Accident on Hedgehog Lane Raises Questions About Safety

After a non-fatal but serious two-car crash on Hedgehog Lane, Simsbury Police are taking another look at the posted safety recommendations and speed limits for a stretch of road that has become known for accidents.

At 7:45 p.m. Thursday night, police and volunteer emergency personnel responded to an accident on Hedgehog Lane in Simsbury's west end, a stretch of road that has seen 5 reported accidents in the past four years.

This marks the fourth accident of the year on the notoriously winding road that passes through a quiet residential neighborhood. The posted speed limit is 25 mph, a suitable speed for sharp s-curves that lie about half-way down the road from either direction.

Simsbury Police Captain Nicholas Boulter said the department has taken notice of the frequency and the causes of the accidents on Hedgehog Lane.

"The cause of most of the accidents in 2011 was driver error," Boulter said. "Except for one accident it was always speed related."

Caution signs are posted on either end of two particularly windy stretches of the road warning speeding drivers of the sharp curves ahead. Combine the windy roads with inclement weather and the conditions are prime for at least a single-vehicle accident.

Police are still investigating the cause of a serious accident that injured two drivers last week. One vehicle drove up an embankment next to a large tree and the other appears to have crashed and caught fire. Neither driver sustained life-threatening injuries, police said.

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None of the accidents on Hedgehog Lane have been fatal, according to police records. But the accidents can be severe.

"It's windy with several curves and there's two intersections," Boulter said.

Boulter said police have increased patrols on Hedgehog Lane and are currently reevaluating the safety recommendations for that road.

According to the Simsbury Police Department, the total number of accidents on Hedgehog Lane in recent years are as follows:

• 2012, 4 accidents
• 2011, 1 accident
• 2010, 0 accidents
• 2009, 0 accidents

The Simsbury First Selectman's office has not received any correspondence from residents about that particular road. Tom Cooke, director of administrative services, said town officials weren't aware of any safety issues on Hedgehog Lane but last week's accident caught local law enforcement's attention.

"We'll wait and see what the Simsbury Police Department recommends," Cooke said.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated that there were 5 accidents on Hedgehog Lane in 2010. A new statement from police said there were actually 0 accidents in 2010. According to police the 5 reported accidents were actually on roads nearby Hedgehog Lane.