Brookhaven, aiming to reduce crashes, turns to residents for help

When Michael Frangipane drives at night on Old Stump Road near his home in Brookhaven hamlet, he can barely see what might be lurking in the dark up ahead.

It could be an oncoming vehicle, or it could be a deer. Either way, he said, it feels unsafe.

“Old Stump Road is 100% pitch black," Frangipane said in a telephone interview. “That’s pretty dangerous, especially when you have a big deer population. … There’s no lights on a lot of the side streets.”

Frangipane is planning to share his concerns about local roads on a website set up by Brookhaven Town officials as part of a Vision Zero initiative aimed at reducing traffic crashes and fatalities.

An increase in fatal crashes in Brookhaven in recent years prompted the town to announce the program last summer, using a $380,000 Federal Highway Administration grant, Newsday previously reported. Brookhaven hopes to reduce fatal crashes and serious injuries to zero by 2045.

Where to provide input

Town officials are asking residents to visit the website brookhavenvisionzero.com and use an interactive map to identify town roads with safety problems. Residents also can use the map to cite examples of good roads and offer suggestions for safety improvements, Brookhaven officials said.

As of Tuesday, at least three dozen town roads and intersections from Stony Brook to East Moriches had been marked on the map as safety concerns; users had contributed safety suggestions for another two dozen. 

"There's one thing we know and that's Long Island roads are very dangerous," Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro said in an interview Monday at his Coram office.

Brookhaven's initiative comes amid renewed attention to traffic safety across Long Island.

A Newsday investigation found that traffic crashes killed more than 2,100 people on Long Island over the decade ending in 2023, according to official data compiled by the Albany-based Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research.

Traffic fatalities in Brookhaven jumped 33%, from 42 in 2019 to 56 in 2023, the institute website shows. Data for 2024 and 2025 were incomplete. 

Losquadro said results from the Vision Zero survey will be included when Brookhaven seeks to tap into about $2 billion in available funds from the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program, part of former President Joe Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The program has doled out about $2.9 billion to more than 1,600 communities across the country over the past three years, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation website.

Where funding can help

Federal funding could help pay for safety measures such as new signs and traffic signals, Losquadro said. The town also may consider "traffic-calming" measures such narrowing lanes from 12 feet to 10 feet and lining roads with trees, he said.

"There's a whole slew of potential things you can do, but they'll be tailored" for each road or intersection, he said.  

The deadline for residents to submit input to the Vision Zero website is May 16. Town officials have a June 26 deadline for submitting data to the FHA as part of its funding application, Losquadro said.

Richard Murdocco, an adjunct professor of planning at Stony Brook University, said Vision Zero programs across the country have had mixed results. A report released last year by Manhattan nonprofit Transportation Alternatives found New York City had 259 traffic fatalities in 2023 — the same number as in 2014 when the city's program began. 

But Murdocco said local roads must be updated to account for increasing numbers of pedestrians and bicyclists coming into harm's way.

"I think it’s ambitious of Brookhaven. But I think it reflects a growing realization that the suburbs are no longer just for cars,” he said. “Governments are trying to do something. It’s better than just sitting there.”

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.