Joseph’s Church in Babylon just after sunset in January 2023.
The 78-year-old grandmother of nine crossed Great East Neck Road on a stretch without a crosswalk, which her son said is poorly lit and plagued by speeding cars.
O’Hara was “just overall, a really good lady,” her son James told Newsday.
O’Hara was one of 155 people who died in traffic crashes in Suffolk County in 2023 — more than five times the number ofpeople murderedthat year.
The Toyota driver, a 27-year-old woman, was not injured and was not charged, police said.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUNDSuffolk’s traffic fatality rate— 10. 2 deaths per 100,000 population in 2023 — was the highest among New York’s 20 most populous counties and nearly double the statewide rate.
Nassau’s rate was 4. 8, slightly lower than the statewide rate.
About 41% of the 695 traffic fatalitiesin Suffolk from 2019 to 2023 involved “substance-related” drivers — more than statewide, where the figure was about 31%, and in Nassau, where it was nearly 35%, according to official data.
Law enforcement issued ticketsto roughly 1 driver for every 100,000 vehicle-miles traveled in Suffolk County in 2023, compared with about 1. 5 statewide.
That’s the fourth-lowest rate among the 20 most populous New York counties and lower than Nassau, where the figure was 1. 5.
Experts say that improving roadway designsfor pedestrians and cyclists and reducing impaired driving could reduce the number of deaths.
Suffolk has led the state in total traffic deaths for at least a decade, according todata releasedthis fall from the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research (ITSMR) in Albany.
It’s also New York’s deadliest large county when it comes to the traffic fatality rate by population size, a Newsday analysis has found.
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Suffolk’s rate — 10. 2 deaths per 100,000 population — was nearly four times New York City’s and nearly double the statewide rate in 2023.
Over the decade ending in 2023, Suffolk’s average annual traffic fatality rate, 9. 2, was the highest among New York’s 20 most populous counties, according to the data.
The 25 counties that had higher traffic fatality rates than Suffolk in 2023 are predominantly rural, with a combined population roughly equal to Suffolk’s 1. 52 million residents.
Nassau’s traffic fatality rate was slightly lower than the statewide rate and about half Suffolk’s in 2023, the latest year for which complete data was available.
That Suffolk County’s residents drive a lot explains only a part of its high fatality rate, according to traffic experts, safety advocates and an analysis of state data.
Road design plays a role, and Suffolk also has a large share of fatal crashes that are alcohol- and drug-related.
Meanwhile, traffic enforcement is relatively low, with one of the lowest rates of drivers ticketed among the major counties, even though ticketing last year climbed back to pre-pandemic levels,Newsday’s analysis shows.
Nassau’s share of fatal crashes that are alcohol- and drug-related is also greater than the state share, but its ticketing rate is close to the state’s rate.
In total, there were 143 fatal crashes in Suffolk in 2023 — down from 152 in 2022, but still higher than any year from 2016 to 2021.
In Nassau, which has 1. 38 million people, 67 people died in 61 crashes in 2023 — the lowest numbers in any year since 2018. 🔗 Read Full Article
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