By Jeff Lipton
It was rated last week as the worst intersection in the sprawling territory covered by the Fourth Precinct, which takes in the Five Towns, Atlantic Beach, Oceanside, Island Park, East Rockaway, Lido Beach and Point Lookout.
Finishing a distant second was Atlantic Avenue and Lincoln Avenue in Oceanside and Atlantic Avenue and Ocean Avenue in East Rockaway, each with 12 accidents during the same nine-month period.
Peninsula Boulevard and Mill Road in Hewlett, which was previously considered the most hazardous intersection, followed with 10 accidents reported, the same number as reported at Sheridan Boulevard and Bayswater Boulevard in Inwood.
The list, compiled by the Nassau County Police Department's Traffic Safety Unit, based on reports forwarded to them from the Fourth Precinct from Jan. 1 through mid-September, doesn't indicate how severe the accidents were, however, and could be anything from a fender-bender to a fatality. Some area residents and merchants have dubbed the intersection a Killer Corner.
Chris Ramjattan, a sales associate at Firestone tires in the Bay Harbour Mall, which sits near Nassau Expressway, also known as Route 878, and Bay Boulevard, said he's convinced it's the most dangerous intersection in the Fourth Precinct.
I've seen more bad accidents here than anywhere, said Ramjattan.
He added that twice this past summer victims of car accidents had to be airlifted from there by police helicopter for emergency treatment at a hospital.
The intersection needs better traffic lights and better enforcement, he said. Drivers come speeding up and drive right past the signal.
Fourth Precinct Police Officer Mike Dougherty blamed most of the accidents on driver inattentiveness and inexperience and lack of defensive driving skills and knowledge of the road. And a lot of people just go too fast on that road, he said.
They have to slow down!
Dougherty said the sheer volume of cars and trucks that pass through the intersection on a daily basis is enormous. He added that increased enforcement is not the answer because the precinct doesn't have the manpower to do it. Police can't sit there all the time. We're answering all kinds of emergency calls. We can't sit at an intersection.
He also said that they cannot upgrade the traffic controls, which are very good.
Joe Kling, who drives a big rig for Air Ground Express back and forth from Pennsylvania to Kennedy Airport for the past two years, said he tries to arrive early in the morning to miss all the traffic at Nassau Expressway and Bay Boulevard.
When I come here, it's nasty, Kling said. The traffic is all messed up. I try to be very careful.
Many said the traffic pattern is confusing, with two lanes of traffic allowed to make the left turn from Bay Boulevard onto Nassau Expressway. They said the traffic controls need to be better organized.
John Spinelli, who operates a hot dog stand out of a truck at the corner, said he hasn't seen the large number of accidents, although he said speeding is a problem. And the gridlock over here at night is crazy, he said. And I do hear a lot of screeching of brakes. At this intersection you've got to slow down.
A few blocks down the road is Nassau Expressway and Burnside Avenue in North Lawrence, where 10 accidents have been reported in less than nine months of 2002.
Enrico Aloise, manager of Precision Auto Body at 691 Burnside Avenue, said he's not surprised the intersection is one of the worst. About three months ago, a driver in an SUV was trying to beat the light, made a left turn and the vehicle tipped over, tumbling three times before coming to a stop, he said.
There's a lot of accidents around here, and most of it's because of speeding, Aloise said. Everyone rushes, they are in such a hurry. It doesn't matter if a cop is there or anything.
The traffic accident figures are compiled to help police try to improve conditions, if they can, or to deter speeding by bolstering enforcement, said Police Officer Mike Bitsko, a Nassau County Police Department spokesperson.
These numbers are recorded because we want to have officers in patrol cars or someone from the POP [Problem-Oriented Policing] Unit issue tickets and provide some speed control, Bitsko said.
We either go to the officers patrolling that area or to the POP Unit to try to resolve that problem, he said.
