An accident at the intersection of Route 58 and Kroemer Avenue this afternoon sent two people to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A Ford SUV entered Route 58 from Kroemer Avenue and drove into the path of a westbound sedan, police said. The sedan broadsided the SUV, which flipped onto its side.
Both drivers were injured in the crash. Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance transported both people to Peconic Bay Medical Center.
The accident occurred at about 1:25 p.m. The sedan sustained heavy front-end damage and the SUV flipped onto the driver’s side. Riverhead Fire Department responded to set the vehicle upright.
Kroemer Avenue was made a right-turn only intersection by the Riverhead Town Board in 2011 at the request of Suffolk County traffic engineers. The county engineers told the town a phased signal at the intersection, to allow traffic to turn west on Route 58 or proceed straight across the five-lane county highway into the entrance for the Walmart shopping center or Applebees would impede the traffic flow on Route 58, which had just been widened by the county. The westbound lanes of Route 58 have a green light at the same time traffic on Kroemer Avenue has a green right-turn arrow. It has since been the scene of multiple accidents like the one this afternoon, as motorists fail to heed the “right turn only” signs or right-turn arrow.
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