Dangerous Roads newsletter: Staying off the roads doesn't guarantee safety

With a lot of free time on our hands during the COVID lockdowns, my youngest son and I took on a fun, if admittedly weird, project a few years back: We opened a Blockbuster Video, sort of.

The "Free Blockbuster" movement started in California in 2018, when a former video store clerk repurposed an abandoned newspaper dispenser box into a community repository for old DVDs and VHS tapes. Passersby could take or leave a movie as they wished, without cost or payment. Free Blockbuster Valley Stream, propped up against a utility pole in front of our house, was the first franchise in Nassau County.

Our father-and-son project survived only a few months before a truck jumped the sidewalk and smashed our plastic Blockbuster kiosk to pieces, along with part of my front yard fence.

Thankfully, I was able to repair the fence, and replace the Blockbuster. But what if somebody had been perusing our selection of DVDs when that truck came through? What if my son had been restocking the inventory?

You would think the easiest way to avoid becoming a victim of Long Island's dangerous roads is to stay off them altogether. But, sadly, that’s not the case, as one recent high-profile homicide trial tragically illustrated.

Last week, a Riverhead jury found Steven Schwally, of Dix Hills, guilty of second-degree murder for driving drunk into a Deer Park nail salon two years ago, killing four people and injuring nine others.

Wen Jun "Joey" Cheng was giving a customer a pedicure when Schwally’s Chevrolet Traverse plowed through the storefront, claiming among its victims her husband, co-owner Jian Chai "Kenny" Chen.

"I wasn’t able to respond fast enough. It was big and fast," Cheng testified at the trial. "There was chaos all over."

Although that might seem like a freak occurrence, more than 100 vehicles crash into buildings each day in the U.S., or about once every 15 minutes, according to data compiled by the Storefront Safety Council, a group committed to reducing those types of crashes. They result in 16,000 injuries a year, and 2,600 deaths.

On Long Island, there have been multiple incidents over the last year involving vehicles driving into homes or businesses. Last June, a car crashed into a historic Quaker meeting house in Manhasset, killing its driver. In July, a car crashed into a senior housing complex in Uniondale, injuring the driver and forcing five people to evacuate. In February, a 2021 Subaru Forester plowed into an East Northport physical therapy office. In March, a Honda SUV crashed into a Hempstead furniture store.

Safety experts cite several causes for private property crashes, including driver error, speeding and distracted driving. They’ve advocated for various strategies to prevent such crashes, including installing barriers or bollards near businesses, better lighting and signage, and traffic-calming measures.

But the reality is, in a densely built region where only a few yards of grass or concrete separate streets from front doors, it’s only a matter of time before a vehicle ends up on the wrong side of a wall.

And if you end up only with property damage, consider yourself lucky.

Readers speak up

This reader first reached out to Newsday three years ago to express her frustration with the dangerous conditions along her Northern State Parkway commute from Huntington to Holbrook. Since then, "it has only gotten worse," she wrote in an email last month.

I never ever see a policeman. People speeding, in and out of lanes, following cars so close you can see their faces. Like I said three years ago, it is like a speedway. When is something going to happen to save people’s lives? It is outrageous and frightening. Nothing has changed in these three years.

Carol O’Neill

Changing newsletter

We're expanding this newsletter to address transportation concerns beyond dangerous roads. Send us your suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered, and any suggestions for a new name for the newsletter to 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.