A driver was pulled from a vehicle Wednesday afternoon after a two-vehicle crash trapped them inside at Long Beach Boulevard and East Park Avenue. The Long Beach Fire Department received a report of the collision around 12:30 p.m. at Long Beach Boulevard and East Park Avenue, according to fire officials, and crews found an occupant pinned inside one of the vehicles.
Firefighters determined that extrication was necessary to free the trapped occupant, and crews from Engine 2343 used the Jaws of Life to pop open the driver's door, as reported by News 12 New York. The driver was safely removed from the vehicle and transported by ambulance to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition. No other injuries were reported in the crash.
A Corner With a Troubled History
This is not the first time emergency crews have been called to this exact junction. On June 30, the Long Beach Fire Department responded to a separate two-vehicle collision at the same intersection, where three people suffered minor injuries and were transported to Mount Sinai South Nassau, according to 1st Responder News, which reported that Chief John Marino directed rescue and medical operations at the scene that day.
The intersection's problems go back further still. In November 2019, a police chase ended in a rollover crash at the same corner when a minivan struck the center median, launching a large decorative anchor from the garden median into the roadway, per the Herald Community Newspapers. Both occupants in that crash were treated for minor injuries and charged with multiple offenses.
Why the Intersection Backs Up So Badly
Traffic analytics firm INRIX ranked Long Beach Boulevard and East Park Avenue as the second-worst intersection in New York State for delays, recording more than 69,000 stops and an average of 1,046 hours lost per day by waiting drivers, according to a report from Patch. That analysis drew on anonymous GPS transit data collected across more than 18,000 traffic signals statewide.
Part of the congestion stems from the roadway's design. East Park Avenue transitions into Nassau County Route 231 at Long Beach Boulevard, widening into a six-lane divided arterial that carries traffic across the city toward Lido Beach, per East Coast Roads, which notes that the western stretch of Park Avenue falls under city maintenance while the eastern portion is a county responsibility. The corridor is also in the middle of active construction, with PSEG Long Island running two phases of power grid hardening work along East Park Avenue and Long Beach Boulevard through October, moving overhead lines underground to improve resilience against coastal storms.
Emergency Response and Local Safety Trends
Patients requiring trauma care from crashes in the area are typically routed to Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, which also operates a 24/7 freestanding emergency department on East Bay Drive in Long Beach, according to Mount Sinai Health System. That local emergency department was established after the closure of Long Beach Medical Center following Hurricane Sandy.
The Long Beach Fire Department handled the extrication.
The crash also lands amid a broader rise in roadway injuries across Nassau County. Pedestrian-related crashes countywide rose 16 percent year-over-year to 485 incidents in 2023, according to regional data compiled by the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research.
