A five-vehicle crash on the eastbound Southern State Parkway near Exit 17 in Malverne left one driver trapped inside an overturned car and sent two people to the hospital with serious injuries Thursday night. All eastbound lanes were shut down for more than two hours as crews worked to clear the scene near Hempstead Avenue in Nassau County.
Lakeview and Northwell EMS units transported the two injured people to nearby hospitals, according to News 12. The Lakeview Fire Department responded to the collision, where crews encountered an overturned vehicle with a driver trapped inside, fire officials told the outlet. News 12 reported it was still waiting to hear back from state police on additional details about the crash and had reached out for more information.
Another Wreck at a Notorious Exit
Exit 17 has become a familiar and grim dateline on the Southern State Parkway this year. Just under six months earlier, a six-vehicle crash near the same exit killed two people and injured ten more when an intoxicated driver crossed the median into oncoming traffic, according to New York State Police. That driver was later arrested and indicted on aggravated vehicular homicide charges, a case Hoodline covered in a deadly wrong-way crash that killed a Queens couple.
Patrol duties and crash investigations along the parkway fall under New York State Police Troop L, which is headquartered in East Farmingdale. The exit sits within a 10-mile stretch of the Southern State Parkway, running from Exit 17 in Malverne to Exit 32 in South Farmingdale, that officials and residents have long dubbed “Blood Alley” because of its high concentration of severe and fatal crashes, per a Newsday report on the corridor's history.
A Century-Old Design Built for Slower Traffic
Part of the danger stems from the road itself. Exit 17 features a 1920s-era cloverleaf design with four tight loop ramps and short merge distances that force drivers to weave rapidly across mainline lanes at highway speed, according to Long Island Traffic. The interchange was built nearly a century ago, when both traffic volume and typical vehicle speeds were far lower than today.
State police data shows 2,549 total traffic crashes and five fatalities occurred along the Nassau County portion of the parkway in 2024 alone, per Herald Community Newspapers. A broader Newsday investigative analysis covering 2012 through 2023 found 137 people killed and 846 seriously injured in more than 42,700 collisions across the entire 25.5-mile parkway, which carries over 200,000 vehicles daily between Queens and Suffolk County.
Enforcement and Calls for Barrier Upgrades
The safety discussion around the parkway includes speeding, aggressive driving, DWIs, and distracted driving.
Following the fatal March crash near the same exit, Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages publicly urged the state Department of Transportation to install stronger median barriers, widen lanes, and increase police patrols along the Malverne corridor, according to News 12 Long Island. Local homeowners bordering the parkway have reported out-of-control cars crashing through perimeter fencing near their properties. The article also discusses possible legislation in Albany, without specifying its provisions or status.
Thursday's crash was among several serious collisions on the parkway, following a fatal high-speed crash near Exit 30 that a Queens driver later admitted guilt in, and the death of a 4-year-old Hempstead child after a crash near Exit 20. The cause of Thursday's five-vehicle crash had not been determined as of publication, and further details were expected once state police responded to News 12's inquiries.
