Long Island is a very busy area. Thousands of motorists passed through Long Island every day. Some of them are professionals transporting goods and people. Many others are commuters headed to work or parents transporting their children to school. Motorists are likely to cross multiple intersections any time they drive.
At any of those intersections, a crash is possible. When vehicles moving in different directions cross paths with one another, small mistakes can lead to catastrophic consequences. It is generally beneficial for drivers to pay extra attention to their surroundings whenever they approach intersections. Drivers may also want to limit how often they pass through the most dangerous intersections. What locations in Long Island see the highest number of serious, preventable collisions?
Long Island has many dangerous intersections
Intersections account for a significant amount of risk in traffic. Certain intersections have visibility issues, while others simply have heavy traffic levels. Some of the intersections with the worst reputations in Long Island include:
- Stony Brook Road and Route 25A
- New York Route 347 and Nicolls Road
- Commack Road and Vanderbilt Parkway
- Commack Road and the LIE service road
- Ocean Ave and Merrick Road
- South Oyster Bay Road and Old Country Road
- Piquets Lane and Woodbury Road
All of these intersections see regular crashes. Many of them see heavy traffic and feature design issues that detract from motorist safety.
Locations where merging is necessary are also dangerous, even if they may not qualify as intersections. The Oakdale Merge is one location where crash risk is higher due to navigation challenges and traffic density. The merge on Wolf Hill is also a dangerous location.
Several of the access points for the Robert Moses Causeway are also notoriously dangerous. While roundabouts often help prevent collisions, the roundabout that replaced the intersection of Route 51 and Route 24 is notoriously dangerous, in part because of the road passing through the center.
While completely avoiding high-risk locations is not a realistic goal, drivers can limit how frequently they pass through dangerous intersections and can employ extra caution at high-risk locations. If a motor vehicle collision does occur, motorists may need to prepare themselves to hold the driver at fault accountable. Learning more about risk factors can help reduce the possibility of a life-altering injury in a wreck.