Dangerous Roads newsletter: How 15-months of coverage changed how we look at crashes

On March 27, 2025, Newsday kicked off its Dangerous Roads series with the story of Amir Porterfield, a 15-year-old Copiague boy who died after being struck by two vehicles while walking home from a high school volleyball game.

Since then, it’s been an all-hands-on-deck effort that has included dozens of stories, a documentary video, a pair of town hall events and this weekly newsletter. Along the way we've examined the causes of crashes, from speeding to impaired and unlicensed drivers, to lax enforcement, and poorly designed and maintained roadways. We've also looked at potential solutions, including by traveling to a suburb that set a goal of zero fatalities and testing technology that could save lives.

Our series has been honored by several organizations, including the International News Media Association, the National Headliner Awards, the New York Press Club, the Silurians Press Club and the Press Club of Long Island.

I sat down recently with fellow Newsday transportation reporter Peter Gill to talk about how the last 15 months of coverage has changed how Long Island, and Newsday, look at this critical issue.

Here is a portion of our conversation, edited for clarity.

Peter: What are the most interesting parts of doing the newsletter?

Alfonso: Most of my time on this beat has been covering transit and the Long Island Rail Road, so my concern was, do I have the knowledge? Do I have the sources? I don't know if this was the idea all along, but I approached it less as a transportation reporter, and more as a Long Islander, and a driver, and a husband of somebody who commuted on the Southern State Parkway every day, and father to teenagers who are walking to school and learning to drive. I put my reporting chops into it, and I tried for every newsletter to have some relevance beyond whatever anecdote I was sharing.

What will be your lasting memory of the project?

Peter: I think just the extent of the problem and the extent of how many people's lives are touched by either a death or a serious injury on a roadway. I mean, just thinking back on it, my grandfather died in a car crash. I talked to one lady in Brentwood who lost her son in a car crash. He was riding his bicycle when he was hit. And she had two other close family members who had died in car crashes.

When you add up the numbers, it's pretty staggering. You're much more likely to be killed in a car crash than you are in a murder on Long Island. It's the No. 1 cause of accidental death for young people. And having a tracker of fatalities on the homepage is really valuable, because it keeps it top of mind that these aren't just isolated incidents. It goes back to the terminology. When we say it's an "accident," it's easier to brush off and treat it as something that's inevitable. Calling it a "crash" acknowledges that, yes, maybe no one was intending for this to happen, but there are things that did or did not happen that led to this. And so there are things that can be done.

Alfonso: I think the idea from the outset was, let's stop normalizing this. I’ve been here for 27 years, and during the first several years, I was working Saturdays or Sundays. And those days, you’re not strictly on your beat. You just sort of run on whatever comes in. And a lot of that was fatal car crashes. And, when you're on your 50th one or something like that, it's easy to get hardened. So I think it was so important here to take this step back and be like, "Let's change the way we look at this." I know for myself, I won't approach these stories the same ever again.

Peter: It reminds us that one mistake shouldn't lead to a death. That's a principle in aviation. Air traffic controllers always talk about how multiple things need to go wrong for there to be a serious crash. And it seems like fewer things need to go wrong for there to be a serious crash on our roadways, especially in areas like where Amir was killed — where there are kids coming and going from school across a highway that’s 50 miles an hour and kids having to cross six lanes of traffic. I know from talking to his mother, Iesha, it really changed her life and her other son’s life and Amir’s father's life forever. She kept on saying, "What could be can be done?" And I think that was kind of the impetus for this whole series — trying to answer some of those questions that grieving families have.

Readers speak up

Here’s another reader questioning whether police are doing enough to stop dangerous drivers.

Maybe it’s a resource thing but why aren’t there more police officers on the highways? Also, maybe cameras [can be used] and tickets start to be issued?

Darlene Scarangella, Garden City

Introducing the In Transit newsletter

While Newsday remains as committed as ever to shining a light on road safety issues on Long Island, starting next week this newsletter will expand to cover other transportation topics. Have ideas for what we should cover? Let us know at roads@newsday.com.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.