Community Corner

Patch Question: Do Synchronized Lights Contribute to Speeding?

Let us know what you think of the traffic light timing on West Beech Street.


Park Street in Atlantic Beach, the village’s main thoroughfare that eventually turns into West Beech Street in Long Beach, has actuated traffic lights that remain green and only change when a car trips a sensor.

Atlantic Beach resident Thomas Diceglio, who has worked as an inspector of traffic control for the Town of Hempstead for 13 years, said he regularly witnesses cars, buses and motorcycles traveling 60 mph without getting stopped by lights. He believes the actuated lights make his town a dangerous place to live, and even attributes a fatality in the village last year to the speeding problem.

The county installed the actuated lights in 2006, and Diceglio has petitioned to have them reverted back to the previously used timing system. But Nassau County Public Works spokesperson Mike Martino said that the county doesn’t have plans to return to the original system, although the county is in the process of “procuring equipment that will allow these lights to be controlled and monitored on the county’s traffic management system," Martino said.

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Throughout West Beech Street in the West End, the traffic lights, while not actuated, are synchronized to turn green, yellow and red simultaneously.

Do you think this timing system contributes to speeding on West Beech? Let us know in the comments.

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