A Matter of Safety

In an age when a growing percentage of the motor vehicles on the road have safety features that were once only in the realm of science fiction, including automatic braking systems and lane assist, it is shocking that pedestrian traffic deaths in the United States have “skyrocketed” since 2009, as a New York Times investigation recently reported.

Just in the past two weeks on the South Fork, an 89-year-old woman was struck and killed crossing Ponquogue Avenue in Hampton Bays, a 48-year-old man was killed in the westbound lane of County Road 39 in Southampton, and a 54-year-old man riding a skateboard was killed in the intersection of Middle Line Highway and Fourteen Hills Court in Noyac.

In each of these three tragedies, police do not allege any criminality on the part of the motorists. And these three deaths, happening in such a short span, do not necessarily indicate a statistical rise in pedestrian fatalities on the South Fork, but they are a good reason to pause and consider what we could all be doing differently to make our roads safer.

The New York Times points to a number of factors that have correlated with the rise in deaths, including the introduction of smartphones, which distract drivers and pedestrians alike. Switching to hands-free devices and Bluetooth — or, better yet, putting phones on “do not disturb” mode while driving — is the low-hanging fruit in reversing this trend and something we can all commit to.

Among the solutions that are more difficult to achieve but wholly necessary is improving pedestrian crossings. More crossings should look like the lighted, flashing crosswalk installed on Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton, which members of the community clamored for both before and after the death of Anna Pump in a crosswalk in 2015.

Secondly, sidewalks need to be added where we already know people are walking. For instance, foot traffic over more than a decade has created narrow dirt paths parallel to County Road 39. The lack of sidewalks has not deterred pedestrians from walking alongside the busy highway but has forced them to take their lives into their hands to get to work or bus stops.

The county plan for County Road 39 sidewalks on both the north and south side of the highway from Tuckahoe Road to Boathouse Road has already been delayed to 2027, with completion projected in 2029. Many would like this project to be called off completely to retain the rural character of the region — but sacrificing safety to preserve a busy highway’s questionable rural character is not a fair trade.