Distracted driving and speeding are the top two reasons for on-campus accidents, according to Public Safety officials.
In the first week of October alone, four accidents occurred on Suffolk County Community College Amerman campus.
On Oct. 1 at around 11 a.m. or 12 p.m., a student hit a light post, causing it to fall. Later that day, an accident was reported at 2:50 p.m. in the Islip Arts parking lot 3C. Just 38 minutes later at 3:28 p.m. two female students went into a ditch by lot 3A and 3B, according to Public Safety.
Then on Oct. 3 at around 10:45 a.m. a student accidentally left their car in gear when they left it to attend class. The car rolled backward and sideswiped another student’s car when fortunately, it was stopped by a tree before entering the main road.
No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.
“Out of all possibilities, that’s the lottery,” said Suffolk’s director of Public Safety Baycan Fideli.
Public safety officials say that, by and large, distracted driving — with students paying attention to their phones while driving — and speeding, are the main factors for campus crashes. Some cars have been clocked driving up to 60 mph on campus (the speed limit is 15 mph).
“One factor is speed. The second factor is students rushing in between class times to either leave or get on campus. And the third factor is distracted driver[s],” Fideli said.
Public Safety officers have shut down campus to test whether their own cars could handle the turns at high speeds.
“One of our directors had a Mazda Miata, he said he can’t pull it; he can’t pull it because it’s too tight,” said Fideli, referring to a turn on campus.
If students are reaching these speeds, they have to illegally pass the double yellow line to get safely around turns putting other drivers at risk, he said.
All roads have a certain speed, known as an “acceptable driving speed,” Fideli said.
The accepted travel speed off campus would be between 60 and 65 miles per hour, “maybe 68.” He said this is established by the culture of the road.
Since the speed limit on campus is 15 mph the acceptable travel speed is between 20 mph and 25 mph, Fideli said, but it’s difficult for officers to find where to enforce these limits. The speed is like this for a reason, our campus is full of winding roads, clearly not a highway or backroad.
“Be mindful. We want to be considerate, and sometimes it takes a reminder,” said Public Safety officer Jordan Caccavalla.
Public Safety officers “love to enforce” the hill by the water tower “because it freaks me out that I watch those people come speeding down the hill,” Fideli said.
The speed limit will more likely be enforced in areas that seem to cause significant danger, putting enforcement where it matters.
One such area is a place by Parking Lot 5 Public Safety offers call “Big Curve.”
“Officers can write a book on the number of cars that have rolled over the curb,” Fideli said, adding that students tend to blame the curb rather than their speed.
You can usually tell when there is traffic on our campus due to the speed of cars. When there is less traffic, drivers go faster, and when there is more traffic, motorists are almost forced to slow down.
Officer Philip Sandusky said pedestrians are also often distracted, constantly walking through parking lots or street intersections with their noses to their phones.
Kenny Dean was walking through Islip parking lot 3C on Oct. 14 at around 9:20 a.m. looking at his phone to adjust his music, but said he has distractions under control.
“I’m aware of my surroundings at all times. I used to be a police officer my head is always on a swivel I think three steps ahead, so I know what’s there, and I know what cars were coming across,” Dean said.
Dean’s perspective is similar to many students on campus, Sandusky said.
“They’re counting on somebody else to protect them. You should always protect yourself.”
