Westchester County Executive George Latimer is creating a new Traffic Safety Task Force, made up of citizens and elected officials, to review all entrance and exit ramps on the Bronx River Parkway. As first proposed, this pilot Task Force will consist of two members of the Board of Legislators, two New York State elected officials, one member of the Latimer Administration and two citizen-commuters.

This review is meant to take inventory of potential problem zones in light of recent ‘wrong-way driver’ incidents. In addition, the County’s Department of Public Works/Transportation is the process of reviewing the latest ‘wrong-way driver’ incident that took place in Harrison.

The purpose of this Task Force is to identify potential immediate ‘common sense’ remedies, like new signage, and act quickly on the recommendations.

Latimer said: “Our number one job in government is to ensure public safety. For a variety of reasons, drivers in Westchester are finding themselves in life-threatening situations due to motorists operating their vehicle on the wrong side of the road. This is a serious issue that we must take action on to correct.”

At the time of this release, Westchester County Legislators Colin Smith and Vedat Gashi and State Assemblyman Tom Abinanti have already agreed to join the Task Force – with additional announcements to follow.

DPW/T Commissioner Hugh J. Greechan said: “The Latimer Administration is committed to working with all stakeholders to find solutions. Our Department took immediate action to review the particular intersection in Harrison in the short term and we look forward to working with this citizen task force in the long term.”