Silvermine Residents Call for New Traffic-Calming Measures

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Residents of Silvermine said last week that additional traffic-calming measures are needed in their neighborhood, as frequent speeding in the area creates a public safety issue.

In 2017, the speed limit on Silvermine Road was reduced from 30 to 25 mph. However, residents such as Mark Thorsheim say it is not enforced frequently enough.

Motorists speed and even pass each other on the narrow roadway, creating a hazard for the area’s many pedestrians, Thorsheim told members of the Police Commission at their June 21 meeting.

“These are the conditions that we walk under every day,” Thorsheim said during the meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference. “They don’t slow down for pedestrians walking. They might move over into the other lane, but that doesn’t make it any safer for anybody.”

Thorsheim described an incident in which he attempted to signal a speeding driver to slow down, and received a middle finger as a result.

“I’m amazed at how rude drivers on the road are,” he said. “People don’t care.”

While there are several yellow signs advising drivers to slow down to 20 mph when approaching the Silvermine Market area, Police Chief John DiFederico said that they are not official speed limits enforceable by law. Commissioners attending the meeting included Chair Jim McLaughlin and Secretary Shekaiba Bennett. Commissioner Paul Foley was absent.

The neighborhood residents proposed that stop signs be installed at the intersections at Heather Drive and Mill Road, saying it would make it safer for drivers turning onto Silvermine. 

“The fact of the matter is, if there was a stop sign at Mill Road, you’d at least have a chance to get people to slow down,” Thorsheim said.

However, DiFederico said, placing stop signs in the wrong locations could result in a more dangerous traffic situation.

“You’re coming out of Heather Drive, for example, and cars aren’t predicting that there should be a stop sign there, they’ll blow through it and now you have a more dangerous situation,” he said. “But we’ll look.”

DiFederico said that police will “reevaluate those intersections and see if those are suitable locations for new stop signs.”

In addition to stop signs, residents also proposed speed bumps on Silvermine Road—a request that had been brought up in a previous meeting. Silvermine is not a designated “emergency response road,” the residents say. 

“We shouldn’t be prevented from having, maybe, speed bumps,” Thorsheim said. “A lot of this may turn into a step towards the right direction, which is eventually sidewalks, but in the interim, I think we need to figure out physical obstacles.”

According to DiFederico, speed bumps have both advantages and disadvantages.

“Obviously being in the Northeast, snow removal, wear and tear on vehicles, noise pollution, because now every UPS truck that comes by there is going to slow down and accelerate,” he said.

As with the proposed stop signs, the chief said that police would “reevaluate” the possibility of installing speed bumps.

So far, one of the most effective traffic control measures on Silvermine has been police presence, the residents said. Unfortunately, the town is not able to keep officers there at all times, and the residents at the meeting as well as members of the Police Commission agreed it wouldn’t function as a permanent solution. 

“Every time I call, the police are great, they come out, and I see people getting pulled over, but I literally could call five times a day,” Thorsheim said.

As an alternative to constant police patrol, he proposed speed monitors or “sentries” be implemented, similar to the ones on nearby Valley Road.

DiFederico said, “The solar speed sentries that we have on Valley Road, we received on a state grant, but we are looking to get more of them.”

Arthur Conley, another Silvermine resident, cited a state law scheduled to go into effect in October, which will allow municipalities to implement traffic and red light cameras for remote enforcement. 

“Different municipalities [along the East Coast] have put in red light cameras and speed cameras, and Waze actually has it on your phone so it pops up, so you automatically, even if the system is not working, people will slow down.” Conley said. “While I’m not necessarily advocating putting them all up throughout New Canaan, I do think it’s an effective way of slowing down traffic. Particularly, the way it’s set up, you’d have to have a public hearing. I think if we had a public hearing, this crowd would support it, and I’ll bet you a lot of others would too. There aren’t enough officers around to be doing the traffic indication that needs to be done.”

While the bill states that the punishment for an offense captured by a speed camera would be a fine similar to a parking ticket, municipalities may set it up so that speeders receive several warnings before handing out a fine, Conley said.

Prior to the bill being passed, police were not allowed to have remote enforcement, DiFederico said. 

“That’s brand new, this just happened. I’ve been told that we couldn’t do the red light cameras or the speed cameras so those weren’t an option for us,” DiFederico said.

He added, “The other thing that they did at Silver Hill on Valley was shoulder striping. That gives the visual effect that it’s a more narrow road and it slows people down, which I think is partly what you’re battling on your section of Silvermine. It’s wide on some areas and relatively straight, so it gives the impression to a driver that it’s easier to drive, and you can drive faster.”