Records indicate New York transportation officials were aware of safety concerns long before a fatal accident on a bike path next to a Long Island highway.
A motorcycle killed a 19-year-old last month on the path next to the Wantagh State Parkway. In 2002, a man and his daughter were seriously injured there by a motorcycle. The story of how a local advocate and the teen’s family have a petition urging the state to put up a guardrail was reported first in Long Island Press.
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According to reports, a Department of Transportation memorandum before the 2002 accident discussed safety concerns there for bicyclists, pedestrians and in-line skaters.
DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters says the state is considering a barrier and other options. But she says it’s impossible to “foolproof the roads against drivers who drink, speed and ignore safe-driving habits.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
