Backseat passenger killed, driver and another passenger hurt in one-car crash on SSP, State Police say
An 18-year-old driver on the Southern State Parkway crashed early Saturday into a bridge embankment, injuring the driver and the front-seat passenger and killing the backseat passenger, both 18, according to the State Police.
So many people have died in the 10-mile stretch in a section of the parkway — roughly from Exit 17 to Exit 30 — that it's earned a nightmarish nickname: "Blood Alley."
It's one of the deadliest parkways on Long Island.
The crash, which involved just the one car, happened around 4:15 a.m. on the parkway westbound near Exit 20 in Hempstead Town, the State Police said in a news release.
The driver was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow and the front-seat passenger was taken to NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island in Mineola, formerly Winthrop Hospital. The backseat passenger was declared dead at the scene, the release said.
No details about the occupants of the vehicle — including the make and model of the vehicle — were disclosed.
Newsday reported Friday that a Long Island Contractors’ Association study — released Thursday — showed the total number of crashes on the parkway jumped to 4,166 in 2019 from 3,210 in 2012. Between 2012 and 2019, there were 15,768 crashes on the parkway, 8,443 of which resulted in injury, 78 of which included fatalities. A separate study found that the parkway had 1.1 fatal crashes per mile, compared with .21 on the Northern State.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
