New York Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
In the last decade, the stretch of the New York State Thruway between exits 15 A and 16, a section of roadway approximately 13 miles in length, has claimed the lives of 25 people, the last three in March of this year. The irony is that the thruway in this area between Sloatsburg and Harriman, New York, which this writer travels regularly, is a pleasant, mostly straight and altogether unremarkable section of highway, looking every bit the prototypical interstate designed to take drivers quickly and safely from city to city.
After considerable analysis, state troopers and transportation officials cannot seem to find anything wrong with the roadway. “They are basically flukes,” said Sgt. James A. Whittel of the New York State Police, referring to the long string of deadly crashes. “It’s usually that the driver did something bizarre that causes the accident.”
In a March 17, 2006 automobile accident, on March 17, 2006, the driver of a minivan stopped in the middle of the right traffic lane to check a tire. A tractor-trailer slammed into the van, killing four people, including three children. It was the third of four crashes between Feb. 7, 2006, and June 18, 2006, that killed 10 people.