Family of hit-and-run victim to gather Saturday to call for speed bumps, safety features on Wethersfield Avenue

The family of a 44-year-old man killed in Hartford in a hit-and-run earlier this month plans to gather Saturday to draw attention to speeding and reckless driving in the city.

Luis Daniel Rodriguez, a New Britain father of three, was fatally hit by a vehicle on Wethersfield Avenue on Aug. 13 while riding his bicycle in the bike lane, police said. He sustained severe trauma to his body and died immediately. The vehicle fled the scene.

In the wake of Rodriguez’s death, his family has called for stricter traffic enforcement and added public safety features on Wethersfield Avenue to prevent dangerous speeding and racing. As of Friday morning, a petition created by one of Rodriguez’s sisters to install speed bumps on that road had almost reached its goal of 1,000 signatures.

The event Saturday is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at 224 Wethersfield Avenue, with participants invited to walk, ride and drive to Pope Park and send “a message to all reckless drivers.”