Hartford police had already increased enforcement on Wethersfield Ave. before third fatal hit-and-run in 2 years

A busy Hartford thoroughfare gained a radar speed sign and a drunk and drugged driving checkpoint in the days after a cyclist was fatally struck there by one in a pair of cars weaving fast through the evening traffic.

While those measures promote safe and sober driving, police are also taking a more thorough and consistent approach to address the recklessness that’s a hallmark of many hit-and-run wrecks in the city, including the one that killed 44-year-old Luis “Danny” Rodriguez on Wethersfield Avenue.

Police have not made any arrests in the fatal hit-and-run crash that killed Rodriquez, a father of three from New Britain, on the evening of Aug. 13.

Hartford police have increased traffic enforcement on Wethersfield Avenue and auto theft investigation overall to improve their response to hit and run crashes, dangerous driving and the widespread problem of stolen cars, Lt. Paul Cicero said.

Data from the state Department of Transportation show speeding is actually a bigger issue on other Hartford streets, such as Homestead Avenue, where one person was clocked at 101 mph during an April 2019 traffic study. Results were similar on Windsor Avenue, which runs parallel to Main Street in the North End. One driver was recorded traveling 98 mph, and 15 percent of drivers were traveling over 47 mph in the 25 mph zone.

Wethersfield Avenue, by comparison, isn’t a speedway at all. A 2018 traffic study found 85% of drivers in the southern part of the corridor were going under 34 mph on the 30 mph road.

Still, the wide thoroughfare has now experienced three fatal hit-and-run crashes in three years.

In 2019, a 19-year-old sped through a red light and slammed into a 57-year-old scooter driver, killing him. The teen left the scene before crashing a block away.

In 2018, a 30-year-old woman was hit by a car and left for dead in front of an apartment building at 485 Wethersfield Ave., the same block where Rodriguez was hit.

Rodriguez’s family has pushed for safety improvements, including the addition of speed bumps. However, the city has said speed bumps aren’t allowed on Wethersfield Avenue and most major thoroughfares in the city.

They can seriously damage emergency vehicles and injure personnel riding in them, Hartford traffic engineer Frank Dellaripa said this week.

Police recovered the white Audi that hit Rodriguez on Aug. 13 and it was not stolen, Cicero said. But they have not located a second vehicle, a black SUV that was accompanying the Audi before the crash and matches the description of a stolen car, Cicero said.

Whether or not a car theft was involved in this most recent crash, they are a scourge in the city. Auto thefts are up 20% in the city this year over the same period in 2019, according to the most recent Hartford police statistics.

Arrests for auto thefts are down 6%, but most of the cars recovered in the city were taken from surrounding communities and then driven into the city, Cicero said.

Stolen cars are often traded around, used to commit other crimes and driven with wanton disregard for others’ safety.

“When you’re a driver of a stolen car, you have a cloak of anonymity,” Cicero said.

Suspects feel like “nobody knows who you are, you’re not responsible for what you do in that car,” he added.

Hartford police doubled the detectives in its auto theft division about a year ago from two to four and the department is participating in a regional auto theft and violent crime task force that launched in February. That initiative recovered 154 stolen cars in its first six months, along with arresting 22 juveniles, breaking up a drug factory, and solving two Hartford shootings, Connecticut State Police said in July.

Standard motor vehicle enforcement is up, too. On Wethersfield Avenue, police have reported 515 moving violations this year as of Aug. 21, on track to exceed last year’s total of 708, Cicero said. There were only 470 moving violations on the avenue in 2018, and less than 200 the year before.

Connecticut had the highest rate of stolen vehicles in the region last year, ranking 38th among the 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Neighboring Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine claimed the lowest rates in the nation.

Rebecca Lurye can be reached at [email protected].

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