Long Island Safety Advocates Push for ‘Traffic Calming’ Measures

Elected officials, business leaders and safety advocates in Farmingdale recently gathered to promote new traffic calming measures around the downtown business districts of Long Island.

The Long Island Complete Streets Coalition and Vision Long Island organized the gathering, which was held at the intersection of Route 109 and Main Street. It was attended by many family members of pedestrian accident victims who were there to push for lower speed limits and more traffic controls in places where pedestrians must cross major roadways when walking to school, work or train and bus stops.

These efforts already had some positive results. State Senator Kemp Hannon recently announced the state’s Department of Transportation would reduce the speed limit on Route 109 from 40 mph to 35 MPH, and would also narrow traffic lanes to 11 feet on sections of the road between Route 110 west and Route 24. Hannon is also pushing for more traffic lights along the road.

Need for greater safety on Long Island

Statistics show that Long Island has some of the most dangerous roads in the state of New York. Some of the biggest areas of concern include spots along Route 109 in Farmingdale, Route 110 in Huntington Station, Routes 106 and 107 in Hicksville and Route 25A in Miller Place. All these places have experienced high rates of pedestrian accidents over the past several years compared to average intersections in the state.

There were more than 6,000 pedestrian accidents in Long Island alone between 2009 and 2013. Vision Long Island aims to significantly reduce that number moving forward.

For more information and guidance on your best options personal injury claim after a car or pedestrian accident, consult a skilled personal injury attorney with Jakubowski, Robertson, Maffei, Goldsmith & Tartaglia LLP.