Failure to post pedestrian crosswalk signs in MPK could result in serious injury and liability for the Village

Dear Editor:

For the past five and one half years, the Village of Massapequa Park has been dragging its feet in perfecting the pedestrian crosswalks at the intersection of Park Boulevard and Taylor Avenue and Park Boulevard and Jackson Avenue, so that the pedestrians of our Village can be protected while crossing these areas from oncoming motorists.

First, there are no over-hanging permanent metal signs advising the motorists in advance of the upcoming pedestrian crossing lanes in the same manner that exists on Merrick Avenue in Merrick which over-hanging signs have proven to be effective and should be installed in our Village.

Sometime last year the Village constructed the area in red brick with the intent that motorists would see this area and be advised that pedestrians were crossing in these crosswalks. As the Massapequa Post stated in their newspaper editorial last week, what good are red bricked crosswalks at night when it is not illuminated and cannot be seen by oncoming motorists? This area should be illuminated to protect our residents while crossing in these crosswalks.

Many parents use these crosswalks when crossing the street with small children and if the Village does not rectify the situation, it is inevitable that someone will become seriously injured or die. If this happens, the Village of Massapequa Park could be subject to a substantial liability as a result of their inaction to post sufficient visible warning signs of the upcoming pedestrian crosswalks and in failing to illuminate the said areas.

For more than three weeks, the pedestrian crossing sign in front of my office onPark Boulevard and Taylor Avenue has been missing. I was informed by a Village official that an automobile damaged the sign. My sources told me that some youngsters dismantled and confiscated the sign. There now exists no sign of any kind whatsoever in the area and pedestrians are crossing these areas believing that motorists will stop for them when in fact they do not have any warning that this is a pedestrian crosswalk. One would think that the Village would keep one or two signs in reserve for such a contingency rather than placing an order and having to wait weeks or months to get a new one while the health, safety and welfare of our residents are being put in jeopardy.

I wrote a letter to the Massapequa Post more than five years ago, in January 2002, stating that the Village of Massapequa Park should make sure that these signs are there at all times, including weekends, to protect the pedestrians onPark Boulevard in the said designated areas. The failure of the Village to place them in these areas is, in my opinion, negligence on their part, since it can and probably will, result in a pedestrian accident or death to a pedestrian, or pedestrians, in the future.

The Village should wake up and act promptly in securing the pedestrian crosswalks for the protection of our residents and in posting permanent over-hanging signs informing the motorists in advance of the pedestrian crosswalks and it should not take years to secure these areas in a proper and manner.

Robert M. Leff, Attorney Massapequa Park Village

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