Design issues and human error make Hempstead Turnpike <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>'s most dangerous road for pedestrians -- far more deadly than <a href="/topics/Sunrise_Highway%2C_NY">Sunrise Highway</a>, Hillside Avenue or <a href="/topics/Jericho%2C_NY">Jericho</a> Turnpike. Six lanes wide in most places, the 16-mile thoroughfare slices through the downtowns of <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>, <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a> and Hempstead Village and the hubs of suburban commerce in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a>, <a href="/topics/Levittown%2C_NY">Levittown</a>, <a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> and <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>. Portions of the roadway have led the state and watchdog groups' lists of high-accident danger zones for both drivers and pedestrians. Some changes have been made, including the addition of countdown clocks for pedestrians, but some call for comprehensive redesigns as the deadly conflict between cars and pedestrians continues to play out. Newsday in this investigation examines the human toll, contributing factors for danger and some proposed solutions. This special report was reported and written by Keith Herbert and Jennifer Maloney. An interactive database for these reports was compiled by Kathy Diamond.

Long Island

Hempstead Turnpike accidents - story gallery

The Rev. Msgr. <a href="/topics/Michael_Flynn">Michael Flynn</a>'s experiences trying to walk across busy Conklin Street in front of <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>'s St. Kilian <a href="/topics/Roman_Catholic_Church">Roman Catholic Church</a>, where he is pastor, have turned into a successful push for roadway safety changes. 
 Fearing that thousands of parishioners and students at two adjacent schools also regularly faced the danger, <a href="/topics/Michael_Flynn">Flynn</a> in 2006 wrote the first of several letters to local and state officials appealing for a traffic solution on the two-lane extension of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike. 
 "History has shown that this is a dangerous section of Route 24 at the best of times," he wrote to state Sen. <a href="/topics/Charles_Fuschillo">Charles Fuschillo</a> (R-<a href="/topics/Merrick%2C_NY">Merrick</a>) in October 2006. Other letters followed to other lawmakers. 
 Last summer, crossing beacons were installed on Conklin at Elizabeth and Cherry streets, where people regularly walk between <a href="/topics/The_Church_%28musician%29">the church</a> and a parking lot. 
 "It was Father <a href="/topics/Michael_Flynn">Flynn</a> who spearheaded it. He's tenacious," said <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a> Mayor George Starkie. 
 The devices, two for westbound traffic and two for eastbound traffic on Conklin, are pedestrian-activated and shine strobing LED lights to warn drivers that people are in the crosswalks. 
 Conklin, which narrows to two lanes with a middle turn lane in front of St. Kilian, is at the far east end of a deadly 16-mile stretch of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County. 
 No traffic deaths have recently been recorded on the block, but <a href="/topics/Michael_Flynn">Flynn</a> and Starkie said close calls are dangerous enough to warrant action. 
 "It's not just a church and school crossing; it's a village crossing," Flynn said. 
 In correspondence over more than four years, Flynn, Fuschillo, Assemb. James Conte (R-<a href="/topics/Huntington_Station%2C_NY">Huntington Station</a>), state Sen. <a href="/topics/Kemp_Hannon">Kemp Hannon</a> (R-<a href="/topics/Garden_City%2C_NY">Garden City</a>) and others discuss solutions, including "yield for pedestrian in crosswalk" notices. 
 The letters -- obtained from the state Department of Transportation through the Freedom of Information Law -- helped initiate state transportation department investigations that showed pedestrian warning signs on the block needed replacing. 
 Hannon, Starkie, <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County Legis. Joseph Belesi (R-<a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>) and Subi Chakraborti, regional director of the state <a href="/topics/Transportation_Department">Transportation Department</a>, met with Flynn in October 2010 to witness the Conklin dangers firsthand. 
 "They could see the traffic at the speed," Hannon said of transportation department representatives. "I basically said, 'What can you do?' " 
 They decided beacons should supplement new signs. 
 "He [Flynn] was able to articulate the problem, call on the right people to come look," Hannon said. 
 Flynn, who said he was nearly struck by a car that came barreling into the middle turn lane in an effort to pass another car, wants the stretch of road to get more warning signs. 
 The crossing beacons have slowed some but not all traffic, Starkie said. "People still blow through it," he said.

Nassau

TOCONK29

Pastor leads effort to make road safer

liCHURCH15

Federal money targeted at roads with numerous pedestrian crashes, a beefed-up law enforcement effort and a public education campaign aimed at encouraging walkers to avoid crossing mid-block were offered Thursday as ways to make Hempstead Turnpike safer. 
 The efforts announced Thursday came after <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> State's Secretary of Transportation Joan McDonald said that she wanted state engineers to come up with short-term fixes and long-term solutions to Hempstead Turnpike pedestrian safety issues. 
 The <a href="/topics/Tri-State_Transportation_Campaign">Tri-State Transportation Campaign</a>, a transportation advocacy group, has identified Hempstead Turnpike in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County as the most dangerous road for pedestrians in the region for three years in a row. 
 Sen. Charles <a href="/topics/Chuck_Schumer">Schumer</a> said Thursday that he would add an amendment to a transportation funding bill that requires state officials to target federal highway money to roads like Hempstead Turnpike -- highways with a track record of being dangerous for pedestrians. 
 The total funding pot of the Surface Transportation Bill is proposed to increase from $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2011 to $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2013. It would include a $65 million increase for the <a href="/topics/New_York_%28state%29">New York</a> State Department of Transportation. 
 "Hempstead Turnpike is a dangerous road for anyone who tries to cross it, and it's past time to do something about it," Schumer said. 
 Schumer made the announcement about the legislation amendment days after Newsday published an investigation of pedestrian deaths and injuries on Hempstead Turnpike. 
 Thirty-two people were killed and at least 427 were injured in 457 pedestrian crashes on the turnpike from 2005 through 2010, Newsday's analysis found. 
 Another three pedestrians were killed through July 2011, and a 72-year-old man from Jamaica, Queens, died Wednesday after he was hit by a car Tuesday night in <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>. 
 At the time of the collision, the man, whose identity wasn't released Thursday, had been walking southbound when hit by a westbound vehicle. 
 One of Newsday's findings was that more than half of the pedestrians hit on the turnpike were struck in intersections, many by turning vehicles. Less than half occurred away from intersections, and transportation experts said long distances between crosswalk signals encouraged people to cross the highway in the middle of the block. 
 Thursday, <a href="/topics/Nassau_County_Police">Nassau County Police</a> Deputy Chief Frank Kirby said police will be increasing their patrols along Hempstead Turnpike when the weather gets better and more people are traversing on foot. 
 Officers will also be looking at crash statistics for areas where collisions between cars and people frequently happen. Police will look for red light violations and unsafe left turns. 
 "We'll try to specifically target these knockdown zones and these dangerous intersections and see if we can impact it there," said Kirby, of the department's chief of patrol office. 
 <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County also is planning to shift state grant money it holds from other programs to help make pedestrians safer on Hempstead Turnpike, said Chris Mistron, <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County's traffic safety educator. 
 "Within the last day alone, the county has been able to identify sources that will allow us to begin the education program," Mistron said. "The real message that we want to get out there: that drivers must recognize that they must share the road, yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk." 
 With Matthew Chayes

LIHEMP17

Solutions for Hempstead Tpke. woes offered

liPIKE

State Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said Wednesday that she wants short-term safety fixes and long-term solutions to make Hempstead Turnpike in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County safer for pedestrians. 
 "Safety is our top priority," McDonald said in an interview. "We can always improve." 
 She ordered engineers in <a href="/topics/Albany%2C_NY">Albany</a> and at the DOT's Region 10 headquarters in <a href="/topics/Hauppauge%2C_NY">Hauppauge</a> to consider specific short-term improvements for the entire 16-mile corridor in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> and report back in one to three months. 
 She said she also directed them, within the same time frame, to give her a range of options for long-term, big-ticket changes to make the road safer for pedestrians. 
 The action by the top transportation official came after Newsday published an investigation of pedestrian deaths and injuries on Hempstead Turnpike -- labeled the metropolitan area's deadliest road for pedestrians for four consecutive years by the <a href="/topics/Tri-State_Transportation_Campaign">Tri-State Transportation Campaign</a>, a nonprofit advocacy group. The road, also known as State Route 24, is expected to remain at or near the top of this year's listing. 
 Thirty-two people were killed and at least 427 injured in 457 pedestrian accidents on the turnpike from 2005 through 2010, Newsday's analysis of police reports found. Another three pedestrians were killed through July 2011, and a 72-year-old man died Wednesday after he was struck Tuesday night in <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>. 
 More than half of the pedestrians hit were struck in intersections, many of them by vehicles that were turning. Less than half were hit in stretches away from intersections or crosswalks; traffic engineers cited long stretches between traffic signals as encouraging people to jaywalk. 
 Newsday's analysis also found that Hempstead Turnpike, when compared with Nassau's other east-west state roads, has the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities per vehicle-miles-traveled, or VMT, a statistic that takes traffic volume into account. 
 State Sen. <a href="/topics/Kemp_Hannon">Kemp Hannon</a> (R-<a href="/topics/Garden_City%2C_NY">Garden City</a>), whose 6th District includes much of the turnpike, welcomed McDonald's announcement. 
 "That's the type of focus we need," Hannon said. "I do feel that there is the intelligence and capacity in the regional office to get the job done once there is direction, and usually there's funding to go with it." 
 Lisa Saunders of Seattle -- whose parents, Richard and Dorothy Costleigh, were killed in <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a> in 2006 when a truck hit them on the sidewalk alongside the turnpike -- commended McDonald. 
 "It is a start to a complex issue that requires thorough analysis, and a well-developed and funded plan," said Saunders, 43, adding that she hopes expert analysis yields a "comprehensive plan." 
 McDonald said any changes must be made in conjunction with beefed-up enforcement of traffic laws by police and a public education campaign about the dangers of midblock crossings and such distractions as cellphones. 
 Specific changes she wants engineers to consider would affect how drivers now use the road. McDonald said engineers should consider closing gaps in medians where vehicles now can turn, as well as restrictions on parking and addition of red-light cameras. She also suggested installation of crosswalk countdown signals at intersections that don't have them and high-visibility street signs. 
 "We've already identified intersections that don't have [countdown] signals," McDonald said. 
 McDonald didn't put a price tag on the improvements she wants considered. She said she realizes long-term changes "would involve higher costs" with money that must come from capital-program funds. Federal money is a possibility, she said."We would have to decide what the capital costs would be," McDonald said. "It goes without saying that the capital dollars are limited." 
 Some money could come from capital funds designated for projects elsewhere, she said. In a policy change she made last spring, McDonald said, DOT officials look at the entire capital program and target funds to projects with high-priority safety issues. 
 "We may have to defer some other project to make these improvements," McDonald said. 
 Nassau Legis. Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead), whose district includes sections of the turnpike in Hempstead Village and near <a href="/topics/Hofstra_University">Hofstra University</a>, also welcomed the news. 
 "We just need a better-quality road and we need better law enforcement," he said.Ryan Lynch, senior planner with the <a href="/topics/Tri-State_Transportation_Campaign">Tri-State Transportation Campaign</a>, said he looks forward to working with McDonald "in finding solutions to the safety issues that are Hempstead Turnpike." 
 &nbsp; 
 &nbsp; 
<h5> Hempstead Turnpike safety fixes</h5> 
 &nbsp; 
 State Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald ordered DOT engineers to report in one to three months on safety improvements for Hempstead Turnpike's 16 miles in Nassau County. She asked them to consider: 
 Short-term 
 Continuous road medians, filling gaps where vehicles now are allowed to turn. 
 Turn-lane modifications. 
 Installation of red-light cameras. 
 On-street parking restrictions. 
 More crosswalk countdown signals. 
 Update 2009 DOT safety study for "Safe Seniors" program that focused on elderly pedestrians. 
 &nbsp; 
 Future 
 Present long-term options for safety improvements throughout the corridor.

LIHEMP16

DOT chief wants Hempstead Tpke. fixes

NY Budget Transportation CROPPED

Queens Boulevard was notorious as the "Boulevard of Death" in the 1990s because pedestrian fatalities and injuries were so frequent.
But by 2006, big changes to make the thoroughfare through Queens safer for people on foot had dramatically reduced deaths. From 1999 on, tens of thousands of linear yards of barriers were put up, midblock crossings with signals for walkers were added, and medians were redesigned to be safer stopping points.
To tame the dangerous road, "It was clear early on that the pre-eminent concern was the pedestrians -- not the cars," said <a href="/topics/Iris_Weinshall">Iris Weinshall</a>, the former city transportation commissioner who now is a vice chancellor at the <a href="/topics/City_University_of_New_York">City University of New York</a>.
<a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a>'s Hempstead Turnpike, like Queens Boulevard, carries a high volume of traffic through a dense commercial environment. Both roads double as major avenues used by motorists for morning and evening commutes, with stoplights timed for traffic movement. Both also serve as local roads for people on foot, many of them older, who live in neighborhoods close by.
A Newsday investigation of police accident reports from 2005 through 2010 found that pedestrians are killed an average of more than five times a year on the turnpike in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a>. People are in significant danger whether they cross at intersections or take the risk of crossing midblock or at other spots away from intersections, the analysis of more than 450 police reports found.
Traffic engineers and transportation advocates said design changes that made Queens Boulevard safer for pedestrians and vehicles should serve as a model for Hempstead Turnpike, the metropolitan area's deadliest road for people on foot.
"It's going to take more than the repainting of lines," said Dan Burden, executive director of Walkable and Livable Communities Institute Inc. of Townsend, Wash., a traffic safety advocate who has worked in <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> communities. "When we have so much traffic, we have to get it to slow down and behave properly."
Engineer suggestions
Newsday asked traffic engineers to weigh in on the full range of changes that could make pedestrians safer on Hempstead Turnpike. Among their recommendations are:
 New traffic signals. Adding signals on stretches that have no crosswalk signals for as much as a half-mile would allow pedestrians to cross more safely.
 Signal timing. Changes to traffic signals -- such as adding a red left-turn <a href="/topics/Arrow_%28designer%29">arrow</a> or a "lead pedestrian interval," which would give pedestrians a 4-second head start while cars are stopped -- help to keep cars from turning into people in the crosswalk.
 Fencing. Pedestrians who cross midblock or at spots other than intersections contribute to many accidents, police reports show. Fences can deter pedestrians from doing this and channel them to safe crossings.
 Bus stops. Stops that aren't close to intersections or crosswalks can invite risky midblock crossings. They should be moved closer to intersections where that is feasible.
 Pedestrian <a href="/topics/Islands_%28musician%29">islands</a>. These offer refuge when people can't make it to the other side of large intersections in the allotted time.
 Medians. Raised medians slow cars and give pedestrians a haven if there is no crosswalk nearby.
 Bulb-outs. Extending a sidewalk several feet into the intersection -- for example, into a lane used for parking -- gives pedestrians a shorter distance to cross.
 Landscaping. Trees and shrubs on sidewalks and medians can send a subliminal signal to drivers that pedestrians are nearby and they should slow down.
 Education. A safety-information campaign focused on pedestrians and drivers, along with stricter enforcement of traffic violations, could help reduce injuries and deaths.
'It's a big issue'
The high number of pedestrians killed and injured on the turnpike should make it a priority for capital improvements, the engineers and transportation advocates said.
"I'm not sure what the holdup is," said Dilruba Ozmen-Ertekin, a <a href="/topics/Hofstra_University">Hofstra University</a> engineering professor who has studied pedestrian safety and drives the turnpike regularly. "It's begging for a median."
State and federal funding typically is allocated to "making vehicle traffic faster, increasing the capacity and decreasing delays," she said. "But we should spend in proportion with the number of pedestrian accidents. It's a big issue."
Manhattan-based traffic engineer Gary Toth offered the most sweeping vision among the traffic engineers who examined the turnpike at Newsday's request. His redesign would be expensive -- $100 million to $200 million, he estimated -- and could be accomplished in stages.
Toth proposed changing traffic flow so that vehicles move more slowly but more steadily, reaching their final destination in the same amount of time while making the turnpike safer for drivers and pedestrians. He would replace some traffic lights with roundabouts and create access roads behind stores, to allow the closing of driveways that feed into the turnpike.
"Could you sell the public on the fact that in some spots, you need to take a lane of capacity out?" he asked.
Experts said the problem of chronic jaywalking could be addressed through a combination of fencing, enforcement and education.
"Fences. This is a no-brainer," said Leon Goodman, a former Port Authority engineer and past president of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. "You have it on Queens Boulevard and places like that where they cut down on accidents."
On Queens Boulevard, since the city Department of Transportation implemented its pedestrian safety program in 1999, the fatality rate had fallen to 4.5 people per year -- compared with 12.6 during each of the previous 61/2 years, according to a 2008 DOT Safe Streets report.
The number of pedestrian crashes also fell significantly. The number of people hit in any one year along Queens Boulevard peaked at 154 in 1995; over the next 11 years, that statistic gradually decreased to an all-time low of 61 in 2006, the report said.
DOT tepid on big projects 
Officials with the state Department of Transportation, which is responsible for maintaining all of Hempstead Turnpike other than a 1-mile stretch through Hempstead Village, said the agency has not included any major pedestrian safety projects for the roadway in its long-range capital plan.
DOT officials said changes such as new medians or traffic signals would be expensive and would have to compete for limited funds with other needs, such as keeping aging highways and bridges in a state of good repair.
"It's a big lift," said Frank Pearson, the DOT's top traffic engineer on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>.
The DOT has made some pedestrian safety improvements at five turnpike intersections since 2009 under a program focused on senior citizens' safety. The recent modifications include high-visibility crosswalk striping, improved signage, traffic signal adjustments and trimming of tree branches that blocked crosswalk signals.
The agency installed new pedestrian countdown signals along most of the turnpike as part of a separate, Islandwide federal stimulus project.
The milelong section of the turnpike maintained by Nassau County already had countdown signals.
Pearson said the recent efforts will reduce pedestrian crashes. If not, "then obviously, we'll look at some other things," including new traffic signals, raised medians and pedestrian <a href="/topics/Islands_%28musician%29">islands</a>, he said.
DOT officials noted that fencing at curbs interferes with on-street parking. They said an education campaign would be the most effective way to deter people from crossing against the signal or crossing midblock. 
Education efforts also could encourage people to press the crosswalk button, an action that many pedestrians do not take.
"If there's public awareness about the fact that these walkways are designed to make it more safe for people to walk, perhaps then they'd be more prone to use them, push that button," Pearson said.
An education campaign would have to be conducted by some other agency, as that is not part of the DOT's mission, he said.
New safety features 
Some DOT projects on Long Island, such as reconstruction under way on Route 110 in <a href="/topics/Melville%2C_NY">Melville</a> and on Route 347 in <a href="/topics/Smithtown%2C_NY">Smithtown</a>, include new safety features for people on foot.
In addition, Complete Streets legislation adopted by the state Legislature last year mandates that designs of major road projects include safety features for all users of the road, including pedestrians, bicyclists and bus riders.
An example of Complete Streets design principles already used on the Island includes a redesigned roundabout near the <a href="/topics/Great_Neck_Plaza%2C_NY">Great Neck Plaza</a> railroad station, which offers shorter, safer paths to cross.
Eric Alexander, executive director of Vision Long Island, a nonprofit group that advocates for smart growth, said local governments in Nassau and <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> counties and the state's transportation department should seize new opportunities to make changes to chronically troublesome highways such as Hempstead Turnpike.
"The governor is looking at investing multiple billions of dollars in infrastructure," Alexander said, referring to Gov. <a href="/topics/Andrew_Cuomo">Andrew M. Cuomo</a>'s message in his State of the State address. 
"So these types of roadways, where people are literally dying, should move up the list. If tax dollars are available for fixing the roads, let's at least fix the ones that are broken." 

<h2>Newsday's Hempstead Turnpike data analysis</h2>

 
Newsday in this investigation reviewed 457 police reports on people killed or injured from January 2005 through December 2010 along Hempstead Turnpike in Nassau County. 
For additional information about some of the fatal crashes, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was consulted. 
The database for these reports was compiled by Kathy Diamond.

LISOLU13

Design changes for Hempstead Tpke. urged

liPIKE CROPPED

The conflict between cars and pedestrians plays out more violently and more often along Hempstead Turnpike's 16 miles through <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County than anywhere else on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. 
 Pedestrians are killed an average of more than five times a year, according to a Newsday analysis of pedestrian accident reports from 2005 through 2010. 
 Thirty-two people were killed and at least 427 injured in 457 pedestrian incidents on this east-west arterial road over those six years. Through last July, three more people died. 
 "It kills me to know that so many people keep dying," said Lisa Saunders, whose parents, Richard and Dorothy Costleigh, were struck down in 2006 when a multiple-vehicle crash sent a truck careening into them as they walked to a movie theater in <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a>. "Nothing has been done. Nothing has been changed." 
 Longtime <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a> resident Agnes Pemberton, 82, spoke of the turning vehicles that bear down on her as she tries to cross the turnpike at Meacham and Covert avenues. 
 "They don't even give you a chance," she said. "The lights aren't long enough. Forty years ago, I was younger and didn't mind. I ran across and caught the bus. But now there are more drivers, more cars, more everything." 
 The human toll along one of the county's oldest and busiest roads is long-standing. The turnpike in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> has been ranked as the deadliest road for pedestrians in the metropolitan area since 2008 in annual listings by the <a href="/topics/Tri-State_Transportation_Campaign">Tri-State Transportation Campaign</a>, a nonprofit advocacy group. It is expected to remain at or near the top on this year's list. 
 &nbsp; 
 Findings of investigation 
 A Newsday investigation, which included analyzing 569 reports of accidents on the turnpike, obtained from <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County and Hempstead Village police through the Freedom of Information Law, revealed: 
 Pedestrians crossing at intersections are in significant danger. More than half of the incidents examined occurred at intersections, and walkers were struck far more often by drivers turning left than turning right. 
 Nearly half of all pedestrians struck were hit in stretches away from intersections or crosswalks. Seventy percent of the pedestrians killed from 2005 through 2010 were not at intersections. 
 <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>, <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a> and Hempstead Village have intersections with the highest number of pedestrian hits. On one stretch of less than two miles in Hempstead Village, there were 76 pedestrian strikes, including three that were fatal. 
 Hempstead Turnpike, compared to <a href="/topics/Sunrise_Highway%2C_NY">Sunrise Highway</a>, Hillside Avenue, <a href="/topics/Jericho%2C_NY">Jericho</a> Turnpike and Northern Boulevard, has the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities per vehicle-miles-traveled, or VMT, a statistic that takes traffic volume into account. 
 In some sections, long distances between crosswalks, ranging from 1,000 feet to a half-mile, encourage pedestrians to cross midblock. 
 "It seems like this is a broken record and no one's fixing it," said <a href="/topics/Ryan_Lynch">Ryan Lynch</a>, senior planner with the transportation campaign. "Hempstead Turnpike is routinely the most dangerous road for pedestrians in the region. It's designed to move cars and trucks as fast as possible through downtowns and communities at the expense of the safety of pedestrians." 
 Portions of the road led the state Department of Transportation's own list of high-accident danger zones for both drivers and pedestrians as far back as the late 1980s. The department made changes in some spots in the 1990s and over the last two years, adding left-turn lanes, installing countdown clocks for pedestrians at some intersections, and increasing the crossing time allowed at some signals. 
 Despite the rankings and repeated calls from traffic safety and transportation experts for major design changes, there are no plans for comprehensive redesign to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries. 
 "There's nothing in the capital program," said Frank Pearson, the DOT's chief traffic engineer on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. "Our focus right now is on what we can do quickly." 
 State DOT officials said it's too soon to know whether changes made since 2010, which include some new traffic signals, intersection countdown clocks and updated crosswalk striping for greater visibility, will help reduce deaths and injuries. 
 &nbsp; 
 'Stunning' pedestrian toll 
 Manhattan-based traffic engineer Gary Toth, whose specialty is finding solutions to problems on congested arterial highways, had one word for the number of fatalities and injuries on Hempstead Turnpike: "Stunning." 
 "You've just got to accept the fact that there are certain givens, and people are not going to go walk 500 feet," he said of long distances between intersections with signals. "I've heard that story a thousand times. It's never going to get fixed. And so you're going to sit there and allow 25 more people to get killed in the next five years." 
 State Sen. <a href="/topics/Kemp_Hannon">Kemp Hannon</a> (R-<a href="/topics/Garden_City%2C_NY">Garden City</a>) is one of many elected officials and community leaders who have written the state Department of Transportation over more than a decade seeking pedestrian safety improvements -- and his efforts have had some success. 
 His 6th Senate District includes the turnpike from <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a> to the <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County line. 
 Hannon said the roadway's changeable character in its course through Nassau is a big reason no comprehensive overhaul has been broached. 
 "It has a series of personalities," Hannon said. "The problems in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a> are not necessarily the problems in Franklin Square. You have to have different solutions for different problems." 
 Local political officials, he said, "have a split view" because they tend only to look at troublesome sections of the turnpike in their district. 
 "We tend to react to problems people point out to us," Hannon said. "There is an overall need for a traffic-calming plan." 
 &nbsp; 
 Slices through downtowns 
 Hempstead Turnpike, six lanes wide in most places and wider at intersections with turning lanes, slices through the downtowns of <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>, Franklin Square and Hempstead Village, where shops, restaurants, apartments and office buildings generate a lot of pedestrian traffic. 
 Farther east, through <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a>, <a href="/topics/Levittown%2C_NY">Levittown</a>, <a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a> and <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>, the road is mostly lined by strip shopping centers with parking lots -- hubs of suburban commerce. The turnpike, called Conklin Street in <a href="/topics/Farmingdale%2C_NY">Farmingdale</a>, finally crosses Route 110 and extends about 2 miles into <a href="/topics/Suffolk_County%2C_NY">Suffolk</a> County, dead-ending into Wellwood Avenue in <a href="/topics/East_Farmingdale%2C_NY">East Farmingdale</a>. 
 The road is heavily trafficked, with speed limits ranging from 30 mph to 50 mph. The annual average daily traffic count ranged from nearly 19,500 vehicles at Main Street in Hempstead to almost 57,000 at Newbridge Road in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a>, according to the most recent DOT figures available. Among the major east-west state routes through Nassau, only <a href="/topics/Sunrise_Highway%2C_NY">Sunrise Highway</a> carried a greater load. 
 No medians or midroad islands for pedestrians exist along most of the thoroughfare through Nassau. Where the turnpike bisects <a href="/topics/Hofstra_University">Hofstra University</a>'s campus for about six-tenths of a mile, three climate-controlled pedestrian bridges -- each more than half the length of a football field -- arch over the roadway, allowing safe passage for students and faculty who choose to use them. 
 In a sad testament to the dangers pedestrians face, the turnpike is dotted with roadside memorials -- utility poles wrapped in flowers, photos and notes from loved ones to those killed. 
 Along those 16 miles, the pedestrian fatality rate far outstrips those of other east-west state highways through Nassau, statistics show. 
 Hempstead Turnpike has an average annual fatality rate of 8.21 for every 1 million vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT). Comparable averages are 3.01 for <a href="/topics/Sunrise_Highway%2C_NY">Sunrise Highway</a> (State Route 27); 3.00 for Hillside Avenue (State Route 25B); 2.57 for <a href="/topics/Jericho%2C_NY">Jericho</a> Turnpike (State Route 25); and 0.90 for Northern Boulevard (State Route 25A). 
 Purabi Nandi, 68, of East Meadow, was killed close to home, trying to cross eight lanes on her way back from the grocery store at Newbridge Road in July 2009. 
 Her son, Saumya Nandi, 40, said planners must ask themselves this question: "Do they want Hempstead Turnpike to be a highway, or do they want it to be part of the community? 
 "My mother was inclined to think about it as part of a community," he said. "She felt she should be able to walk across the street." 
 The state Department of Transportation is responsible for maintenance and traffic safety of the majority of Hempstead Turnpike in Nassau County. 
 From 1987 to 1993, the DOT ranked a 4.5-mile section of the turnpike between the Queens border and Hempstead Village as the most crash-prone section of road on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. 
 In the mid- to late 1990s, state officials made improvements to Hempstead Turnpike that included adding left-turn lanes and removing some on-street parking. 
 Rae DePrizio's father, Jerry Noble, 74, of <a href="/topics/Levittown%2C_NY">Levittown</a>, was killed before those changes were made. He was struck in 1992 as he crossed the turnpike in Franklin Square, east of Scherer Boulevard. 
 "You have to kind of blame the way the road has been set up," said DePrizio, of <a href="/topics/Middle_Island%2C_NY">Middle Island</a>. 
 Over the years, residents have repeatedly asked the DOT for pedestrian safety improvements. 
 Elected officials, from village mayors to state legislators to members of Congress, have written letters on behalf of constituents. The appeals typically focus on specific locations, with requests running the gamut: to create crosswalks, allow more time to cross intersections, place intersection countdown clocks, relocate bus stops and install flashing lights or traffic signals. 
 &nbsp; 
 Letters of complaints 
 Newsday obtained copies of letters to DOT from 1998 through mid-2011 under the Freedom of Information Law. They show the department investigates complaints and, if it decides the circumstances call for it, sometimes takes action. The letters do not reflect any call for a safety investigation of the entire turnpike through Nassau. 
 Patti Bunyon, of Franklin Square, wrote the state in December 2004 after the hit-and-run death of Jessica Savarese, a Carey High School freshman who was weeks shy of her 15th birthday. No one has been arrested in the case. 
 Bunyon told DOT officials she was so concerned about the danger of crossing the turnpike at intersections in Franklin Square that she had instructed her daughters, who also attended Carey, to cross in between intersections -- not at them. 
 "Hempstead Turnpike has turned into an extremely dangerous road, not just for trying to cross but also to drive on," Bunyon wrote. "We teach our children to cross at the light, but that is actually more dangerous as there is always a car moving in the intersection." 
 Over the past two years, some improvements have been made through separate efforts -- one a "Safe Seniors" pilot program created by former Gov. <a href="/topics/David_A_Paterson">David A. Paterson</a>, and the other an Islandwide project under the federal government's <a href="/topics/Economic_Stimulus">economic stimulus</a> program. 
 Under "Safe Seniors," the DOT has been making some pedestrian-safety improvements at five intersections. The measures include increased crossing time, bigger street signs, high-visibility crosswalk striping and asphalt repairs. 
 With the federal funding, the DOT installed pedestrian countdown signals at every intersection in its jurisdiction. 
 "It was looking at low-cost, highly effective solutions," said Heather Sporn, a senior policy adviser for the DOT's Long Island office. "Not that you couldn't put in a median, but that wasn't what this was about . . . because that's a longer-term thing that takes a lot of money. We wanted stuff that we could pretty much do within the construction season." 
 Making substantial pedestrian-safety improvements on the turnpike is complicated by jurisdiction issues. Although the state DOT maintains most of the roadway, Nassau County is responsible for a mile-long section through Hempstead Village, from High Street to Truro Lane. 
 So, for example, DOT made safety improvements recently at traffic signals on the western end of Hempstead Village, but those changes were not made at intersections farther east because of the different jurisdiction, Pearson said. 
 As for the section of the turnpike in its jurisdiction, Nassau has upgraded two traffic signals and rebuilt two signals at Warner Avenue and Nassau Place. That 2009 work included creating crosswalks, said Katie Grilli-Robles, a spokeswoman for County Executive Edward Mangano. 
 Countdown clocks were added to pedestrian signals in 2010 and last year, she said. 
 "Nassau County is committed to ensuring traffic safety and will conduct a traffic safety study of the county-owned corridor to make certain that there are no safety issues that are not being addressed," Grilli-Robles said. 
 &nbsp; 
 A life-endangering choice 
 A large portion of the chronic problem is not occurring at intersections: It stems from people's behavior. 
 When police noted contributing factors in pedestrian hits from 2005 through 2010, pedestrians' actions were cited in 59 percent of the incidents. That included crossing the highway at points other than at a traffic signal, crossing against traffic signals, or simply "wandering off the sidewalk." 
 Under state law, when no crosswalk is available, pedestrians are allowed to cross without one but must yield to drivers, who have the legal right of way. 
 "There are a varied number of reasons why pedestrians get hit," said Det. Lt. Kevin Smith, who until last month was a spokesman for the Nassau County police. "A lot of times, it's that they're not paying attention, because they've made an impulsive decision to go, [or] sometimes because it's dark out and they're wearing dark clothing." 
 Traffic experts who examined the turnpike in Nassau point to the distances between intersections with signals -- the average is nearly 800 feet -- as a primary contribution to jaywalking. The state DOT also says pedestrians generally will not walk more than 300 feet to a crosswalk. 
 Newsday's analysis shows one-third of the people killed from 2005 through 2010 were 300 feet or more from the nearest crosswalk. 
 Dilruba Ozmen-Ertekin, a <a href="/topics/Hofstra_University">Hofstra University</a> engineering professor who has studied pedestrian safety and drives the turnpike regularly, said jaywalking should not be dismissed as people choosing to put themselves at risk for the sake of convenience. 
 "The design is wrong, and it needs to be improved," Ozmen-Ertekin said. 
 Daniel Yanega, 19, walks from his <a href="/topics/Levittown%2C_NY">Levittown</a> home to his job at a <a href="/topics/Panera_Bread">Panera Bread</a> restaurant in East Meadow, encountering a length of Hempstead Turnpike where there is no pedestrian crossing signal for more than 1,500 feet. 
 This seven-lane-wide section of the road, unlike most of the turnpike through Nassau, has a median in the center that provides a short-term haven. Because of the median, Yanega prefers crossing mid-block rather than trekking to the intersection. 
 "It's safe for me to cross there, and then stand on the island a little bit," he said. "They say it's more dangerous but it seems to me to be safer. I usually wait until there's absolutely no one. I'm pretty cautious." 
 Still, near the spot where Yanega crosses the turnpike, those who regularly see pedestrians scurry across worry that someone will be hit. 
 "It's just like running a gauntlet," said Jay Lowe, 29, a bartender at F&amp;S Fantazia Bar and Grill on the turnpike's south side. "We wonder: Is it going to happen?"

LIHEMP15

Dangerous crossings: Hempstead Turnpike

hempstead tpke cropped

Cases of pedestrian injury and death on Hempstead Turnpike in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County divide almost equally into two broad categories: people who crossed at intersections with signals, and people who didn't. 
 The pedestrians in intersections faced significant danger from drivers who failed to yield, according to Newsday's analysis of police reports from 2005 through 2010. Some who chose not to cross at intersections gambled and lost: Seventy percent of those killed during that period were deemed by police to be cases of pedestrian error. 
 The 428 accident reports in which police detailed whether an incident occurred at an intersection generally did not say why the pedestrians struck were trying to cross the street. A handful described people who were running to catch buses in <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>, <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a> or Hempstead Village. 
 Some traffic experts pin blame on the turnpike, saying it was engineered primarily for vehicles and should be redesigned with consideration for people on foot and their behavior. 
 "Life is filled with examples of where if you want to be successful with solving a problem -- whether it's a health problem or tobacco intervention, kids not reading well in school, ADD, whatever -- you have to understand human nature and you have to adapt to it," said Gary Toth, a Manhattan-based traffic engineer. "You can't force human nature to adapt to you." 
 Frank Pearson, the state Department of Transportation's chief traffic engineer for <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>, said a DOT review of almost 250 incidents involving pedestrians between 2006 and 2010 found that 75 percent occurred within 100 feet of an intersection. Because almost all the road's traffic signals now have a countdown timer and a push-button to activate a walk signal, it's a "reasonable expectation" that pedestrians can walk to an intersection to cross, he said. 
 Hempstead Turnpike "is not a dangerous road to walk," Pearson said. "It's dangerous if you cross midblock, if you cross against the traffic signal, if you don't use the features that are there." 
 Scores of people interviewed along the turnpike's 16 miles through <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County expressed an opposite view. Wherever they try to cross the road, they said, peril is a constant companion. 
 "You put your life at risk," said Ed Bennett, 51, who owned the <a href="/topics/SoHo%2C_NY">SoHo</a> for Men clothing store in <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a>. He crossed the road twice each workday -- once in the morning and once on the way home. "Cars drive way too fast and don't have courtesy for pedestrians." 
 &nbsp; 
 A race to beat the light 
 L.C. Benson, who gets around Hempstead Village on a motorized scooter, approached the intersection of Fulton Avenue and Clinton Street, where 16 pedestrians were hit from 2005 through 2010, including one fatality, and rolled to a stop at the traffic signal. 
 "Anything could happen," said Benson, 72, as she surveyed the traffic on Fulton, which is the name of the turnpike through Hempstead Village. "You gotta make sure everyone's stopped." 
 Traffic experts say people on foot generally should cross at intersections to avoid danger. The state requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. But drivers failed to yield in 49 percent of 227 accident reports in which police cited a driver's actions as a contributing factor. 
 In addition, Newsday's analysis shows that in 33 percent of the incidents at intersections, people were hit by turning vehicles. 
 Pedestrians were particularly vulnerable to vehicles making left turns. In 78 percent of the pedestrian accidents involving a turn, the vehicles were turning left, across the lanes of traffic headed in the other direction. 
 Pedestrians, especially senior citizens, frequently complain that "walk" signals do not give them enough time to cross Hempstead Turnpike. Much of the roadway is six lanes wide in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a>, though at some intersections it has as many as eight lanes. 
 In timing of "walk" signals, the DOT uses the standard of a person traveling 3 feet per second. For example, pedestrians crossing the turnpike's 60-foot width at <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a> Road are allowed 20 seconds to cross. 
 Since late 2009, DOT officials said, time ranging from 1 to 4 seconds has been added on pedestrian "walk" signals at 10 intersections in <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a> and Hempstead Village -- a 5.2-mile section that was the focus of a state study on making the road safer for senior citizens. That review found "clusters" of pedestrian accidents near intersections. 
 State officials said many pedestrians don't realize that they often must press the crosswalk-signal button to activate the 4 seconds of exclusive pedestrian walk time. 
 &nbsp; 
 A matter of convenience 
 At lunchtime in Hempstead Village, a stream of workers crossed from the sidewalk in front of an office building near Terrace Avenue to a shopping center across the street, ignoring a crosswalk about 100 feet away. 
 They waited for a break in traffic and got across two lanes, stopped at the centerline, then hurried the rest of the way across the turnpike. On their way back, many carried sandwiches from <a href="/topics/Subway">Subway</a>. 
 "Why walk back [to the crosswalk] when I'm going this way?" said Marjorie Presume, 39, of <a href="/topics/Valley_Stream%2C_NY">Valley Stream</a>, who had just crossed from a spot in front of an office building. "It's foolish of me, yes, but there should be something to slow down the traffic and I could cross right there." 
 In dozens of interviews, people navigating Hempstead Turnpike on foot gave different reasons for crossing midblock or at a distance away from a signalized intersection. For some, it was a convenient shortcut. Others said weaving through lanes of traffic was necessary to transfer from one bus to another to get to work or school. On parts of the turnpike where signals are few, pedestrians acknowledged taking the risk to avoid a lengthy walk to the closest crosswalk or turning vehicles in heavily trafficked intersections. 
 Sixty-seven percent of pedestrians killed from 2005 through 2010 were hit at spots away from intersections, police reports analyzed by Newsday show. Furthermore, among 201 accident reports of pedestrian hits that occurred midblock or away from intersections, police cited "pedestrian error/confusion" as a contributing factor in 53 percent. 
 In <a href="/topics/Levittown%2C_NY">Levittown</a>, Nathan Schinder, who is unemployed and doesn't have a car, jaywalked across the turnpike just east of Silver Lane, going from a shopping center to a residential neighborhood. 
 "Sometimes I cross in between the lights and it can be a better deal," he said. At intersections, he said, "You don't have enough time because there are so many people making the turn." 
 Dr. Anthony Boudin, chairman of the medical emergency department at <a href="/topics/Nassau_University_Medical_Center">Nassau University Medical Center</a> in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a>, where many pedestrians struck on Hempstead Turnpike are taken, said he regularly tries to cross the turnpike on foot. 
 Boudin, like many others, said he is frustrated by the choice the highway presents: pound the pavement for hundreds of feet to reach an intersection with a pedestrian signal, or take the risk of crossing multiple lanes midblock, without a crossing signal. 
 "You may not see cars coming, but they're coming," he said. "If you're not quick enough, you can get yourself into trouble." 
 <a href="/topics/Ryan_Lynch">Ryan Lynch</a>, senior planner for the nonprofit advocacy group <a href="/topics/Tri-State_Transportation_Campaign">Tri-State Transportation Campaign</a>, said the infrastructure provided by the state DOT is insufficient to allow people on foot to cross safely and legally. 
 "You can hardly blame a pedestrian when they have to walk half a mile to a legal crossing," Lynch said. 
 &nbsp; 
 Bus stop location a factor? 
 A dangerous ballet played out during morning rush hour in the heart of <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a>. Pedestrians, often in groups of six or more, poured off buses and ran through moving traffic to catch buses on connecting routes. 
 The spot is the meeting of three busy thoroughfares -- Hempstead Turnpike, <a href="/topics/New_Hyde_Park%2C_NY">New Hyde Park</a> Road and Franklin Avenue. There are four bus stops within a block. 
 Twenty-three pedestrians were hit there from 2005 through 2010, more than any other intersection along Hempstead Turnpike in <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County, Newsday's analysis of police accident reports shows. None of those people were killed. 
 Traffic engineers who examined that area at Newsday's request said the placement of two of the bus stops -- away from the intersection, rather than close to its crosswalks -- encourages people to cross midblock. 
 Bus riders said they often jaywalk either because they see a bus approaching that they want to catch or because there is no crosswalk near their bus stop. 
 No data were available on the number of pedestrians struck while trying to catch a bus or after exiting one. 
 In 2005, Syed S. Hussain, 71, was struck and killed in <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a> as he tried to cross the turnpike after leaving a bus. The <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a> man was on his way to his 3-year-old granddaughter's birthday party, relatives said. The driver was not charged. 
 The state DOT acknowledges that bus stops play a role in pedestrians' exposure to traffic. Potential solutions, the DOT's Pearson said, include fences to deter jaywalking, new crosswalks at bus stops, or relocation of bus stops closer to existing crosswalks. 
 "It's quite a well-utilized system," he said of <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a>'s bus system. "And that's a factor because that attracts pedestrians, obviously." 
 Angela Nunziata, 55, of <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a>, who manages a hair salon near the turnpike's intersection with <a href="/topics/New_Hyde_Park%2C_NY">New Hyde Park</a> Road and Franklin Avenue, said people get off buses and instantly look for their connection. 
 "It's constant running and trying to catch the bus," she said. "It's hazardous for everyone."

LIPEDS12

Pedestrians: Hempstead Turnpike a losing game

On a warm July evening in 2009, Purabi Nandi and a visiting friend set out to pick up some groceries. 
 Nandi, 68, who was an urban planner before arriving in the United States, had lived in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a> since 1973. Her home was on the south side of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike. The nearest food store, a Super Stop &amp; Shop, was on the north side. 
 Because it was such a nice night, Nandi and her friend decided to walk. 
 On the way back shortly before 10 p.m., they waited for the signal at the intersection of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike and Newbridge Road, where the turnpike spans eight lanes. Nandi was not in the crosswalk, police said, and had almost reached the other side when a driver, making a right turn, struck her. 
 She was pronounced dead at <a href="/topics/Nassau_University_Medical_Center">Nassau University Medical Center</a> in <a href="/topics/East_Meadow%2C_NY">East Meadow</a>. The driver was not charged. 
 "My mom's demographic is more and more typical on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>," said her son, Saumya Nandi, 40, who lives in Chicago. "For their health and their activity, I think it's good for people like that to be walking, but in general it's just not a pedestrian-friendly place. 
 "If you think about the two sides of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike as a single community, you've got to figure out a way for people to walk across it in a safe way." 
 Purabi was born in <a href="/topics/India">India</a> and married Sakti Nandi, an engineer, in 1965. They moved to the United States and raised their son and daughter on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>; both Purabi and her husband became U.S. citizens. 
 After her husband's death in 2003, Purabi drew on her strong network of family and friends. She had become a grandmother shortly before her death. 
 "She was a great mom, grandma and aunt," her son said. "She was really enjoying her life."

LINAND12

Purabi Nandi fatally hit in crosswalk

Syed S. Hussain was on the way to his 3-year-old granddaughter's birthday party on the night of Nov. 20, 2005. 
 The retired store owner stepped off a bus about 8:30 p.m. and walked south across <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike at Heathcote Road in <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>, near Belmont Park's parking field and the Cross Island Parkway. 
 Hussain, 71, had crossed five of the roadway's six traffic lanes -- it is 85 feet wide there, the length of a <a href="/topics/Long_Island_Rail_Road">Long Island Rail Road</a> electric car -- and was nearly at the curb when a <a href="/topics/Buick">Buick</a>, traveling east, struck him. 
 His son, Syed Shabahat Hussain, was waiting near the bus stop to meet his father. 
 "I stepped out of the car and started walking," said the son, now 36. "The next thing I know I see my father lying on the side of the street. He was bleeding. I was trying to get his attention, but he was in and out." 
 At the time, Syed Shabahat Hussain, now a physician, was a resident at <a href="/topics/North_Shore_University_Hospital">North Shore University Hospital</a> in <a href="/topics/Manhasset%2C_NY">Manhasset</a>. The shock of seeing his father badly injured prevented him from giving medical care, he said. 
 "I think I was traumatized, basically," he said. 
 Syed S. Hussain's other son, Syed I. Hussain, of <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a>, rushed to Winthrop-University Hospital in <a href="/topics/Mineola%2C_NY">Mineola</a> after his brother's phone call. Their father died about 11:20 p.m. 
 Syed I. Hussain, now 45, said his father simply wasn't agile enough to make it across. "My father couldn't run that fast," he said. 
 <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County police did not issue the driver a citation for a moving violation. 
 A native of <a href="/topics/India">India</a>, Syed S. Hussain immigrated to the United States in 1993. The sons said their father's death left a "huge" gap in the family. 
 "He brought us to America. He was the mentor of the family," Syed I. Hussain said. "We owe him."

LIHUSS12

Syed Hussain fatally hit after leaving bus

Keith Cerrato was a popular Hofstra University finance major who was pointed toward getting his bachelor's degree in the spring of 2007.
On the night of Dec. 8, 2006, the 24-year-old from <a href="/topics/Garden_City%2C_NY">Garden City</a> and several friends had just left a bar on Fulton Avenue -- the name given <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike in Hempstead Village -- and were heading to a party in a campus dorm. He tried to cross the road at 10:25 p.m.
Exactly what happened in the next moments, before a sport-utility vehicle struck Cerrato, remains unclear. <a href="/topics/Nassau_County%2C_NY">Nassau</a> County police concluded that Cerrato was crossing Fulton from south to north near Meadowbrook Road and that pedestrian error was a contributing factor to the crash.
The vehicle's driver was cited for faulty brakes.
Cerrato's parents, Mary Louis and John Cerrato of Garden City, said the road sorely needs pedestrian safety improvements.
While the speed limit is 40 mph in that area, John Cerrato, 64, said every time he's been on the road there, traffic appears to be moving faster.
"They're doing at least 50 miles per hour. It's a three-lane road [in each direction] with very few lights," the father said. "If you want to do something to fix that road, put in speed bumps, put in stop signs, put in more lights, slow traffic down."
Shannon Desmond, 27, one of Keith Cerrato's friends, was steps away from him. They had left the bar, then called the Dizzy Lizard. She recalls laughing and turning to look at Cerrato, who she said was behind her and had started across the road.
"He was on the phone, and his head was down, and he looked up at me," said Desmond, who added that she had reached the other side. "It was in that instant that he got hit."

LICERR12

Student hit, killed in the blink of an eye

keith cerrato cropped

Tuesday nights were movie nights for Richard and Dorothy Costleigh. Always early, the couple from <a href="/topics/North_Valley_Stream%2C_NY">North Valley Stream</a> would park and then stroll toward the <a href="/topics/Franklin_Square%2C_NY">Franklin Square</a> Cinemas, treats tucked in Dorothy's purse. 
 Married for nearly 39 years, they loved each other dearly, loved this weekly ritual, one they wouldn't reschedule even when friends begged. 
 Richard, 64, and Dorothy, 62, were less than a block from the theater on June 6, 2006, at 6:56 p.m. They were on the sidewalk, nearing the corner of <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike and Pacific Avenue, when the driver of a <a href="/topics/Pontiac">Pontiac</a> Grand Am took a left turn from the turnpike. The car collided with an oncoming truck, which swerved, jumped the curb and struck the Costleighs. 
 Richard was pronounced dead at Mercy Medical Center in <a href="/topics/Rockville_Centre%2C_NY">Rockville Centre</a>. Dorothy died the next morning at Winthrop-University Hospital in <a href="/topics/Mineola%2C_NY">Mineola</a>. The two drivers were treated at hospitals and released; neither was charged. 
 "They loved to take walks," said the Costleighs' daughter, Lisa Saunders, 43, of Seattle. "They walked everywhere." 
 The two had met at a dance in 1965 and married two years later. They lived in <a href="/topics/Elmont%2C_NY">Elmont</a> and <a href="/topics/Bay_Shore%2C_NY">Bay Shore</a>, then settled in <a href="/topics/Wantagh%2C_NY">Wantagh</a>. 
 Richard eventually oversaw 800 employees at Grumman, where former colleagues said his team designed a software system in 1984 still in use today. 
 Dorothy was a stay-at-home mother who later worked as a classroom assistant for <a href="/topics/Levittown%2C_NY">Levittown</a> schools and as an administrative assistant at <a href="/topics/Nassau_University_Medical_Center">Nassau University Medical Center</a>. 
 "It's just so devastating to read about other people who have died since my parents," Saunders said of pedestrians killed on <a href="/topics/Hempstead%2C_NY">Hempstead</a> Turnpike. "There are things they can do to help this situation. It doesn't have to be this way."

LICOST12

Richard and Dorothy Costleigh hit on sidewalk

liHEMP cropped

Hempstead Turnpike -- 16 deadly miles

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Deadly Hempstead Turnpike

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Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is preparing a legal fight. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger reports.

'Child care is needed more than ever'

John Pilaccio pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the fatal stabbing of CVS employee Edeedson Cine Jr. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

'A violent criminal record'

The congressman said conditions appeared to be improving in the holding rooms that ICE uses for detainees. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

Suozzi inspects ICE holding cells

A Three Kings Day event took place at the Knights of Columbus in Brentwood on Sunday. The celebration provided a warm, welcoming environment in a time of uncertainty, according to some attendees. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.

'Show a little love and compassion'

Take a look back at the exclusive stories Newday journalists brought you in 2025, from investigations to interviews with celebrities.

Look back at NewsdayTV's top exclusives and highlights of 2025

Authorities are looking for a thief who stole a statue of baby Jesus from a Nativity scene displayed outside the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge last week. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

Baby Jesus stolen from Nativity scene

Composer Stephen Schwartz, who grew up in Roslyn Heights, says he will not perform at the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump's name was added to the building.

LI native joins other artists bowing out of Kennedy Center

Nassau County police said Tasabbir Hossain, 32, of Ronkonkoma, was westbound on the eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway near Louden Avenue in Massapequa when he collided with the other driver's 2015 Acura.

Crash leaves two hospitalized

Hundreds of people attended the candlelight vigil in Lindenhurst Monday evening for Edeedson Cine Jr., who was fatally stabbed while working at CVS on Christmas.

Victim's father speaks at vigil

Newsday transportation reporter Alfonso A. Castillo moderated a town hall where a panel of experts discussed making Long Island roads safer. "I think success is zero deaths on the roadway," said DMV Deputy Commissioner for Traffic Safety Mary Tanner-Richter.

'We have to change our mindset'

Residents and town officials are preparing for Friday night's snowstorm. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger reports.

Can you dig it?

Long Islanders on Saturday cleared out snow from the post-Christmas storm. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports.

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Republican Bruce Blakeman is taking the oath of office, a formal start to his second term as Nassau county executive.

Bruce Blakeman sworn-in as county executive

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