Old Country Road, 8.23.2007

Early in the morning of Thursday, August 23, 2007, a driver southbound on the Meadowbrook Parkway took the exit for westbound Old Country Road. The exit leads to its own curbside lane on Old Country Road, with a warning “Stay in Lane.” A sharp right turn is required to get into that curbside lane. Somehow, she crossed in front of a heavy westbound truck and was killed in the collision. Newsday.com story here.

Peninsula Blvd, Hewlett, 8.20.2007

About 7:30 a.m., Monday, August 20, 2007, a westbound driver changing lanes on Peninsula Blvd, Hewlett, struck another car, sending that car into a tree. The driver of the struck car, Dominick Jaksic, lost his life. Newsday included this news item in the a single story with the previous night’s accident on the Southern State Parkway, with the headline “Long Island Car Crashes Kill 2 Injure 4.” Link here.

Southern State Pkwy, 8.19.2007

About 11 p.m. on Sunday, August 19, 2007, an eastbound Jaguar hit the right shoulder and crashed against a tree just east of Exit 17. The front seat passenger died soon afterwards at Mercy Hospital. The police cited the driver for driving under the influence of drugs, plus other charges. See newsday.com here.

Lawrence sidewalk, 8.7.2007

In the business district of Central Avenue, Lawrence, a man on the sidewalk was killed in the afternoon of August 7, 2007, when an Aspen backed up, jumped the curb, and shoved him into a building. An Associated Press account on 1010wins.com here quotes a police officer: He said a woman had parked the 2007 SUV and had left the vehicle, when it jumped the curb and struck a man walking on the sidewalk in front of 315 Central Avenue in Lawrence. Looking at other news reports on Google News, I notice conflicting accounts of how the man was killed. The story that appeared on newsday.com did not get into my print edition of 8.8.2007. Suggested keyword search: Lawrence.

State Highway report

Newsday of August 5, 2007, ran several articles about dangerous highways on Long Island. One link is here. Both the text articles and the lists are of importance, and as time goes on, it may become difficult to retrieve the stories. A keyword search as “dangerous” and “highways” might help, and also one’s public library may have an on-line connection to newspaper archives on Proquest. The articles differ from this blog in several ways: The report tallies accidents rather than fatalities. It covers only New York State highways on Long Island, thereby excluding fatalities on town or village streets. Also, the reports cover years preceding this blog. Collecting statistics on all accidents (not just fatalities) and adjusting these statistics to reflect traffic flow is said to be a more accurate measure of dangerous highways than merely listing and counting fatalities.