Most articles on this subject recycle the same rankings from studies conducted years ago. We have taken a different approach, because the useful question is not which road holds a title. It is what makes a stretch of road dangerous, and where in New York those conditions cluster.
The Regional Picture From State Data
The Office of the New York State Comptroller found that in 2022, Long Island led the state in raw fatality counts, with 164 deaths in Suffolk and 81 in Nassau. But measured per capita, the North Country carried the highest risk at 12.9 deaths per 100,000 residents, while New York City had the lowest at 2.9.
That gap tells you something important. Rural upstate roads produce fewer total crashes but a higher chance of dying in one. Higher speeds, undivided lanes, and longer emergency response times all contribute.
More recent Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee data shows upstate fatalities fell from 490 to 420 between the January to October periods of 2024 and 2025, while Long Island rose from 103 to 110, driven entirely by pedestrian and bicyclist deaths.
Long Island: High Volume, Old Design
Long Island’s major corridors were built for a different era of traffic.
The Long Island Expressway (I-495) carries enormous volume through Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk, with closely spaced entrances and exits that force merging conflicts at speed. Our coverage of Long Island traffic deaths tracks the trend.
The Southern State Parkway combines tight curves, low overpasses, and short merge distances with a design dating to the 1920s and 1930s. It has a long documented history of serious crashes, which we have written about in Southern State Parkway among the deadliest in New York.
Sunrise Highway (NY-27) shifts between expressway segments and at-grade intersections, a combination that produces high-speed conflicts with cross traffic and pedestrians.
Hempstead Turnpike (NY-24) is a state highway running through dense residential areas and past Hofstra University, with long distances between crosswalks and speeds that exceed the posted limit. It is consistently identified as one of the most hazardous roads for pedestrians in the region. See our coverage of safety fencing on Hempstead Turnpike.
The Hudson Valley and the Thruway
The Taconic State Parkway runs 104 miles with narrow lanes, sharp curves, blind crests, and limited shoulders. Commercial vehicles are prohibited, but the parkway’s 1930s geometry was never designed for modern speeds, and weather turns it hazardous quickly.
Interstate 87, running from the Bronx to the Canadian border as the Thruway and Adirondack Northway, combines heavy truck traffic downstate with severe winter conditions north of Albany.
Interstate 95 occupies barely 23 miles in New York but runs almost entirely through dense New York City corridors, concentrating a national volume of traffic into a short, congested stretch.
Upstate Corridors
Interstate 90 carries cross-state traffic through the Capital Region and past Syracuse and Rochester, with lake-effect snow producing sudden visibility loss and multi-vehicle pileups. If you were hurt in a Capital Region crash, an Albany car accident lawyer from our firm can evaluate it. For Monroe County, see our Rochester car accident page.
Route 17, becoming I-86, runs nearly 400 miles through the Southern Tier with changing terrain and weather. Interstate 81 through Syracuse has been identified by planning organizations as one of the country’s most problematic urban highway segments.
What Actually Makes a Road Dangerous
Design outlives its era. Parkways built in the 1920s carry traffic moving 30 miles per hour faster than intended. Short merges, no shoulders, and low clearances were reasonable then.
Speed differential kills more than speed alone. A road where some traffic moves at 40 and some at 70 is more dangerous than one where everyone moves at 65.
Mixed use without separation puts pedestrians and cyclists alongside highway-speed traffic. That is the pattern behind Long Island’s rising pedestrian toll.
Weather compounds everything, which our winter driving coverage addresses.
When Road Design Contributes to a Crash
Sometimes the road itself is part of the problem. Missing or obscured signage, inadequate guardrails, poor sight lines, defective traffic signals, and unsafe work zones can support a claim against the responsible government entity.
These claims carry a critical deadline: a notice of claim is generally due within 90 days. See our statute of limitations page and our article on whether poor road design can lead to a valid injury claim.
Road conditions also affect fault allocation, which now carries higher stakes under New York’s amended comparative fault rule.
Talk to a New York Personal Injury Attorney
Buttafuoco & Associates has handled crashes on every road named here since 1981. Contact us for a free case review. You owe no attorney’s fee unless we recover for you.