Dangerous Roads newsletter: Paying the price for Long Island crashes

I’ve forgotten many details of the most serious car crash I was involved in. That’s not because I sustained some serious head injury, but rather because I didn’t.

It was about 20 years ago. My wife and I were driving on Merrick Road near the Queens-Nassau border. Somehow, we were hit by another car, and I vividly remember the driver’s breath reeking of alcohol as he pleaded with me not to call the police. And I remember him taking off on foot when I did.

I know the driver was later arrested, but I don’t remember what became of him.

My recollection of the whole ordeal is hazy because, in truth, I wasn’t all that traumatized by it. My wife and I got checked out by doctors, and we were both fine. And so, thankfully, this was no tragedy for me and my family — just quite the pain in the neck, if only figuratively. And a pain for my wallet.

While I don’t remember what car I was driving, I remember the anxiety of being a newlywed with plans to buy a house, now having to figure out how we’d come up with a four-figure insurance deductible, a higher monthly premium, the LIRR and bus fare to get me to and from work while my car was in the shop, and the doctor co-pays required to get a clean bill of health.

Crashes cost Long Island $3.4B in a year

You may relate to my mundane story better than some others you’ve read in Newsday’s Dangerous Roads series. While you may not be among the 16,000 people who were seriously injured in car crashes on Long Island over the last decade, there’s a good chance you have been involved in some kind of fender bender during that time.

Like me, you probably told yourself you were lucky it was not worse. But, however serious or not, you likely paid a price — a literal one.

I've had other crashes that were even less serious, but had a serious impact on my finances. When busting up the front of my beloved 2000 Hyundai Elantra a couple years earlier, in order to avoid having to go through insurance, I drove to Willets Point, Queens, where an out-of-work auto body technician "fixed" my hood under a bridge, using a can of Bondo and some spray paint, for $300. The repair job was far from perfect, but it was all I could afford at the time. When the janky repair job led to my hood flying open on the Southern State, shattering my windshield, I had to somehow come up with a few hundred more.

The financial toll of Long Island’s dangerous roads can be far more devastating than that, as uncovered by Newsday’s business team. They recently shared the story of Nakaine Bartholin, a Deer Park woman who racked up $700,000 in medical costs not covered by insurance after her car was struck by a drunken driver in 2023. Her injuries have left Bartholin unable to earn a living, even as her medical bills continue to pile up.

"I can’t afford to pay them," Bartholin said. "And some [bill collectors] understand; some don’t."

Even Long Islanders who manage to avoid being involved in a car crash aren’t spared. A leading researcher in crash economics told Newsday that, in 2023 alone, crashes generated at least $3.4 billion in losses for Long Island. That includes costs from emergency responses, repairing roads, and rising insurance premiums — costs borne by all taxpayers and motorists, even ones with a nary a scratch on their cars.

And there are several other ways even minor car crashes can have a major impact on your pocketbook.

I’ve had a few other dings and dents over the years that have likely cost me and my family thousands more. And I’d just as soon forget those too.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.