Use caution driving through these Long Island areas this holiday season
Plenty of cars will be hitting the roads across Long Island this holiday season and, as always, drivers will want to use caution when driving through Nassau and Suffolk counties. According to the most recent data released by New York State, between Nov. 24 and Dec. 31, 2016, nearly 6,400 crashes occurred across Long Island, with the most frequent locations being the towns of Hempstead, Brookhaven, Islip, Oyster Bay and Huntington.
The amount of crashes in each county was almost even, with 3,281 happening in Nassau and 3,114 in Suffolk. Town of Hempstead led the way of all Long Island towns, with over 1,300 crashes accounted for.
Many people can be expected to be out shopping around the holidays, which likely causes a buildup of traffic near shopping malls. Each of the top five crash locations are located near shopping centers, with those being Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, South Shore mall in Bay Shore, Smith Haven mall in Lake Grove, Broadway mall in Hicksville and Walt Whitman mall in Huntington Station.
The most frequent types of car crashes on Long Island include: overtaking, right angle crashes, sideswiping and, the most common one, rear ending. Over 1,200 rear ending crashes were accounted for during the 2016 holiday season, with more than one third of those being reported in the Town of Hempstead.