By Karenlyn Barone
"Cars turn down this street, hit the pedal and drive like the devil is chasing them," said Jimmy Adelis. "We need more police enforcement. Does it take someone getting killed before something is done?"
Residents of the Bay Park street say children who play in the area are being put at risk. "Drivers just blow right through the stop signs at that intersection, whether they're coming into the neighborhood or leaving," said Trish Woloszyn, a Thixton Avenue homeowner and mother of three small children. "That corner [Hewlett Point and Thixton avenues] is particularly bad because there are so many children playing there."
Since Hewlett Point Avenue ends at the Hewlett Point Beach and is not a thoroughfare, the only people traveling down to that section are either residents or visitors.
"It is scary how fast cars drive down the avenue," said Woloszyn. "And the worst culprits are the people who live down here."
Hewlett Point Avenue lends itself to playing in the street, since the east side is made up of small dead-end streets that run up to the East Rockaway canal. It is very common to see children playing pick-up basketball or baseball in the seemingly safe dead-end streets, innocently unaware of the danger posed by cars whizzing by.
"I have a daughter who roller-blades out here with her friends, and I see people who act like the stop signs aren't even there," said Fran DeVivo, a resident of Thixton Avenue and mother of three. "It's a big problem."
There are stop signs on each of the corners of the intersection. The ones on Hewlett Point Avenue were installed just 11 years ago, in April of 1992. Unfortunately, they have not deterred cars from pushing the 30-mph speed limit or from merely slowing down rather than stopping at the four-way intersection. Not only do speeding cars not stop, but the majority of cars roll through the stop signs, which are the only traffic signs on the entire length of Hewlett Point Avenue. On a recent Thursday evening, in the course of 15 minutes, 16 out of 21 cars passing through the intersection did not heed the stop signs.
Nassau County Fourth Precinct Lieutenant Lawrence Feffer said he is cognizant of the department's need to patrol the area, and added that the intersection is earmarked as one of the precinct's priority locations, which means the area is checked at least once per tour by an officer on duty.
"We have to spread our resources around, but we will continue to issue tickets to violators and monitor the area as best we can," said Feffer.
Police department statistics show that there have been no accidents at the intersection of Hewlett Point and Thixton avenues since January 2002. There were, however, two on Hewlett Point Avenue just south of the intersection, and two on Thixton Avenue just west of Hewlett Point Avenue. In addition, 11 tickets for failing to stop at a stop sign were issued to motorists in April.
