PEEKSKILL, N.Y. If asked to name the most accident-filled roads in Peekskill, many residents would likely name Main Street and they'd be correct. But not all highly trafficked roads are filled with crashes.
Main Street is far and away the street with the most accidents, Peekskill police spokesman Lt. Eric Johansen said. Over the past 12 months, 161 accidents have been recorded there.
No particular intersection came to mind as being the most dangerous, Johansen said.
"I find that with the intersections that people perceive to be tough, they exercise caution," he said. "It's the ones that they travel every day and become complacent with where accidents happen."
Other major roads in the city saw far fewer accidents, according to Johansen.
South Street had 18 crashes in the last year: seven personal injury accidents and 11 property damage accidents in which the vehicle involved hit another vehicle, a telephone pole or other property. Three of those crashes were near the Hudson Avenue intersection.
The portion of Crompond Road in Peekskill was the scene of 39 accidents in the last year: eight personal injury and 31 property damage.
Another busy main city road, Washington Street, was the scene of 67 recorded accidents in the last 12 months: 61 property damage and six personal injury.
Elm Street, even though it gets plenty of pedestrian use from residents headed to and from Peekskill High School and Depew Park, had relatively few accidents: Seven personal damage accidents and one personal injury.
The Bear Mountain Parkway Extension, which has been the source of many safety complaints in recent years, was the location of 45 accidents on the stretch of road in Peekskill. Of those, 13 of which were personal injury and 32 were property damage.
For the most serious accidents in Peekskill last year, three led to fatalities. The most recent was an accident on Main Street that involved a city sanitation worker who fell from a garbage truck and sustained a fatal head injury.
The best way to avoid ending up as an accident statistic is to obey traffic laws and slow down, Johansen said.
"People tend to have a feeling that they are the most important thing on the road and that their time is more valuable than others," Johansen said. "Forget about the monetary consequences, the injuries that can be sustained can have disastrous consequences."
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