Injuries Reported After Gateway Boulevard

PATCHOGUE, NY- LongIsland.com writes that multiple people sustained injuries in a collision that took place in Patchogue on Saturday, October 27, 2018.

According to police reports, the collision took place on Waverly Avenue close to Gateway Boulevard at about 5:35 the evening. One of the victims, Erik Pedersen, 24, suffered a severe head injury when a 2005 Volvo struck his 1994 Chevrolet pickup truck. Two occupants in the Volvo also suffered injuries in the crash. Nancy Kelly, 59, who was driving the Volvo, and Lawrence Kelly, 62, were both transported to Stony Brook Hospital for treatment.

Another collision took place at the same intersection about one month ago. A 44-year-old woman suffered critical injuries in that collision.

By nature, intersection present dangers to drivers. While only a small part of total road systems are made up of intersections, about half of all fatal accidents and injury-producing accidents occur at intersections.

The high number of fatalities has led to initiatives to improve intersection safety. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has presented a number of possible design changes including roundabout designs, restricted crossing U-turn intersections, diverging diamond interchanges, and continuous flow intersections.

Stop sign intersections tend to be some of the worst intersections for traffic accidents. Stop sign controlled intersections are the location of about 40 percent of fatal crashes in the United States. Many of these accidents occur simply because drivers fail to pay attention, or because they do not come to complete stops before rolling through a stop sign. In some cases, drivers’ views of the road are obstructed making it difficult to gauge whether it is safe to the driver or not.