Neighbors Want Change After Another Fatal Crash on Route 34

Derby residents are raising concerns after another fatal crash on Route 34.

Nicole McDonald, 25, of Seymour, was killed on Monday morning when her SUV collided with a tractor-trailer.

"There're numerous accidents on that curve. It's ridiculous," Tony Teodosio, of Derby, said.

He said he heard the sirens racing down Route 34 early Monday and immediately knew where they were headed.

"It's all ledges. It's a very narrow road. It's a 90 degree turn going into the road. I mean I travel up and down that road and when I drive, I do 30 miles per hour," he said.
 
It's unclear if speed played a factor in the crash that killed McDonald.

She was driving her car westbound when she hit a tractor-trailer head on.

Neighbors said McDonald was the mother of an 8-year-old child. 

"People go flying up and down this road," Butch Ezzo said.

"When a call comes in for an accident in the area, we know it's going to be something serious," David Lenart, chief of the Storm Ambulance & Rescue Corporation, said.
 
Lenart said he knows of two to three fatal crashes on the road in the last year that the ambulance corps has responded to.

It's a road truckers and other cars use to easily access Interstate 84. 

"You have the river on one side and a wall on the other, so you're driving down an alley," Lenart said.
 
He suggests reducing the speed limit or putting grooves in this alley to help. He said he uses back roads to avoid this spot.

"But something, at this point, needs to be done. It's getting a little routine to go to a serious accident here," he said.

Officials from the Department of Transportation said they are meeting with the police department to address concerns over this road, but could not provide any update other than that.

Residents fear the next victim will be a camper coming across the street from a rec center.

"For the sake of the people that are dying, one life versus fixing that road," Teodosio said.

 

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