Highway work zone speed cameras, mental health, and driver's license eye tests

Slow down — you could save a life

During my 31-year career at the state Department of Transportation, too many highway workers have lost their lives on the job, including a family friend, Pat Mapleson.

Sadly, he was killed by a distracted driver while filling potholes along Sunrise Highway [“Speed cams’ ticket trigger,” News, April 20]. Just like every other highway worker, he just wanted to do his job and go home after his shift.

The week of April 17 was National Work Zone Awareness Week, an annual campaign that promotes safety for highway workers, reminding motorists to avoid irresponsible driving near work zones. With construction season beginning, you will see more boots on the ground performing pavement and bridge projects, guide rail repair, drainage cleaning, mowing and litter pickups.

In 2023, the DOT has already recorded 13 work-zone intrusions on Long Island. With every intrusion, a worker’s life is put at risk. New York’s Move Over Law was designed to protect highway workers and others who make the roads safe for everyone. It requires drivers to simply slow down and move over. And, please, put the cellphones down.

Think safety when you see flashing lights and orange cones. When you pay attention to your driving, you could be saving a life.

— Rich Causin, Hauppauge

The writer is Long Island regional director of the state Department of Transportation.

The launching of speed cameras on Long Island highways in work zones doesn’t go far enough. On Long Island, we spend three times the national average on public safety, and yet we don’t have enough of a police presence on our highways. A Newsday classic reprint from 1970 highlighted that Nassau and Suffolk counties totaled 11 patrol cars on the Long Island Expressway 24/7.

The income from these work-zone speed cameras needs to be used for funding more police and the wider expansion of cameras. Law-abiding drivers should be protected from reckless driving in the left and HOV lanes. Sadly, too many police officers and taxpayers have been injured and killed by reckless behavior on our highways. Going faster than 65 miles per hour on our roads serves no public good.

— Joe Campbell, Port Washington

People complain about the cost of tickets, saying it’s going to be a cash cow for the state. Cameras were removed from school zones because taxpayers said the same thing.

Workers who might step back from a job can easily get hit by speeding cars. Although the law says to move over one lane for a police officer outside the vehicle, most drivers zoom by without regard for anyone by the road. I don’t know where everyone wants to get to going so fast, but I suggest they leave a little earlier.

— Bruce Simpson, West Babylon

It’s important to protect workers. It’s also important to protect our children.

When I drive by schools, around 25-28 mph, I am passed by other cars as if I’m standing still. Often, it’s with an apparent attitude as cars maneuver around me.

Perhaps if the money from fines can be dedicated to only school safety, the school speed-zone cameras can be reinstalled.

As a former school board member, I think our children deserve the same protection as our road workers.

— Rony Kessler, Franklin Square

So let me understand this — 40% of the proceeds from the fines recorded by the new work-zone speed cameras go to the vendor monitoring the violations.

What’s wrong with this picture? Is this like “the fox guarding the henhouse”?

— Roy Firmes, Farmingdale

By helping others, you also help yourself

I have dealt with my own demons and have had mental health issues my entire life “Pandemic effects continue,” News, April 20]. I searched high and low for relief, and for many years self-medicated with drugs and alcohol, which nearly cost me my life.

I eventually turned my life around after finally finding the proper medications that treated my condition.

One other thing I found helpful is that being of service to others gets you out of yourself. “Out of self, into others,” the phrase goes, and it goes a long way. It works wonders in relieving bouts of depression and anxiety.

— Charles J. Brown, Levittown

DMV should focus better on eye tests

Does the state Department of Motor Vehicles really care much about eyesight [“DMV warns drivers to get required eye test,” News, April 15]?

At 69, my driver’s license was renewed in 2018 (with no requirement for corrective lenses), and it is not due for renewal until 2027, when I’m 78. All kinds of things can happen to my vision between now and then.

Yet, the DMV lets a senior like me go all that time with no eye test? Luckily, I took myself to an eye doctor and got glasses for when I drive. The DMV should require older drivers to get eye tests more often.

— Ted D. Gluckman, Rockville Centre