Peter Gill

1 week ago | newsday.com | Peter Gill

The first time Barry Ehrmann’s grown daughter got into the back of his ‘65 Chevy Camaro, she was surprised to find there was nowhere to buckle up. "She was like, ‘Where are the seat belts?’" Ehrmann, of Nesconset, recalled on Sunday at a classic car meet in Bohemia, surrounded by dozens of gearheads milling about open-hooded hot rods, muscle cars with shiny chrome wheels, and retrofitted convertibles.

2 weeks ago | newsday.com | Alfonso Castillo |Peter Gill

Armed with reflective safety vests, tape measures and notebooks, a group of about 30 people set off from the Sons of Italy Hall in Deer Park at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, marching down the sidewalk. The early-bird attendees at the Long Island Complete Streets Summit were learning how to conduct a "walking audit" — a way for ordinary citizens to document pedestrian safety issues and bring them to the attention of officials with control over local infrastructure.

2 weeks ago | newsday.com | Peter Gill

For two years now, Yvette Benitez has spent Sunday afternoons in April in the parking lot of a Port Jefferson Station strip mall, handing out flyers and talking with anyone who will listen about the dangers of distracted driving. April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and the location is just a stone’s throw from Route 347, where her daughter, Hanahn  Benitez, was hit and killed by a car on a Sunday night two and a half years ago. Hanahn was 26 and seven months pregnant at the time.

2 weeks ago | newsday.com | Peter Gill

Suffolk County collected over $91 million in extra fees attached to red light camera tickets — which two courts have ruled illegal — since 2013, according to county records obtained by Newsday. The exact amount Suffolk County collected in extra $30fees was a matter of speculation until now. That total represents the amount that the county government could have to pay back to ticketed drivers.

3 weeks ago | newsday.com | Peter Gill

Newsday is launching a database its journalists created that tracks fatal crashes as part of a yearlong series on Long Island's dangerous roads. The first-of-its-kind database for Nassau and Suffolk crashes provides a searchable resource that gives a sense of the human loss on the Island. Unlike official data, which typically is finalized about 10 months after the end of the calendar year, Newsday's database will be updated on a daily basis.