Dangerous Roads newsletter: Why distracted driving crashes are rarely 'accidents'

It’s one of my go-to warnings when my boys are playing rough precariously close to a glass of wine on a table.

"If and when that glass gets knocked over," I tell them, "I don’t want to hear, ‘It was an accident.’ "

It’s a lesson I should have remembered when drafting the first issue of this newsletter, and using the term "accident" interchangeably with "crash." My editor rightfully instructed me to avoid using "accident," because it implies no one was at fault.

In truth, many car crashes are not accidents. Just as someone should know better than to wrestle near the dinner table, they should also know better than to send that email, unwrap that burrito or reach for that bottle of water while driving.

Karen Torres knows too well the consequences of that last one. The Miller Place woman recently shared the story of her father, Patrick Mapleson, a highway maintenance worker who was killed in 2006 by a cement truck driver whose water bottle "slipped out of his hands."

"When he reached down to pick it up, not only did he take his eyes off the road, but he pulled the steering wheel down with him," Torres said at a recent event marking Distracted Driving Awareness Month at Mount Sinai High School.

Mapleson died "a horrific, horrific death," his daughter said — his body being swallowed into the truck’s wheel well and ejected out the back.

Torres noted that the driver who killed her dad was a former New York City firefighter who "spent his entire career saving lives."

Her message was simple, and one that Long Island’s youngest motorists in particular needed to hear: It’s not only the drunken drivers or the drag racers who put lives in danger. It is also the teen trying to respond to her mom’s text message while trying to keep an eye on the road.

The New York State Department of Health, citing University at Albany research, points out that distracted driving was a contributing factor in one out of every 10 fatal crashes in New York in 2021. While some technologies such as anti-lock brakes and air bags are widely credited with reducing auto fatalities since the 1970s, others — especially in the form of smartphones — have contributed to the rise in car deaths over the last decade, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which blames distracted driving for 3,275 deaths nationally in 2023.

Like the man who killed Torres’ dad, the drivers in many of those crashes likely faced minimal, if any, legal consequences for their momentary lapses in attention. But that’s not to say they got off scot-free.

"Trust me, you don’t ever want to live with the fact that you killed someone over a crash that is 100% preventable," Torres said.

How do you avoid distractions while driving? Do you turn your phone off? Stick it in the glove compartment? Share your suggestions, and stories, with us at roads@newsday.com.

Behind the stories: Mapping out a solution

Last week, I told you about Newsday’s interactive map tracking car crashes on Long Island since 2022. I asked Newsday data solutions journalist Karthika Namboothiri about what went into putting the map together and what she hopes will come of it. Here are some of her insights:

The idea to map every crash on Long Island originated last summer after a series of car crashes over a weekend dominated Newsday’s homepage. I wondered if there were patterns to be seen in where crashes happened — are there exit ramps that merge too abruptly, or intersections that are dangerous for pedestrians? To identify these hot spots, mapping the data was essential. I figured other people in the community might have these questions too.

Over the next several months, Newsday data journalist Arielle Martinez and I made record requests with the New York State Department of Transportation (and other sources) to obtain years of data on every recorded crash on Long Island roads. I built the map to go back three years, and with Newsday’s team of editors and developers, the design of the map went through several iterations to bring the most user-friendly version to Newsday’s readers. The published version allows users to type in a Long Island neighborhood and choose a year between 2022 and 2024. Individual incidents are color coded to indicate if there were injuries or fatalities involved, and are accompanied by information on when the collision happened.

The flood of responses we’ve received from readers sharing their experiences and offering valuable suggestions on how to improve their streets has been rewarding. What started as a plan for a simple data visualization expanded to become a collective effort by residents and other stakeholders to address how we can make our roads safer.

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.