Improving highway safety

Following the death of Richard Riggs, 75, in a July 12 crash on the Southern State Parkway, local and state lawmakers called for the revision of a state Department of Transportation policy that governs the use of cameras along the parkway at a July 27 news conference in Valley Stream State Park.

As cars drove past on the parkway behind them, State Senators Todd Kaminsky and John Brooks and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages announced that they had written a letter to the commissioner of the State Department of Transportation, Marie Therese Dominguez, calling for changes to a policy implemented in 2001 that they argued could have led to the apprehension of the reckless drivers who killed Riggs.

Called the “Policy for the Design and Operation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) in Advanced Traffic Management Systems,” the department’s memo allows the use of 30 cameras located along the Southern State to record drivers solely in limited circumstances. “Following the tragic death of Richard Riggs recently, it has become all too apparent that our law enforcement does not have the necessary tools to help keep us safe and deter drivers from acting recklessly,” Kaminsky said. “Long Islanders deserve safe roads.”

Kaminsky added that although there are cameras on the parkway, they are not used to record crashes like the one that killed Riggs. They record a live feed, but footage is used by law enforcement only in specific instances outlined in a state Department of Transportation memo. Kaminsky, Brooks and Solages called for more frequent use of the cameras and easier access to the footage for law enforcement.

“Having our drivers know that their actions are recorded will certainly help deter reckless and illegal driving,” Kaminsky said.
Riggs, an auto parts salesman and a grandfather from Holbrook, died in a multi-car crash near Exit 38. The drivers who caused it fled the scene and are yet to be identified.

The policy change in question has been adopted in New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Iowa. “It’s long past time for New York state to join those other states and make that critical change,” Kaminsky said.

“Technology is our friend, and we need to use it today,” added Solages. “We need to use every tool possible to make sure that people, families, individuals, workers are able to get to their destinations in a safe way.”

According to Kaminsky, the “common sense measure” is backed by law enforcement officers. Those he has spoken to, he said, think it is “illogical” that they cannot use footage that is recorded by the state. “We can use that footage to learn who, and frankly prosecute, those who are driving criminally,” Kaminsky said. “Law enforcement should have every resource to help keep Long Islanders safe.

“The two drivers racing recklessly recently that resulted in the death of Mr. Riggs … wouldn’t have happened had they known that their actions could have been recorded and tracked and that they would have been held accountable,” Kaminsky added.

Brooks emphasized the outdated nature of the Southern State, which was built in the late 1920s and early ’30s. “This parkway was built basically 100 years ago,” Brooks said, when cars were slower and there was less traffic. Today the Southern State is a major traffic artery, almost always crowded with traffic.

Brooks noted the highway’s low overpasses, sharp, winding turns and old curbs as evidence that structural changes should be made — but, he lamented, that is very unlikely to happen. “We have to change the way [WE?] administer and monitor this roadway,” he said. “We’re suggesting today to record with traffic cameras. One step in the right direction.”

“Long Islanders don’t have to live on roads that have the word ‘death’ in their nicknames,” Kaminsky said, loosely referencing a 10-mile section of the parkway, from Exit 17 in Malverne to Exit 32 in South Farmingdale, known as Blood Alley. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration deemed the parkway the deadliest state parkway in the U.S.

“I’ve kind of given up on the idea of changing the road — now we have to work on changing the way we use, administer and monitor the road,” Brooks said. “We are not going to stop working to make this roadway safer.”

A recent study conducted by AAA found a 7 to 9 percent increase in speed camera tickets statewide, according to Robert Sinclair, senior manager of public affairs for AAA Northeast. “The roads are rife with bad behavior,” Sinclair said, singling out speeding and lack of seatbelt wearing. “We have to cull these behaviors.”

He acknowledge that the Southern State lacks the flat, straight, wide stretches that most major roads have today, but also made clear that changing the road is unlikely to happen.

Sinclair welcomed the policy change advocated by the lawmakers. “The idea of using footage to prosecute these drivers makes so much sense,” he said. “We need as many tools to use as we can to go after those bad drivers.”