County officials are in the beginning stages of revamping the area in and around the intersection, adding new signs and traffic lights in an effort to improve safety. The intersection is across the street from the Young Israel of Woodmere synagogue, and there are seven public and private schools in the vicinity.
Joshua D. Schein, president of the Woodmere Park Association, a civic group consisting of some 150 area homeowners, has voiced concerns to county officials about the intersection's frequent accidents and the fact that so many children cross it. "There are accidents on this intersection almost on a daily basis," said Schein at a Sept. 14 Woodmere Park Association meeting attended by more than 20 neighbors. "Unfortunately, this is not a new problem."
Ray Rivero, Nassau County's chief traffic engineer, said at the meeting that county officials are now in the process of refurbishing the pavement markings in the area and are printing speed limits on the pavement on the approaches to the intersection. Rivero said that reminding motorists about the 30-mph speed limit will encourage them to slow down as they approach the crossing. "The idea is that they see the marking and look down on their speedometer," said Rivero.
Another phase of the intersection's redesign, which Rivero said he expects to start in October and should be completed by the end of the year, will include new foundations for poles to hold up new speed-limit signs and traffic signals.
According to officer Karen Dowling, a crime analyst for the Fourth Precinct, from Jan. 1, 2003, through Feb. 28, 2005, there were 45 accidents reported at the intersection of Peninsula and Woodmere, with 24 of them resulting in injuries, though there were no fatalities. In June 2003 alone there were five accidents, Dowling said.
"It's just a dangerous intersection no matter how you look at it," said Dennis Stiler, who lives on Woodmere Boulevard near the intersection, adding that he would like to see the traffic lights stay red longer to allow cars to turn more safely.
""It's not for us to fix [the traffic problem]," said Zipporah Marans, another neighbor near the intersection. "It's for us to complain and have the engineers come and fix it."
Rivero said the county would be receiving state grant money that would be earmarked for the improvement of Peninsula Boulevard, but that it most likely wouldn't be able to use the funds for the project until 2007 or 2008, which is why it is going ahead with smaller projects.
Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside), who organized the meeting, said that many people travel at excessive speeds on the roads, explaining that a recent county study conducted with radar guns showed the average speed on Peninsula, which has a 30-mph speed limit, was 41 mph. "It's the best-kept secret in the Five Towns that the speed limit on Peninsula is 30 mph," said Toback. "It's a situation that is somewhat out of hand, and it's up to the county to make it safer."
Toback is battling Lawrence resident Jeff Katz for re-election in the county's Seventh Legislative District, which covers the Five Towns, in November.
Police officials at the Fourth Precinct have said they continue to step up enforcement at the intersection, with many summonses issued for violations such as cell phone use, running red lights, failure to signal lane changes and speeding. According to police, the Peninsula-Woodmere intersection has the third-highest accident count in the Fourth Precinct, which takes in the Five Towns, Atlantic Beach, Oceanside, Island Park, East Rockaway, Lido Beach and Point Lookout.
"The situation has reached a point where each moment is fraught with danger for each child bicycling through and for every pedestrian and motorist, many no doubt unaware of the perilous and deadly history of the intersection they so casually cross," Schein wrote in a letter addressed to Toback on Sept. 8, requesting the meeting.
Rivero said at the meeting that it probably would not be feasible to install a device that informs drivers how fast they are traveling, as has been done in Point Lookout, since the locations they considered for such a display would be too close to traffic lights, where cars would be slowing down.
Some of the factors that contribute to the danger on Peninsula Boulevard, according to police officials, include the heavy truck traffic in industrial areas of Inwood and drivers traveling at excessive speeds on their way to nearby Kennedy Airport.
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