Long Island Community Pleads For Lower Speed Limit On Accident-Plagued Road
ELMONT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – There are growing concerns over dangerous streets in a Nassau County neighborhood.
Residents want the speed reduced after several people have been injured in accidents.
Sid Garcon says it's been a nightmare seeing his daughter Sidney struggle to battle back from the critical injuries she suffered in a multi-vehicle crash on Dutch Broadway in Elmont on Halloween.
MORE: 4 Teens Injured In 4-Vehicle Crash On Long Island
"I don't want any other parent to go through what I've been through," Garcon said.
The girl was struck along with three other high school students.
"Her face was shattered… she had a lot of cranial fractures."
Garcon was with a group of neighbors and politicians warning others about the stretch of Dutch Broadway that's been plagued by wrecks, injuries, and fatalities.
They want a 20 mile-per-hour speed limit for the entire stretch, instead of the current 30 mile-per-hour limit. Residents say speeders are being clocked at twice that speed.
This gathering was in front of Ferida Khan's home, which was slammed into by a speeding car.
"Hit the stoop and damaged the railway," Khan said.
Luckily, no one was hurt in the wreck.
"This is a neighborhood, not a race track," Fatima Khan added.
The change would require both town and state approval. A speed limit change proposal along the stretch has been tried and failed before.
In the past, 20 miles-per-hour was seen as too slow for some commuters. Many drivers cut through the area on their way to the Southern State and other highways.
The crashes however, have become catalysts for change and are getting more lawmakers to come on board. This time, the measure is reportedly in good shape to pass.
"When you know you might get a ticket for some people to slow down," Hempstead town supervisor Laura Gillen.
"I know 30 miles an hour seems like it's slow enough… The injuries that people sustain are life-threatening. Some people don't walk, wake up, and I was nearly one of them," crash survivor Gabrielle White said.
White was 16 when she was a passenger in a car that was struck by another on Dutch Broadway.
Hempstead's town board is expected to take up the issue at a meeting on Tuesday.
