Long Island Has New York's Deadliest Roads: Federal Data

LONG ISLAND, NY — A new report has identified the deadliest roads on Long Island, and county-spanning highways top the list.

Traffic data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, analyzed by Newsday, showed that Route 25, known as Jericho Turnpike and Middle Country Road, had 62 deaths from 2016 through 2020, the latest years for which data is available. Route 27, known as Sunrise Highway and Montauk Highway, followed right behind with 61 deaths.

The fatalities include both drivers and passengers in cars, as well as motorcyclists, pedestrians and bicyclists.

In total, the NHTSA data shows that there were 934 fatalities on Long Island roads from 2016 to 2020. The majority (578 of them) occurred on Suffolk County roads.

Nassau and Suffolk are two of the deadliest counties for traffic fatalities in the state, according to the NHTSA data. From 2016-2020, Suffolk had the most traffic fatalities of any county in the state. Nassau was second from 2016-2019, and third in 2020. About 18.5 percent of all New York's traffic fatalities in 2020 happened on Long Island.

Although Long Island has the most dangerous roads in the state, New York is one of the safest places to drive. The federal data shows that in 2020, New York had 1,046 road fatalities. That put the fatality rate at 5.41 per 100,000 drivers — the second-lowest of any state in the country.

Massachusetts was the lowest at 4.98.