Westchester County officials announced they are pushing the state to review safety measures on the Hutchinson River Parkway — after a wrong-way crash left five people seriously injured over the weekend.
Local authorities reported a near-fatal accident on Dec. 16, wherein the former mayor of Rye Brook – 75-year-old Joan Feinstein – entered the parkway driving south into oncoming northbound traffic north of the Lincoln Avenue area. Feinstein, driving a 2024 Mercedes, crashed into a Connecticut family of five, seriously injuring herself and four others in the 2018 Dodge Durango she hit.
The accident has prompted local officials to assess signage and safety measures along the Hutchinson River Parkway. At a press conference on Monday, Westchester County Executive George Latimer said he’s going to encourage a committee to study and suggest changes to the parkway to reduce wrong-way driving incidents. He worked with officials for a similar safety review of the Bronx River Parkway, he told reporters, which he said has proved successful.
“Our experience with the Bronx River Parkway has been really good since that date,” Latimer said. “Nothing eliminates wrong-way driving … but we believe that the safety of all of the other parkways in Westchester County can be improved.”
He also noted that a lot of the parkways in Westchester were built upwards of 100 years ago, and were never meant to carry the volume or speed they do today.
Westchester County Police Chief James Luciano said a preliminary investigation reveals that intoxication was likely not a factor in Monday’s accident, and that there “appears to be adequate signage in the areas on all entrances and exits to the parkway.”
Luciano did recognize another fatal accident on the Hutch earlier this year, but noted that alcohol was involved with that crash.
Feinstein has lived in Rye Brook since 1982, according to a local moms group profile. She was the first female mayor of the village of Rye Brook, serving from 2008-2013, her LinkedIn page states.
Feinstein was hospitalized at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla in critical condition after the crash, but is expected to recover, officials said. The Connecticut family of five – Mordechai, 49, and Miriam, 46, Sandman, as well as their 12-, 17-, and 25-year-old children – all survived.
When a reporter asked about Feinstein’s supposed familiarity with the Rye Brook section of the parkway, since she’s a local, Luciano said: “We cross all those bridges (and) ask all those questions when we’re able to to obtain the proper information.”
He confirmed the victims of the accident weren’t able to give police full statements immediately following the crash, because of the severity of their injuries.
Latimer said county officials will be working with the state Department of Transportation, which owns the Hutchinson River Parkway, to review incidents of wrong-way driving.
“We hope that our work with the New York state Department of Transportation will help make this the kind of story that doesn’t repeat in the future,” he said.