59 Crashes In March: Ossining Police

OSSINING, NY — The first step toward tackling a problem is to learn what it's about. So the Ossining police department not only totaled up the number of car crashes in town in March, they began digging into the data.

Among the things they found out: most of the crashes are happening around 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. Draw your own conclusions, but Patch thinks rush hour and school opening and closing might be factors in the timing.

Want to blame the younger generation, or, conversely, the geezer generation? According to the stats, most of the drivers involved in those March crashes were over 19 and under 65.

Another thing: you'll see from the map below that there were a couple of crashes on Main Street. But it's not what you might think. Police said they've done a few studies since Spring Street became two-way, and it does not appear to have increased the number of crashes there. "Many of the accidents on Main Street are due to people backing out of angled parking into traffic," police said.

They picked out three areas to concentrate on right away.

First, that section of South Highland Avenue between Broad and Croton. You know that section - between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. it takes 45 minutes to get from the Arcadian to the Atria.

Second, the intersection of Croton Avenue and Route 134. What is it about the angle and the incline?

Third: crosswalks. As in, both crosswalks that aren't honored by drivers, and crosswalks that aren't used by jaywalkers who prefer standing in the middle of traffic on the yellow line.

The department is coming up with plans for patrols, so be alert. Actually, be alert anyway, because distracted driving is Cause #1.

PS — The department's Facebook page is so close to 10,000 Likes! Go smash that button.