Dangerous Roads newsletter: Hit-and-run crashes particularly painful for families

I'm Lorena Mongelli, a former Newsday transportation reporter filling in for my colleague Alfonso Castillo this week after writing about hit-and-run crimes, which are particularly devastating for families.

The victims may have been ending a work shift, walking home, meeting a friend, or simply running a routine errand when the unimaginable happened. The driver fleeing compounds a family’s pain. Some will never know whether their loved one would be alive had the driver stayed and called for help.

Joanna Alfo said her 42-year-old sister, Jennifer Bianco, was left on the side of the road like an "animal" when she was hit by a pickup truck that fled the scene in 2023. The family was robbed of a "beautiful, heartwarming, loving sister, aunt and great-aunt," as Alfo, 40, described her. Robert Twiford, who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in 2022, left behind his wife, two daughters, a son and a granddaughter. "He went out to work one morning and never came home," said his widow, Donna Twiford, 66.

They represent a tiny fraction of the victims.

From 2019 to 2023, there were 244 serious or fatal hit-and-run crashes across Nassau and Suffolk counties. Most happened after dark. More than half involved pedestrians or cyclists.

But why do drivers flee?

Deena Abbe, a licensed psychologist based in Commack, said a sudden serious crash may provoke a range of responses known as fight, flight, freeze and fawn. Some motorists may panic and drive away. While Abbe said some drivers will recognize what happened and turn themselves in, others will rationalize their behavior and continue to cover it up. Those reactions, however instinctive, can be changed, Abbe said.

"People can be taught to recognize when they are highly aroused and what their natural inclination is, and then how to respond to it, slow it down and not lose yourself in the irrational," Abbe said.

Experts have said that drivers who leave the scene are likelier to have been intoxicated. Some officials said weak hit-and-run penalties encourage drivers to flee. Right now, a deadly hit-and-run crash is a D felony with a 2 1/3-to-7-year maximum sentence. More serious charges are only tacked on if there is evidence the driver was intoxicated by alcohol, impaired by drugs or drove recklessly. But when a driver flees it’s harder to upgrade the charges.

Some drivers convicted of a hit-and-run resulting in death have been sentenced to a few months in jail, in some cases a result of plea deals, with time further shaved off for good behavior. For the families left behind, that punishment is not enough.

Terry Puzio, whose son, Nicholas Puzio, 25, was killed in a hit-and-run crash in 2023, said she attended all the court hearings for the two drivers who were eventually charged in his case. But she said the laws are too lenient. One driver served nearly 4 months in jail after being sentenced to six months, and another served 38 days after being sentenced to 60 days (and 420 hours of community service).

"If people knew, ‘I could get charged with the worst thing,’ they would stay," Puzio, 60, said. "But right now, it's like, ‘Why should I stay? ... They're not going to do anything anyway, even if they catch me.’ "

Readers speak up

All drivers should at certain intervals (perhaps every 10-15 years) be mandated to retake both the written and driving tests. It would help catch some of the poor drivers and increase NYS revenue.

I’ve been to traffic court where the guilty drivers can pay a higher fine to avoid points on their license. While this gives the town a financial boost, it relieves the guilty person of paying higher insurance premiums for 39 months, which is a much greater deterrent.

Make vehicle manslaughter punishments longer. The easiest way to get away with murder is to kill someone while driving — the punishment never fits the crime.

Ken Kurs, West Hempstead

Do you have solutions to make our streets safer? What are the biggest problems you're seeing? Let us know at roads@newsday.com.

Join us Dec. 10 for a Newsday Dangerous Roads town hall

Newsday is hosting a dangerous roads forum at our Melville headquarters on Dec. 10. I'll moderate a panel of experts and journalists discussing road safety problems on Long Island — and solutions. We want to hear from you. Get free tickets at newsday.com/forum. 

— Alfonso A. Castillo

By Lorena Mongelli

lorena.mongelli@newsday.com

Lorena Mongelli has been reporting for Newsday since 2021. Prior to that, she covered breaking news at the New York Post.