The parents of four young women who were killed in an East End limousine crash in 2015 have started an online petition demanding safety changes at a Cutchogue intersection.
In addition to banning U-turns at Depot Lane and County Road 48, they want limo drivers to be held criminally responsible if a U-turn results in a serious crash. The petition also calls for more training for limo drivers, stricter safety standards for the vehicles and the required wearing of safety belts.
Lauren Baruch, Amy Grabina, Brittney Schulman and Stephanie Belli were killed when their limo driver made a legal U-turn during a winery tour in Cutchogue. Four others were injured.
In the two years since the fatal crash, no one has gone to jail and neighbors say no safety improvements have been made. The county changed a blinking light to a full traffic light at the intersection, but there is no left turn signal and no sign prohibiting U-turns.
News 12 was told by Suffolk Public Works Commissioner Gil Anderson in July that the deaths, "as terrible as it is to say…don't predicate a traffic signal."
The county claimed it needed more data from the intersection. News 12 asked for an update Thursday but has not heard back.
Since the crash, limo companies in Nassau and Suffolk claim they have been instructing their drivers not to make U-turns at that intersection.