The Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) will increase its presence at several accident-heavy roads in the Village of Great Neck in response to a request mayor Pedram Bral made on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
“As you are aware, there have been many, too many, accidents on our peninsula,” Bral wrote in an announcement addressed to village residents. “This morning, I met with the Nassau County Police Department. As a result, there will be an increased presence here in the Village of Great Neck in many different locations.”
Bral told the Great Neck Record that additional patrol cars will be stationed at, among other areas, Hicks Lane, Baker Hill Road and Fairview Avenue, as well as in proximity to schools in the village. The mayor added in his statement that the police could only help increase road safety if village residents drive more safely in turn.
“Critical to the success of any initiative is cooperation,” Bral wrote in the statement. “So I implore you to drive slower and avoid distracted driving, which includes cell phone texting while driving. Please drive defensively and imagine your kids are in the streets.”
Bral’s announcement comes after concerns about particular dangerous roadways were brought up at consecutive village board meetings. The Oct. 22 Great Neck Village Board of Trustees meeting opened with concerns about issues with speeding cars whipping around the bend on Croyden Avenue heading toward Berkshire Road and causing accidents.
“People coming home from services are wearing vests with reflective stripes,” village resident Carl Abraham said to the board. “They know it’s dangerous, but that’s where they have to walk.”
The discussion over Croyden Avenue came just one meeting after residents raised similar safety concerns about speeding at the intersection of Hicks Lane and Forest Row.
“We’ve seen quite a lot of horrific accidents as of late at that intersection,” Bazmeh Davoudian-Liviem, who lives adjacent to the intersection, said. “As a mom, every year I go out to the bus drivers and I ask them to please pick up and drop off my children at my driveway in the back, because I’m afraid.”
Bral agreed to contact county police to see about increasing presence on the intersection. The board agreed to reach out to the county, which manages Hicks Lane, to see if it would be possible to implement additional safety measures, such as a radar speed sign.
Department of Public Works Superintendent Louis Massaro commented that safety measures would not affect driver behavior, and said nothing short of police presence could aid safety at the intersection, where all possible measures were already in place.
Since Davoudian-Liviem spoke at the Sept. 17 board meeting, there have been at least five accidents at the intersection of Hicks Lane and Forest Row, including three in one week at the end of October.
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