Woodfield Road accident stirs calls for a traffic safety review

Three weeks have passed since 12-year-old Tomas Molina was struck and killed by a vehicle as he was crossing Woodfield Road. Calls from West Hempstead residents to evaluate the road, which is known for frequent accidents, have only grown louder, however.

Tomas was walking to a friend’s house to do homework a few minutes before 1 p.m. on Oct. 2 when he crossed Woodfield near its intersection with Lindberg Street, and was hit by a car traveling south on Woodfield. He sustained serious head injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The driver remained on the scene.

In the wake of the boy’s death, a number of West Hempstead residents have demanded that Nassau County, which has jurisdiction over the roadway, conduct an assessment of Woodfield and nearby streets, which they claim are prone to accidents and speeding.

Carrie Dugan lives just off Hempstead Gardens Drive. Two years ago, she submitted a request to Nassau County to place a stop sign at the corner of Hempstead Gardens and Willow Street, and the county responded by conducting a traffic survey.

“They said that it wasn’t warranted, and they ended up putting a stop sign on Willow Street,” Dugan recalled. “They kind of really didn’t do anything, but they did give me a stop sign. Just not the one I wanted.”

Dugan expressed concern about the traffic on West Hempstead’s major thoroughfares. “The speeding in just out of control,” she said. “That actual day,” she added, referring to Oct. 2, “I was driving home from church, and somebody on Woodfield Road passed me on the left and the car in front of me, because they thought we were going slow.”

Emily Aghabi also lives on Hempstead Gardens Drive, a block away from the site of the accident. She organized a fundraiser for the Molina family on GoFundMe after the accident, and raised nearly $30,000. Hempstead Gardens Drive, Aghabi said, has dangers similar to those on Woodfield Road.

“People are flying up this street,” she said. “There’s like two stop signs on the whole road. There are no sidewalks, really. People come off the train right there,” she said, referring to the Long Island Rail Road Station on Hempstead Gardens Drive. “Kids are always biking and walking up the street. It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Aghabi noted the deaths of Kurtis Caesar of Queens and Amanda Arguinzoni, of West Hempstead, in an accident last October. The two were in a car with their friend Nylah Frazier, also of West Hempstead, when Frazier reportedly collided with a truck at over 100 miles per hour on Westminster Road, just a block from where Woodfield Road ends.

Members of the West Hempstead Community Support and Civic Association say they are committed to making positive change out of the recent tragedy. The organization created a petition for a county review of the street, which has garnered over 1,000 signatures. Additionally, the association, in conjunction with County Legislator John Giuffrè, planned to host a meeting at American Legion Cathedral Post 1087 at 7 p.m. on Thursday, to discuss the proposed traffic review.

“We’ve reached out to all jurisdictions involved with Woodfield Road, as it is a Nassau County roadway, to come to this meeting,” association President Maureen Greenberg wrote in an email. “Other residents that live on Woodfield Road have tried to have reviews, but to no avail.”

The street has long been a subject of concern, Greenberg added. “The community has been complaining for a number of years about the accidents that occur on Woodfield Road,” she wrote. “Many in our community cross the road with family and children to reach their synagogues for worship. The speed of vehicles makes this difficult, with only three lights from Hempstead Avenue to Eagle Avenue.”

County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s office has stated that a review of the street will take place, but has not said when.

“The County Executive sends his heartfelt condolences to the victim’s family, friends and the entire West Hempstead community after a young boy tragically lost his life on Woodfield Road,” Blakeman’s communications director, Chris Boyle, said in a statement. “The investigation is ongoing, and a road study will be conducted immediately, at the direction of the County Executive.”

For some residents, this gesture is too little too late. “It’s really messed up that something bad has to happen before they actually do something,” Aghabi said.

“I don’t get it. Why does someone have to get killed, or there has to be an accident, for them to say, ‘Oh, maybe we should put (up) a streetlight or a stop sign’?”