Make a left, you're moving toward Woodbury. Turn right, and you're driving through Plainview. Make either turn too quickly, and you're headed for trouble.

That's what over 200 people from two communities have proclaimed to the Nassau County Department of Public Works about the dangerous intersection of Manetto Hill Road and the Northern State Parkway.

Referring to the street layout as "a disaster waiting to happen," 16th District County Legislator Judy Jacobs held a press conference on Monday, Jan. 26 about her and the community's renewed campaign to make the intersection a safer one.

"There have been numerous accidents through the years, resulting in the airlifting of people to hospitals," said Jacobs, who, as a Woodbury civic leader prior to her political career, had been championing for safety measures at that intersection.

"I have been trying to help these people for about two years now as a legislator...I've been trying to secure them a light. And it's been very difficult."

The press conference was organized with the intent to catalyze serious action from Nassau Public Works officials. The DPW was represented at the conference by Dina Miller, assistant to Commissioner John Waltz, and Joseph Pecora, director of Traffic and Engineering.

Also on hand was Plainview School Board President Ginger Lieberman, along with local residents who have witnessed countless accidents. Julie Morowitz of Woodbury came because she, herself, had been in an accident, albeit minor. Another resident who attended, Abby Berton, was responsible for the coordination of a letter-writing project, which ultimately compelled over 200 Parkway School parents to state in writing that they want safety measures implemented.

"People have written individual letters, and I just don't think that works", said Berton, PTA member and president of the Mid Island Y JCC in Plainview. Therefore, she organized a group effort. "I said, 'This time out, let's not wait until disaster, because it's going to happen.'" But while the complaints may have attracted the DPW's attention, the department's response suggests that neighbors may still be crossing that intersection warily for quite some time.

"At this point in time ,because everyone has asked us to take a fresh look at it, that's what we're going to do," said Pecora. "But I couldn't say what the answer is right now before I have [certain] data in front of me."

That data must be collected through studies, which Pecora assured would take place at the site within the near future. Pecora explained that the DPW will gather the latest accident information, conduct speed studies and make physical observations of the site during different times of the day. The study will include the intersection itself, Manetto Hill Road and Parkway School.

Most residents have grown weary of such talk, however, because they've heard all of it before, said several residents.

The people in the severest danger, according to Jacobs and residents, are the eastbound motorists exiting the Northern State Parkway onto Manetto Hill Road in order to reach Woodbury or Plainview, as well as the drivers heading south on Manetto Hill Road who cross the dreaded intersection along what amounts to a blind overpass. Serious crashes have occurred at this location because of several dangerous factors that, when combined, spell collision.

Manetto Hill Road banks upward just before eastbound drivers reach the intersection, limiting the view of motorists, who often illegally speed on this street. Meanwhile, drivers turning onto Manetto Hill Road from the Parkway are forced to perilously inch out onto the street because their view of oncoming eastbound traffic is limited. Other drivers, completely unaware of the danger, attempt to merge on Manetto Hill Road without yielding to traffic whatsoever.

History has literally repeated itself three dozen times in front of Lorraine Moranti's home - a house on the southeastern side of the intersection that almost has acted liked a magnet to car wrecks. "It's the same accident every time," said Moranti, mother of two. "It's the seriousness of the injuries that varies."

Moranti's frequently scarred front yard offers testimony to the trouble the intersection brings. "It's amazing what you'll find in my yard sometimes - car pieces strewn about." Several cars have actually crashed into her property, damaging her fence. But better fences than people, and that's why Moranti has told both of her children that they are banned from playing in their own front yard.

The younger of her two kids still attends Parkway Elementary School across the street. As she knows, the school, too, contributes to the potential for tragedy because buses travel along Manetto Hill Road to turn into the school parking lot.

Solutions, however, do not come as easy or as often as complaints do, and the DPW has explained in the past that this is a tricky intersection to fix. A mere traffic light at the intersection, as Jacobs suggested, for example, might be potentially dangerous because people traveling south on the inclining Manetto Hill Road would not see the light quickly enough to stop.

Also likely adding to the complications and procrastination is the fact that several municipalities are involved, said Jacobs and residents. The parkway is owned by New York State, Manetto Hill Road belongs to the county and Abbey Lane, which also connects at the intersection, is a town road.

"The New York State Department of Transportation has a study underway of all of its exit ramps on the Northern State Parkway," said Pecora. "What I come up with for possible improvements, if any, may affect what the state is doing, or vice versa."

Jacobs hopes that the DPW's future study will lead to progress this time, and that the community's actions "secured from them an understanding that they will proceed with trying to find a solution to this corner."

But a more skeptical Berton believes that best results may come only after a body count begins.

"I don't want to produce bodies to get action done," said Berton, who resides near a street corner where a traffic signal was implemented after three people died in accidents there.

"We need this to be done before we have funerals. We want this done...we want a schedule. We're not going away this time."