East Lyme — Town officials are planning to form a traffic advisory panel after residents voiced safety concerns following an accident that left an elderly pedestrian seriously injured last month.

Charles Fenick, 78, of Riverview Road, was struck by a car exiting the Churchwood condominium complex while walking along his road on July 7. The accident caused him to fall backward and hit his head, resulting in a serious injury, First Selectman Mark Nickerson said Monday.

Fenick was taken by ambulance to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and later flown by Life Star helicopter to Yale-New Haven Hospital. Nickerson said he believes Fenick, a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, was still in the hospital.

Though the accident did not involve speeding or reckless driving and was described as a “freak” occurrence by Nickerson, it has served as a tipping point of sorts, provoking residents fed up with traffic violations in their neighborhoods to bring up their concerns at an informal meeting with town officials.

Nickerson said that after discussing ways to address both pedestrian and roadway safety at the meeting, he and residents agreed to consider launching a public safety announcement or an awareness campaign about “slowing down,” instilling pride and inspiring residents to care about how they drive through their roads and neighborhoods.

The campaign would be overseen by an advisory panel of residents that Nickerson said may be formed as soon as September.

“People sometimes just need a reminder to slow down,” Nickerson said. “The truth is, every town in the country struggles with speed and following stop signs, impatient drivers. But an awareness campaign about speeding through town, encouraging people to be kinder, gentler to the neighborhoods that we pass through, might be effective.”

Nickerson said he launched a similar initiative four years ago when he purchased dozens of “Slow Down. Enjoy our Town,” signs and placed them in various locations. While those signs were effective, he said this new campaign would be larger in scope, taking place over social media and requiring townwide collaboration between residents and town officials to launch and promote it.

Nickerson said he was not sure whether the panel would allow any interested resident to join or whether it would consist only of representatives from specific neighborhoods.

Public Works Director Joe Bragaw, who was also present at last month’s meeting, said Monday that speeding is one of the town’s biggest problems and has been increasing over the last few years despite both the public works and police departments working in unison to address the issue.

Bragaw said most speeding complaints stem from the town’s smaller neighborhoods such as Pine Grove and Black Point, as well as from its “collector” roads, which include Roxbury Road, Riverview Road, Society Road, Lovers Lane, Dean Road, Corey Lane and North Bridebrook Road.

Because the town must follow federal standards dictating “where you can put signs and where you can put pavement markings,” Bragaw said there is a limited number of ways to address speeding beyond speed limit and stop signs already in place.

“Specifically, you are not supposed to use stop signs for speed control,” Bragaw said. “People come to us saying they want a stop sign in their neighborhood to slow people down. But that’s not the appropriate use of a stop sign. It is supposed to be used for when you have poor sight lines and when there’s a reason to have it there.”

Speed bumps, too, are also ineffective, Bragaw said.

"People actually race between them. What they do is they make up for lost time from when they hit their first speed bump to the next one. So they technically aren't slowing down and are just racing in between,” Bragaw said. “There is plenty of documentation showing that speed bumps don’t work.”

“Police and public works are willing to hear what the public has to say and help be part of the solution,” Bragaw said. “(This panel) would work well to educate the public about what can and can't be done on our roads and would allow for everyone to communicate and work together on addressing the issue.”

m.biekert@theday.com