This afternoon, New Haven community members will discuss traffic safety in the area around the Route 34 Connector. Speakers will include Michael Piscitelli, the director of New Haven’s Dept. of Transportation, Traffic, and Parking, and Dr. Kimberly Davis of the Yale University School of Medicine.

The event is being held in memory of Mila Rainof, a medical student at Yale who was killed by a car at the intersection of York and South Frontage Streets last month. A Yale Daily News article published after the tragedy highlighted pedestrian safety issues in the area, including frequent speeding and red-light running. The meeting also occurs in the context of a City of New Haven proposal to replace the Rt. 34 Connector with a more human-scale boulevard.

The event will run from 4pm to 5:30pm, at Fitkin Amphitheater on 330 Cedar St. At 5pm, there will be a group walk from the amphitheater to the intersection of York and South Frontage Streets.

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Update 5/23: This event was covered in the New Haven Register and New Haven Independent. From the Independent:

During nearly every light cycle in a five-minute period at rush hour Thursday afternoon, an impatient driver sped through the red light.

“You criminal!” cried [Yale medical student] Alex Diaz de Villalvilla to a green Ford SUV. “Go back!” Cruising down South Frontage towards the interstate, the driver had sought to sneak through the red. This time, it couldn’t speed through.

The vehicle was surrounded on all sides by sign-waving activists in safety vests as well as crossing guards and cops who had been called in to oversee the scene. Hearing the student’s cry, and having no other course of action, the driver was forced to perform a reversal of shame back to the starting line.