The Brooklyn Queens Expressway, BQE, is an extremely busy thoroughfare in Brooklyn, NY with heavy traffic and prone to accidents.
For example, in early, 2023, a rolled over truck shut down the Brooklyn Queens Expressway for hours. The eastbound lanes of I-278/Brooklyn Queens Expressway were shut down between Exit 32B Union Ave and Exit 33 Humboldt St.
In mid-2022, a woman was in critical condition and another injured after an allegedly drunk and speeding driver crashed on a dangerous section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway during the early morning hours.
The driver was heading east on the BQE at 4:48 a.m. in June when he tried to exit the highway at Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg, but hit the divider at the off-ramp and careened into the outer wall of the ramp, according to police. The reckless driver was travelling at a high rate of speed and “failed to negotiate the curve,” a Police Department spokesperson had said. His 22-year-old female passenger in the front seat suffered severe injuries to her torso and paramedics rushed her to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, cops said.
Another woman of the same age sitting in the rear seat had cuts on her head and was also brought to the Manhattan medical facility but in stable condition, while the driver didn't need medical attention.
Prior to that, there was an accident that closed down two lanes of the BQE. The extent of the injuries was not reported other than to say that they were serious.
Car accidents are a major cause of traffic congestion. Auto accidents frequently happen, especially when roads are crowded. Of course, any driver can attest to the fact that once a car accident takes place, traffic gets far worse, and in many cases even leads to a stand-still.
Even fender benders have the ability to back up traffic for miles. When a serious accident takes place, the delays are even longer. Part of the reason is the closing of lanes which lowers the capacity of the road. Another big part of the reason that even small accidents lead to major delays is human behavior. The behavior referred to as “rubbernecking” can cause significant traffic jams even when the initial accident is minor. According to studies, rubbernecking can reduce the amount of traffic a highway can handle by 50 percent. The delays are not limited to traffic on the side of the highway where the accident occurred either; they happen for traffic traveling in both directions.
It is important to remember that rubbernecking is not just an annoying behavior that slows traffic but is also a form of distracted driving. When a driver is gawking at an accident, then he or she is not paying attention to the road. This can lead to secondary accidents.
If you were involved in an auto accident on the BQE and suffered injuries, contact BQE accident lawyer Michael J. Redenburg, Esq. PC at 212-240-9465 to schedule your free, in-office consultation and get the wheels of justice spinning for you!