By:Laura Lane
"I went down and was really bruised and lost some skin, but I was lucky," Selsky said. His bike's back wheel was busted, but fixable. Selsky, though, was angry. "The driver said he didn't see me because he was looking at a parked car," Selsky said.
A growing number of local residents are complaining that trucks are using Sunrise Highway shoulders to park. Motorists and bicyclists say the trucks impede their vision, creating dangerous traffic conditions.
North Bellmore resident Richard Schary, who exits the Meadowbrook Parkway to drive east on Sunrise Highway every day, said he often sees bicyclists on the Sunrise. "I see groups of 5 to 10 at a time trying to get to work," Schary said. "Just yesterday, there were big trucks parked on the shoulder of the road. That wall of trucks creates a traffic hazard."
Schary noted, "There's been too many people killed on Sunrise, and these trucks set up the possibility of another fatal accident. The sidewalk area is rough, and there's overhanging branches on the ground, and that wouldn't be safe for bicyclists. And pedestrians might not be able to [use the sidewalk] either if there's snow there."
Paul Falvey, president of C.L.I.M.B., a Long Island mountain-bike club, said many people now cycle on main roads to work. "On Long Island, we have a large and growing population of immigrants who work odd hours and peddle to work," Falvey said. "In the past few years, I've noticed many people late at night, no lights or bright clothing, peddling the wrong way into traffic. What chance do one of these people have coming around the front of a semi into 55-mph traffic where they are very much not expected?"
There are "No parking" signs on the south side of Sunrise Highway. On the north side, there are signs prohibiting parking from midnight to 6 a.m., which change at the Merokee Preserve on the Bellmore-Merrick border. There, the signs read "no stopping anytime."
Despite the regulations, local residents complain that they see trucks parked for days on the Sunrise. "The trucks are using this spot as long-term parking," said Barry Fox, president of the Merrick Park Home Owners Association. "People who try to cross Sunrise Highway at Babylon Turnpike are forced to go into traffic to see around these trucks. I see them parked there all the time."
Fox believes at least some of the drivers may live in the area. A blue truck hauling sheet metal, which Fox said had been parked on the south side of Sunrise for at least three days, had a local phone number etched in its side.
Fox recognized the company name, Car Movers, of Merrick. He'd seen Car Movers trucks parked on Sunrise more than once. Company manager Joe Salano said the trucks are parked in front of the exit (on the south side), not behind it, and thus they don't cause a hazard for cars entering Sunrise off the Meadowbrook. "These complaints are by people that have nothing better to do," Salano said. He added that truckers would rather park nearby their homes than travel to the yards out east. "There's no truck stops on Long Island, so the truckers park where they can," he said.
Lawrence Berry, manager of the Gateway Inn on Sunrise Highway, has seen trucks parked illegally on the north side of Sunrise Highway. "I've seen a truck lately with cars parked on it for a couple of days," Berry said. "The truck driver will come by and take one car off and continue to leave the truck there."
Berry said truckers used to sleep at his hotel, but no more. "They used to park across Sunrise and stay with us, but then three years ago, they got ticketed and stopped staying here," Berry said. "They used to park late at night and leave early in the morning, so it wasn't a problem." Gateway's lot is too small to accommodate trucks, but Berry said there are other Nassau County hotels that do have parking lots for trucks.
Inspector Patrick O'Connor, of the Nassau County Police Department's 7th Precinct, said truckers have places to park. He noted that there are larger shopping-mall lots where trucks can be granted permission to park.
Police can ticket illegally parked vehicles on Sunrise Highway with one of two citations. A Town of Hempstead ticket for violating a town ordinance that prohibits vehicles from parking overnight is $25. Or police can choose to issue a vehicle and traffic law ticket, which is $90.
O'Connor said, "The 7th will be upping enforcement, and any illegally parked vehicles will be summoned." But he noted, "It's cheaper for them to pay the summons instead of going out and doing what's right - putting [their trucks] on a private lot."
Vincent Garcia, a Nassau County Police Department information officer, said increasing enforcement and fines won't solve the illegal parking problem on the Sunrise. "We write more parking violations in general every year, and each year there are more cars on the road," Garcia said. "The cost of tickets has gone up too, but that's not working because we're writing more every year."
Comments? Llane@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
