By:Jerry Burke
Jonathan Winant is a man on a mission. After 28 years of driving around Long Island from his Elmont home, Winant believes he has seen just about everything more than once. Perhaps that's why he's worried.
"After reading about Queens Boulevard and the rise in the fatality rate," Winant said about our neighboring county's most infamous roadway, "I started to look at one of our area's most heavily used roads, Hempstead Turnpike. 'Problems galore' would only explain what I saw!"
Winant explained that Hempstead Turnpike has the highest rate of deaths of any major state road: almost 4 for every 100 million vehicle miles driven on it. Nearly 60 percent of the deaths were pedestrians attempting to cross the street. Only Jericho Turnpike accounted for more deaths on Long Island over the past five years.
That's when Winant started asking questions. He began contacting police and government officials to find out what was going on and what could be done to prevent it. It wasn't always an easy task. "Even though police officials and civic leaders were receptive of the questions I had, I was still not happy with what I was hearing and seeing," said Winant. "Members of the Fifth Precinct, with whom I was connected through [County Executive Thomas] Suozzi's office, explained that dangerous drivers breaking traffic laws, illegal parking and drivers with cell phones were only part of the problem."
The other part, Winant learned, was sheer manpower. "I learned that the Fifth Precinct has a lot more responsibilities to handle than just traffic enforcement, being our area has more calls for police officers who are needed inside the community." As officers at the Fifth Precinct have told civic organizations at community meetings, enforcing traffic laws takes a back seat to more pressing priorities.
That's where Winant needs the help of the community. After talking to everyone from police on the beat to the New York State Department of Transportation (which he says left the responsibility for traffic problems with local police departments, despite Hempstead Turnpike's being a state road), he has recently set up a grassroots effort to help effect change along roadways.
"Many people are fed up," Winant said. "Many have tried to get answers and failed miserably. Many just do not have the time available to sit and write letter after letter. I have made the time and have done just that: I have written numerous letters and made too many phone calls to count, and will continue to do so."
Winant blames improper, confusing or, in many cases, non-existent signs for many of the problems along the turnpike. "Do you stop to let off your children outside the movie theater in Franklin Square? Well, it is illegal to do so, and you end up blocking the entire right eastbound lane," he said. "Tickets are now thankfully being issued at this location. People need to be made aware of the danger before something tragic happens."
Winant is in the process of cataloguing as many of these "danger points" as possible, including hard-to-see stop signs, dangerous crosswalks and sight-line issues for drivers coming out of any of the various strip malls in the communities.
He plans to present his findings to the proper agencies in the fall and discuss feedback with civic organization soon after that. "Do you have an opinion? Tell me!" he said. "I listen and want to hear about them so that I can pass them on and get help in correcting matters left untouched for far too long."
Winant urges residents with questions, suggestions, comments or concerns to contact him at mrgrouchomarx@yahoo.com or write letters to the Herald explaining what's on their minds. "Ever watch a Long Island MSBA bus try to make a turn onto a side street like Meacham Avenue as its driver rides onto the sidewalk or holds up traffic?" he asks. "I want to know."
"It's your life, and the lives of your children, that are at stake and at the mercy of those drivers and pedestrians who couldn't care less about others," explained Winant. "So let's start to ban together for a very good cause."
