Three accidents in four days on Meadowbrook and Loop parkways

The Point Lookout-Lido Fire Department responded to three accidents within four days on the Loop and Meadowbrook parkways, that involved a two-car collision, an overturned vehicle and a truck that flipped over a guardrail last week.

Motorist Betty Cobb of Roosevelt, while driving a Mitsubishi eastbound on Lido Boulevard, turned intending to head north on the Loop Parkway but instead drove on the southbound lane and collided with a Volkswagen Jetta, driven by Dale Smith of Roosevelt, at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 24.  

“The information I have is that she drove up and the other car came over the bridge, but by the time you can see someone there it’s already too late,” said Brian Guerin, a PLLFD first assistant chief. “They had a head-on collision right where the bridge starts basically.”  

The PLLFD and the Nassau County Police Department arrived on the scene and had to extricate Cobb from her vehicle using a hurst tool — also known as the Jaws of Life — and both motorists were hospitalized for minor injuries.

“She said she was not familiar with the area and turned into the lane going the wrong way,” Frank Bandiero, a state trooper, said about Cobb.

Three days earlier, on Wednesday, April 21, at about 7 p.m., Alison Fischer of Long Beach was driving a Saturn south on the Meadowbrook Parkway when she overturned the car on the shoulder of the road just before the entrance ramp to the Loop Parkway.

When the PLLFD arrived on the scene, Fischer had already exited her car unassisted, but she complained of pain and was taken to a hospital, Guerin said. “We were trying to figure out how she flipped her car but we're not really sure,” he added. “It looks like she probably lost control.” 

The next day, on Thursday, April 22, Donald Hoffman of West Babylon drove his Ford pickup truck over a guardrail on the ramp that connects the Loop Parkway to the Meadowbrook Parkway's northbound lane at about 10 p.m. “He was traveling at an unsafe speed, lost control and struck the right wooden barrier and rolled over onto the right shoulder,” said Bandiero, reading from a police report.

On arrival, firefighters found Hoffman in his truck, but they had to take him out on a stretcher and transported him to a hospital. Bandiero did not have details about his injury.

About responding to three auto accidents over a four-day span, Guerin said, “It’s more than usual but it’s not like they were all in the same area. They were all separate instances.”  

Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.