Westchester officials create task force to prevent wrong-way driving on Bronx River Parkway

NEW YORK - Wrong-way crashes have been plaguing Westchester County for decades, and on Thursday, County Executive George Latimer announced a task force that could help prevent future similar accidents.

“Maybe it’s just one accident we avoid,” Latimer said. “But once accident and one life is worth the effort.”

This comes just two weeks after a wrong-way crash on Interstate 287 in Harrison caused two deaths, followed by a driver caught on camera in a white BMW making a wrong turn and going in the opposite direction on a busy roadway also in Harrison.

The county’s new traffic safety task force will review all entrance and exit ramps on the county-operated Bronx River Parkway, which stretches from Soundview in the Bronx to Valhalla in Westchester County.

Latimer says that those problem zones will be examined to determine what steps need to be taken to make them safer, even if that means replacing for putting up signs to improve safety. Moreover, Latimer says that his plan doesn’t stop with the Bronx River Parkway. 

“If we can implement changes that come out of this task force and do it quickly, then we see a positive benefit that we think that’s the right leverage to then go to the state and say let's do the same things on the other parkways in Westchester County and ultimately on interstate highways,” Latimer said.

The task force will be made up of elected officials as well as county residents, and is expected to begin in the next few weeks.