Long Island's Pedestrian Perils Policy and Community Groups Call for Pedestrian Safety Program Transportation policy and community groups today spotlighted high pedestrian fatality rates along Wyandanch's Straight Path and throughout Long Island. They called for county and local officials and the NY State Department of Transportation to devote more attention to reducing high pedestrian accident and fatality rates in both Suffolk and Nassau Counties.
Pedestrians are Long Island's forgotten travelers.
The infrastructure works against them, and they are largely left out of the transportation funding equation. As a result, they bear a disproportionate amount of the risk on our roads. The Tri-State Campaign spotlighted NYS DOT's traffic calming demonstration project on Route 114 in Sag Harbor and North Haven as a model that could be replicated on other arterial roadways, like Straight Path. Changes to federal law made last summer make pedestrian safety and traffic calming projects eligible for a variety of federal funding programs. NY State DOT controls those funds once they reach New York.