Over the past decade, Long Island’s dangerous roads have taken a steep toll — through crashes, injuries and deaths. Between 2014 and 2023, more than 2,100 people were killed and 16,000 seriously injured, according to a Newsday analysis. But beyond the personal devastation, there’s a staggering financial cost.

This burden includes everything from car repairs and replacements, to hospital and health care expenses to legal and administrative fees, lost time and wages, and bills insurance companies won’t cover, according to personal injury attorneys, accident survivors and researchers interviewed by Newsday.

The cost of car crashes can be devastating for victims and their families — but it doesn’t stop there. Communities also bear the cost. In 2023, crashes on Long Island generated at least $3.4 billion in losses, according to Ted Miller, a leading researcher in crash economics and principal research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, which is based in Beltsville, Maryland.

For Newsday’s Dangerous Roads series, Miller calculated Long Island’s crash-related costs based on fatalities, injury severity and vehicle damage. He adjusted for the region’s per capita income and New York’s cost of living. His estimates are conservative, drawn from publicly available data.

Rising costs of car ownership — especially insurance and repairs — have compounded the economic toll of crashes, experts said. High insurance rates are a key factor in the growing number of uninsured drivers in New York State, leaving crash victims financially exposed.

The greatest financial costs of crashes are those resulting in death. Each fatality typically costs society around $1.6 million, largely due to loss in work, household productivity and legal costs, according to Miller’s research for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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A push to establish a park district in East Quogue is being led by a hamlet resident and community organizations with a desire to help beautify Main Street and have more local control of the hamlet’s green spaces. Dan Stark reports on 27east.com that the initiative is being led by East Quogue resident Christian Connolly, along with the support of the East Quogue Civic Association, Beautification Committee, Civic Advisory Committee and Historical Society.

The main goal of the park district would be to rejuvenate the hamlet’s Main Street by having more consistent maintenance. Currently, the Southampton Town Parks and Recreation department is responsible for maintaining the Village Green, the plantings on Main Street and the hamlet’s other green spaces, though Connolly argues that their maintenance has fallen short, with the rest of the work falling to volunteers. In 2017 Southampton Town officials agreed to fund improvements for Main Street in East Quogue.

“Parks and Rec does a great job, but they’re spread thin,” he said. “They’ve got to open up the beach this time of year, they can’t pay attention to detail like we believe our parks group can do.”

The park district would be classified as a special improvement district, which would be supported by taxpayers who live within the district’s boundaries. Taxpayers would pay a yearly amount based on how much their property is assessed at. Based on a budget of $75,000, which is the amount Connolly is seeking, a property assessed at $500,000 would pay $16.30, a $750,000 property would pay $24.45 and a million dollar property would pay $32.60.

To form the district, the Southampton Town Board would hold public hearings to determine if it’s in the public’s best interest to approve the district. From there, the board would need to adopt a resolution that would include a map with the boundaries of the district, estimates of the cost of improvements and how these will be financed.

If a majority of voters within the East Quogue district boundaries vote against establishing the district, despite the decision of the Town Board, the district would not be formed.

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The Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton announces that the main library building will RE-OPEN to the public today!

You are invited to check out all the exciting changes at the Library (and maybe some books too, while you're at it). Plus a tech class, some earth friendly fun, the book shop sale and more.

The Rogers Memorial Library’s first home, a Victorian Gothic building on the corner of Job’s Lane and Main Street, was built in 1895, and opened to the public in March 1896.

100 years after the creation of the original Rogers Memorial Library - on November 3, 2000, the New Rogers Memorial Library opened at its current location, 91 Coopers Farm Road in Southampton Village.

In celebration of its silver anniversary the “new” R.M.L. is completing a major restoration.

Nowadays, the main library and Cooper Hall encompass 26,500 square feet, serve from 12,000 to 40,000 people year-round and its grand re-opening is today!

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The Montauk School District must start again after voters last week shot down a plan for the district to take out a $38 million bond to fund school renovations. Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that the plan came about after school facilities received an “unsatisfactory” grade by New York State officials. If approved, the measure would have seen a new gymnasium, a new science classroom and designated spaces for elementary and middle school students, among other improvements. The gymnasium had the highest price tag at $12 million. In all, the planning process took about two years. However, in a vote on May 20 — which drew record turnout — Montauk voters rejected the measure, 361-318. Voters also shot down — in a vote of 342-334 — a proposition for $2.9 million for a new HVAC system, among other capital projects. Additionally, the Montauk district budget passed by a narrower margin than the surrounding districts, with the $24 million budget drawing a vote of 403-280. In the wake of the vote, the Montauk School Board of Education held a workshop for next steps and reevaluation.

Separately, on Friday, May 23, Montauk Superintendent Joshua Odom spoke out about the rejection to The Press Newspaper Group. In the future, the district will likely pursue another bond for renovations, “the size of which is yet to be determined,” Odom said. It’s up to the Montauk School Board to determine what projects will move forward and “what will be cut,” Odom said. Many parts of the project will need to be “reimagined” to move forward. As for whether the gymnasium will be included in future renovation plans, Odom said “that is the $12 million question.” “Our gym right now has a lot of character,” he said. “I love that space. Actually, it’s a gym-a-torium. It’s our gym, it’s our stage, it’s our performing arts center. It’s very much the community hub of our school. It is small. The ceilings are low. It’s not appropriate for all middle school sports. As it stands, Montauk School students eat in their classrooms. Constructing a new gym would have allowed students to eat in the old gym, he said.

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Every seven minutes on average, a crash causes death, injury, or significant damage on Long Island. As reported in NEWSDAY, a leading researcher places the tangible costs of medical care, work loss, property damage and more due to crashes on Long Island in 2023 at $3.4 billion. A national study measured the lifetime societal cost per crash fatality at $1.6 million. Personal injury attorney Michael Mosscrop of Franklin, Gringer & Cohen in Garden City said many Long Islanders also carry too little insurance coverage.

New York requires $50,000 in no-fault coverage and $25,000 in liability coverage. But many drivers do not raise those minimums. In serious crashes, that often leaves victims with no financial recourse beyond immediate medical costs — especially when the at-fault driver lacks additional coverage or assets.

But car crashes on Long Island don’t just affect the people involved in a wreck.

Ted Miller, the principal research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, found “society at-large absorbs” three-quarters of economic impact from the crashes — from taxes used to pay for emergency responses and rebuild roads to insurance premiums paid for by policyholders in the region, whose rates might go up even if they don’t get into crashes.

That's why Miller argues that residents should be concerned about the fiscal stakes around road safety even if they haven't crashed or lost someone.

“Because you’re paying for it,” Miller said. “It’s coming out of your pocket and you should care about that.”

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The Wainscott Heritage Project will hold several events designed to engage the community, preserve local history and celebrate the cultural character of Wainscott.

The first is this coming Sunday, June 1, at 4 p.m. titled “Historic Preservation Myth Busting.” It’s at LTV Studios. Tara Cubie, preservation director at Preservation Long Island will offer an informative look at the realities of preservation.

Sunday’s event is free and open to the public, with light refreshments and a Q&A to follow.

Reservations are encouraged.

That’s this Sunday at 4 p.m. in the LTV Studios in Wainscott.

For more information and reservations visit ltveh.org/preservationmythbusting

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The Quogue Wildlife Refuge holds a special place in the heart of so many East Enders who have taken their children there to see the birds that seek refuge on the Old Ice Pond or to quietly walk or snowshoe through the seven miles of trails into the heart of the Dwarf Pine Plains, or to practice yoga or hear nature presentations in the Charles Banks Belt Nature Center overlooking the pond. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that this year, the Wildlife Refuge is embarking on a campaign to renovate and expand the Nature Center, which is now crammed with work spaces for its growing staff, for care of animals, a gift shop and a large, wood-paneled community gathering space that juts over the pond, where visitors feel like they’ve traveled not just to the center of an ecosystem, but also back in time.

The Nature Center was built in 1970. Aside from a 1979 update adding handicapped-access bathrooms, a kitchen and a classroom, little about the building has changed since the 1970s, as the Refuge’s staff has burgeoned to nine full-time, year-round people.

Refuge’s Assistant Director, Marisa Nelson said the refuge hopes to “honor the history and maintain the coziness” of the first floor gathering space. “It has the most beautiful view, and feels like a lodge, with a stone fireplace and the great views of the Old Ice Pond. This room will structurally stay the same, but we will be taking down the 1970s paneling and updating it.”

The building is expected to be (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) LEED-certified.

Anyone can visit the Quogue Wildlife Refuge, which is open 365 days a year, free of charge, and it receives about 150,000 visitors each year.

The Quogue Wildlife Refuge has already raised or received pledges for more than $2.8 million toward the $3.5 million renovation, and is expecting to soon receive bids from local contractors, with the hopes of beginning construction this fall and finishing by the summer of 2026.

For more information, visit quoguewildliferefuge.org.