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Mostly Cloudy East Rockaway forum focuses on reckless driving
Community gathers to discuss pedestrian safety
With many residents expressing concern about reckless driving in the Village of East Rockaway, elected officials and community members gathered on Sept. 25 to discuss how to address the issue and improve pedestrian safety.
Dozens of parents and caregivers attended the meeting at the East Rockaway Public Library with their children, and raised concerns about speeding. The evening also included the video “Life is too Short to Speed Through,” which focused on the importance of not texting while driving, being aware of children, who may be unaware of traffic safety rules, and driving carefully near school zones.
“It was a great experience to bring light to the situation and to bring awareness to the situation of keeping kids safe and stopping people from speeding,” resident Melody Leib said. “Thank goodness speeding and reckless driving hasn’t affected me personally, but I see cars speeding by and kids playing on sidewalks, so I’m glad my neighbors got to hear this.”
Mayor Bruno Romano and other village officials hosted the forum with Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D’Esposito. It featured presentations by representatives of Cohen Children’s Medical Center, AAA Northeast and the Nassau County Police Department’s 4th Precinct. Speakers discussed the dangers of reckless driving, and encouraged parents and caregivers to serve as role models for their children by wearing their seat belts all the time when driving. Distracted driving, officials noted, is the top cause of car crashes.
A number of pedestrians have been struck by cars in the village, including resident Carmel Kennedy, 60, who was killed while crossing the intersection of Atlantic and Ocean avenues in February 2015, and several other pedestrian incidents have led to a public push for a crossing guard at the intersection, which is less than a half-mile from East Rockaway High School.
D’Esposito said he had seen many cases of reckless driving and the “aftermath of tragic accidents” over the years, as a former NYPD detective and chief of the Island Park Fire Department. “Now is the perfect time to remind residents of the importance of always obeying traffic signs and slowing down,” he said, “because our children are our most precious resource, and we need to ensure that their safety is our No. 1 priority.”
Jillian Savino, the injury prevention coordinator and child passenger safety technician and instructor at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, said that parents and caregivers must pay close attention to how their children ride in a vehicle. As of November, she noted, New York state will mandate that children under age 2 ride facing backward.
“Children need to be in a booster seat until they’re 4 feet, 9 inches,” Savino said, “even if they’re past 8 years old.”
She noted that she believed height and weight better indicate whether a child needs a booster seat than age. When children are too small for seat belts, and they sit in a vehicle seat without a booster or car seat, they can slide under the belt in a crash and be thrown from the vehicle.
A number of people said they came away from the forum better informed. “I was enlightened to learn . . . that it is the law for children under 16 to have to use seatbelts in the back seats of cars,” Dolores Rogers said. “I’m also pleased to hear that there are more safety measures being used for kids now.”
