Traffic deaths, college students voting, Biden cartoons

TV commercials don’t help LI drivers

I live on a high-traffic-volume residential corner that is supposedly regulated by four stop signs [“ ‘It’s a crisis’: Surge in LI traffic deaths,” News, Oct. 15]. Sitting on my front deck, I observe maybe five drivers out of 100 actually stop at the signs to take notice of their surroundings and oncoming traffic.

About 15 of 100 speed through the intersection, apparently oblivious to everything around them, including the stop signs, pedestrians, baby strollers, cyclists and surrounding residents.

Maureen McCormick, special litigation assistant for the Suffolk County district attorney, said, “It is abundantly clear that something in the collective psyche has disintegrated in terms of careful driving.” The list of “aggressive driving infractions, defined by the Albany Institute” is, in my opinion, missing an important factor.

TV commercials routinely show cars being driven along beaches, up mountains and along empty roads at high rates of speed while drivers enjoy the scenery and tune radios. These fantasy scenes in no way resemble the speeding, careless driver actions, high-traffic volume and marijuana-filled air on the Long Island Expressway. With “flying cars” possibly arriving in the near future, my choice for a vehicle will be an APC — an armored personnel carrier.

— John Condon, Huntington Station

Here are additional reasons for traffic accidents on Long Island:

Those who drive 45 miles per hour in highways’ left lane, refusing to budge.

Tow truck drivers who leave accident debris on the road. Law requires they remove all the debris. The police should return an hour later, take pictures and fine tow truck owners if debris is left.

Drivers who have minor fender benders sometimes take up two lanes, not moving to the shoulder. At least the state is attempting to alleviate that problem by putting warnings on electronic overhead signs, advising drivers to move vehicles off the road if they have a minor accident with no injuries.

Finally, rubbernecking that occurs when amateur accident investigators find it necessary to slow down to a crawl at the site of an incident on either side of the highway.

— Terry McPherson, Bellmore

More enforcement is needed to curb reckless driving. On the Long Island Expressway, I am constantly tailgated, usually by oversized pickup trucks and other vehicles traveling at high rates of speed weaving in and out of traffic.

I would also think the high salaries in both the Nassau and Suffolk police departments should be motivation enough.

— Bob Horsham, Ridge

Students shouldn’t cast out-of-area votes

I am all for college students who are living away from their hometowns exercising their right to vote on federal and statewide elections [“Expanding polling sites on campus,” News, Oct. 8]. However, they should not be able to vote in local elections (town & county) as pointed out by State Senate Republican leader Rob Ortt (R-North Tonawanda), unless they are full-time residents.

The thousands of students who attend Hofstra University, Stony Brook University, Farmingdale State College, etc. from other parts of New York or even other states, many of whom live on campus only nine months a year and don’t pay property taxes, should not have an influence on who’s elected as that area’s next town supervisor or county legislator.

With no financial skin in the game, those students can influence a local race, affecting full-time, property tax-paying residents’ local budget, taxes and other financial decisions for years to come. Many voting students are juniors and seniors and will not even be around to see candidates finish their terms and what financial decisions or policy-making impact their candidates had on that specific community.

— John Roche, South Setauket

Biden cartoons don’t paint the full picture

Political cartoons sometimes fall short of providing the full picture. Gary Varvel’s Oct. 7 cartoon and Adam Zyglis’ Oct. 14 cartoon, both in Cartoon Roundups [Opinion], depict President Joe Biden apparently flip-flopping on his policy to not build a wall at the southern border.

What the reader doesn’t get from either cartoon is that Congress appropriated the funds in 2019 during former President Donald Trump’s administration, and Biden has been trying to get Congress to reappropriate the funds to other projects since he took office. Congress hasn’t acted. And so he will use the funds to continue 20 miles of wall, even though he said he didn’t think it would be effective when he announced the project.

Criticizing actions without the full picture helps fuel the divide in this country.

— Phil Cicciari, Port Washington