Connecticut for Livable Communities,” a new report to the state legislature which outlines more than 50 recommendations for communities looking to enhance livability. The Commission has also launched a website which includes a list of communities that are responding to the call for more livable communities, and suggests a wide range of actions that communities can take.

Connecticut is undergoing a permanent and historic transformation in its demographics, the report points out. Between 2010 and 2040, Connecticut’s population of people age 65 and older is projected to grow by 57 percent, with less than 2 percent growth for people age 20 to 64 during the same period.

Livable communities are vibrant, inter-generational places that are easy to get around, according to the report. “They include affordable, appropriate housing options, supportive community features and services, and adequate mobility options. They foster independence, engage residents in civic and social life, and allow people to age in place. Done well, they benefit community residents across the lifespan.”

The 50-page report indicates that residents born in Connecticut today can expect to live to be 80.8 years old - the third highest life expectancy in the nation. A lengthy series of recommendations are highlighted in seven different areas: community engagement, health and well-being, housing, planning and zoning, safety and preparedness, social and support services, and transportation.

The recommendations include promoting opportunities for intergenerational collaboration, promoting in-home programs that improve health outcomes, creating a balanced transportation system that connects residents with health care services, and adopting policies that encourage incorporation of accessible housing features into new construction. The recommendations also include a call for municipal plans of conservation and development that include planning for older adults and individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes and communities, and building compact, mixed-use development “to encourage walking and eyes on the street.”

Creating livability requires “robust partnerships, long-range planning and sustained commitment.” To support those efforts the Legislative Commission on Aging plans to be:

• Providing educational opportunities on livable communities for community leaders and other partners in Connecticut;
• Creating partnerships to support the multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary endeavor of creating livable communities;
• Supporting, inspiring and incentivizing communities to enhance livability; and developing policies to support aging in place

To help communities implement the recommendations over time, the Commission plans to:

• Recognize localities that have implemented livable communities initiatives, pursuant to Public Act 14-73 (which established the livable communities initiative)
• Expand partnerships across multiple sectors to advance livability,
• Continue to convene municipal leaders, legislators and other thought leaders for statewide and regional forums on creating livability;
• Continue to identify funding opportunities for municipal leaders, seeking to implement or sustain livable communities initiatives;
• Work with partners to conduct asset mapping across all Connecticut communities, with the goal of helping each community understand its facilitators and barriers to developing livable communities;
• Continue to research models in other states, nationally and internationally;
• Work with the Connecticut General Assembly to identify and advance policy solutions that incentivize and inspire the creation of livable communities;
• Provide technical assistance to Connecticut communities seeking to enhance or promote livability; and
• Create town-specific data profiles to enable towns to enhance livability in a targeted and strategic fashion.

Among the communities listed on the new website as having best practices in place in parts of their towns or cities are Branford, Guilford, Madison, Bridgeport, Danbury, Darien, Enfield, Hartford, Middletown, New Haven, New Canaan, Norwalk, Seymour, and Torrington.  The Commission plans to proceed with "asset mapping across all Connecticut communities" and "continue to identify innovations, ideas, and best practices for implementing livability in the state. "