East Lyme — A local man's efforts to slow down traffic on Route 1 are going nowhere fast.

Bill Musgrove of 447 Boston Post Road said he has contacted the town police department, state Department of Transportation and state Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, in an effort to get signs or a digital speed display installed to persuade drivers to stick to the 35 mph speed limit in the area.

Musgrove's house sits close to a curve that makes it difficult to pull out onto the state road from his driveway. He said "it's an accident waiting to happen" when cars come around the curve at high speeds inside the shoulder.

"God forbid if anyone broadsides my daughter with two babies in the car, I'm going to lose my mind," he told The Day on Monday.

Musgrove said it's an issue not only when pulling out in a vehicle, but also when waiting at the bus stop with his grandson or bringing garbage cans to the curb.

Chief Michael Finkelstein on Monday said speeding is the biggest complaint the police department gets from residents — whether they live on main streets, side roads, dead ends or in beach communities.

"The reality is a small department, when you have a sergeant and two officers working for the entire town on a shift, it's very, very difficult, impossible at times, to do speed enforcement," he said.

Finkelstein during this year's budget season referred to police staffing levels in town as "abhorrently low." The approved 2021-22 budget added one more officer, bringing the total to 26 full-time officers, one part-time officer and the chief.

He said he hopes to dedicate one of the officers to traffic enforcement when the force's two, newly hired recruits finish the Connecticut Police Academy later this year.

In the meantime, he said he encourages officers as part of their regular patrols to conduct visible traffic enforcement whenever they have the opportunity, especially in areas with more traffic and crashes.

"The first goal of traffic enforcement is to reduce accidents that are happening," he said. "So I think we've had a significant impact, while still having low staffing, to get (officers) proactively in the right spots to cut down on injury-inducing accidents."

According to crash data provided by the department, there were 21 crashes on Boston Post Road in 2018, 35 in 2019, 32 in 2020 and 10 so far this year.

The most crashes occurred on Flanders Road, according to the data. There were 58 in 2018, 60 in 2019, 56 in 2020 and 24 this year to date.

In terms of traffic stops, department data shows there were 195 traffic stops on Boston Post Road in 2018, 147 stops in 2019, and 66 stops in 2020.

"The real goal is that visibility," Finkelstein said. "People drive around and see that enforcement taking place. Or at least the thought is in their mind that the next time they're on this road, they could get stopped."

Musgrove was grateful Finkelstein recently put some cruisers in the area to do traffic enforcement, but the Boston Post Road resident questioned how much effect such traffic stops really have.

"Chief Finkelstein has put police officer cars there and they have given a couple tickets, but we have hundreds of cars a day," he said.

For Musgrove, it's more signage that he's looking for.

He noted nearby Dean Road includes signs advising drivers to slow down, beware of blind driveways — and even a digital sign flashing drivers' speeds back at them.

"It's on a side road, but they won't put it on a main road where they've had nothing but complaints and calls," Musgrove said.

Finkelstein agreed the digital signs are a crucial piece of traffic enforcement that the Public Works Department has put up throughout town. He said they not only reminds drivers to watch their speed but also record speed data.

"So that data is downloaded and recorded and then we can take a look to say, 'this is the type of speed that we're actually seeing in real time on these streets,'" he said.

For state roads, DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said digital speed signs may be installed by the town only after local officials request and are granted permission from DOT. Regular signs, on the other hand, must be formally requested by the local traffic authority. Finkelstein said in East Lyme's case, that means the Police Commission.

Nursick said DOT's Division of Traffic Engineering conducts a review to determine the appropriateness of each requested sign and whether it meets federal and state regulations and guidelines. He noted the state does not allow "hidden driveway"-type messaging because those can provide "a false sense of security or feeling that additional safety has been achieved when in fact the fundamental deficiency still exists."

He described speeding as the main flaw in the system. "Sight lines are different for different speeds. If you have an intersecting road or a driveway, you need more of a sight line if the speed limit is higher," he said. "If you've got your sight line set up for 35 mph and people are doing 50, that's a problem."

Signs typically requested by municipalities that have been deemed acceptable by the state include curve warnings, "bus stop ahead" signs and stop signs, according to Nursick.

Cheeseman said Tuesday she has been speaking with Musgrove for several months about his concerns. "I will continue to work with the chief and reach out to the DOT and the (East Lyme) Police Commission to see what we can do, at least psychologically, to help," she said. "Put the signs up and try to slow people down."

Finkelstein, too, said he will work with the Police Commission and the state "to evaluate any signs that may be needed that could help mitigate the situation."

The police chief emphasized requests like Musgrove's are not just coming from Boston Post Road. He said it's "a larger issue" in a town where the Police Commission is "consistently asked to evaluate the safety of areas and make recommendations and/or changes based on what the state allows."

Musgrove said he is grateful for support from Finkelstein and Cheeseman but expressed frustration with being caught in limbo between the local and state governments.

He said all he's asking for is blind driveway signs and digital speed signs.

"I've been begging people to do something. Begging," he said. "I said I'll take it out of my savings account and pay for it."

e.regan@theday.com