The Road and Public Safety Committee has a primary focus to “discuss public safety concerns on the public roadways in Old Lyme and make recommendations to the Board of Selectmen.”

These may include, but are not limited to, speeding and dangerous driving on town and state roads, signage needs, disorderly behavior in public places, vandalism and other property crimes, and threats posed by natural causes that are not otherwise primarily addressed in other committees.

Members represent Old Lyme’s various neighborhoods and are appointed by the Board of Selectmen.

The Committee was asked to:

• Discuss public safety concerns, evaluate threats and challenges, and devise strategies to address these issues. Strategies may be neighborhood specific or town wide in their application.
• Make recommendations to the Board of Selectmen for action items.
• Disseminate clear and accurate information to the Old Lyme community concerning public safety issues.

Current Work of the Committee:

1. An online public opinion survey was posted during summer and publicized throughout town.   Almost 700 people (692) responded to the survey.  Respondents provided nearly 1,600 (1594) individual comments to the survey’s standard questions/answers, and 79 people asked the committee if they might directly discuss road safety with members. The committee reached out to all of the latter respondents.

Survey Summary

Unedited Survey Responses

(Contact information for the respondents interested in further discussion with the committee are not posted.)    

2. The Committee will carefully consider people’s observations and opinions on road safety; review data gathered from various sources, including speed warning cameras; and review advice and thoughts gained from conversations with other municipalities in formulating recommendations to the Board of Selectmen.

Additional Work of the Committee

1. The Committee assembled a list of older traffic signs needing replacement and locations where traffic signs might be newly posted to improve road safety.  Signs were subsequently replaced and/or installed throughout Old Lyme. The Committee worked with the First Selectwoman and Public Works in this effort.

2. Speed limit warning signs have been installed across Old Lyme to alert motorists if they are traveling too fast. The Committee recommended various locations for their installation, and they have been activated by the Old Lyme Police Department with assistance from Public Works.  Data collected by the signs will help determine if and where issues may exist with excessive speed. 

3. The Committee is gathering information and consulting with Old Lyme officials and other towns concerning the suitability and value of installing non-permanent speed humps and/or “traffic calming” measures such as pavement markings on town roads.

4. Members have gathered information from their neighborhoods; met with town emergency response and public works officials; spoke with representatives from other municipalities; conferred with regional planning officials; met with commercial vendors; and reviewed various regional, state and national reports and studies concerning traffic safety.  All members of the Board of Selectmen have attended various committee meetings.