In 2017, a New York Times article hailed Sayville for its “walkable downtown.” This was not hyperbole. With its many shops and restaurants, the downtown area in Sayville is, in fact, a very safe place for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Unfortunately, once you leave the downtown, the roads and intersections start to become dangerous for walkers and bikers in Sayville and surrounding communities in Suffolk County. Pedestrian accidents and bike crashes happen all too frequently in these areas and carry devastating consequences for the victims and their families.
Report Identifies Dangerous Roads and Intersections on Long Island
Last year, the non-profit Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) released a report on crashes that involved walkers and bikers on Long Island between 2014 and 2016. The TSTC found that motor vehicle drivers hit 6,270 people who were on foot or bike over that three-year period, including 2,588 people in Suffolk County alone.
Sunrise Highway, or State Route 27, ranked among the five roads in Suffolk County with the highest total number of crashes that involved pedestrians and bikers. The roadway, which lies along the northern border of Sayville, accounted for 94 crashes over the three-year span, or an average of about 31 per year. The other four roads with the highest number of pedestrian-car and bike-car collisions were:
|
Roadway |
Crashes |
|
Jericho Turnpike (State Route 25) |
224 |
|
New York Avenue (SR-110) |
141 |
| North Country Road (SR-25A) |
116 |
| Montauk Highway |
103 |
What these roads have in common is that transportation officials designed them to move motor vehicles along at the fastest rate possible. They did not design them with pedestrians and bikers in mind.
Surprisingly, Sunrise Highway was not one of the roads that TSTC listed among the most dangerous intersections in Suffolk County. The 10 intersections that TSTC identified were:
|
Intersection |
City | Crashes |
|
Broadway and Oak Street |
Amityville | 9 |
|
Carleton Avenue and East Suffolk Avenue |
Central Islip |
9 |
|
New York Avenue and 15th Street/West Hills Road |
Huntington Station |
8 |
|
Suffolk Avenue and Brentwood Road |
Brentwood |
7 |
|
Suffolk Avenue and Wick Road |
Brentwood |
7 |
|
New York Avenue and Depot Road |
Huntington Station |
7 |
|
William Floyd Parkway and Surrey Circle |
Shirley |
7 |
|
Montauk Highway and Saxon Avenue |
Islip |
6 |
| New York Avenue and West 16th Street | Huntington Station |
5 |
| Union Boulevard and 4th Avenue | Islip |
5 |
Did a Negligent Driver Hit You? Our Law Firm Can Help
As our personal injury lawyers have seen over the years, many of these crashes aren’t simply due to poor road design. They result from the careless and reckless decisions and actions of drivers. For instance, many drivers cause collisions because they are distracted by texting or talking on their phones, or because they are simply going too fast and cannot stop on time to avoid hitting a walker or biker that they see in a crosswalk or on the side of the road.
If a negligent driver struck you or a loved on in Sayville or elsewhere on Long Island, you need to protect your right to recover just compensation for your losses. Contact Zlotolow & Associates today and let us get started on your case with a free consultation.
