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Accidents Down Again on Mid-Hudson Bridges
For the second straight year, accidents on the five Mid- Hudson bridges have dropped. Overall, your chance of being in an accident on one of these bridges has decreased to one in every 385,000 crossings.
According to the NYS Bridge Authority, there were 153 accidents in 2007 on all five spans, a drop from 171 in 2006. In 2005, there were 220 accidents on Authority bridges.
"We're very pleased with these results," Authority Chairman James Sproat said. "We have an aggressive accident prevention program, have invested in improvements to our messaging and signs for motorists and will continue to pursue all reasonable avenues to further reduce accidents."
Citing the Mid-Hudson Bridge as an example, Sproat noted that about half the accidents there are minor fenderbenders resulting from driver inattention and "about a third of all accidents on the Mid- Hudson occur during rush hours in the morning and evening. We will continue to find way to further improve and refine these efforts but also ask drivers to please use extra caution during these busy times."
The largest reductions in accidents were at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge which saw a drop from 73 accidents in 2006 to 56 in 2007; and the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge which saw a drop from 18 accidents in 2006 to 10 in 2007.
Accidents were up slightly at the Bear Mountain Bridge, from 11 to 15; the Mid-Hudson Bridge, from 61 to 63; and the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, from 8 to 9. These minor increases were attributed to random incidents.
The NYS Bridge Authority operates the Bear Mountain, Newburgh-Beacon, Mid- Hudson, Kingston-Rhinecliff and Rip Van Winkle bridges. The Authority is funded from bridge tolls and receives no tax monies for bridge maintenance and operation.
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