From July 6 through October 3, 2026 — an 87-day window — the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic logged 528 crash records with a usable reported time on Nassau and Suffolk roads. The morning commute block and midweek days stand out as the periods with the highest activity across the Long Island Expressway, the Southern State Parkway and the Northern State Parkway.
The data show clear differences by time of day, day of week and road, with the two weekday commute periods — 6–9:59 a.m. and 3–6:59 p.m. — together accounting for 46.4 percent of all Nassau and Suffolk crash records, according to the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic.
Morning hours lead crash record counts across all corridors
The 8–9:59 a.m. block produced the highest two-hour total for all Nassau and Suffolk roads — 81 crash records — according to the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic. The same block was also the busiest on the Long Island Expressway individually, with 28 crash records.
On the Northern State Parkway, the 8–9:59 a.m. block tied with the 4–5:59 p.m. block, each recording 13 crash records, the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic shows.
511 crash records by two-hour block (Eastern), July 6–October 3, 2026
| Time | LIE | Southern State | Northern State | All Nassau and Suffolk roads |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midnight–1:59 a.m. | 2 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| 2–3:59 a.m. | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 4–5:59 a.m. | 9 | 6 | 1 | 23 |
| 6–7:59 a.m. | 19 | 21 | 7 | 67 |
| 8–9:59 a.m. | 28 | 20 | 13 | 81 |
| 10–11:59 a.m. | 16 | 14 | 5 | 45 |
| Noon–1:59 p.m. | 22 | 18 | 5 | 59 |
| 2–3:59 p.m. | 20 | 23 | 7 | 76 |
| 4–5:59 p.m. | 21 | 19 | 13 | 76 |
| 6–7:59 p.m. | 10 | 15 | 5 | 42 |
| 8–9:59 p.m. | 2 | 9 | 5 | 29 |
| 10–11:59 p.m. | 2 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
Southern State Parkway peaks later in the day
The Southern State Parkway followed a different pattern: its busiest two-hour block was 2–3:59 p.m. with 23 crash records, according to the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic. Its quietest block was 2–3:59 a.m. with 2 crash records.
The Long Island Expressway’s quietest periods were the Midnight–1:59 a.m., 8–9:59 p.m. and 10–11:59 p.m. blocks, each with 2 crash records, the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic shows.
Commute periods account for a large share of LIE and Northern State records
On the Northern State Parkway, 53.8 percent of all crash records in the window fell within the two weekday commute periods — 6–9:59 a.m. and 3–6:59 p.m. — according to the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic. The Long Island Expressway’s share was 49.4 percent, while the Southern State Parkway’s share was 40 percent.
Weekday commute periods
| Road | All crash records | Weekday 6–9:59 a.m. | Weekday 3–6:59 p.m. | Share in the two weekday commute periods (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIE | 154 | 40 | 36 | 49.4 |
| Southern State | 155 | 37 | 25 | 40 |
| Northern State | 65 | 18 | 17 | 53.8 |
| All Nassau and Suffolk roads | 528 | 128 | 117 | 46.4 |
Weekdays average more crash records per day than weekends
Across all Nassau and Suffolk roads, weekdays averaged 6.6 crash records per day and weekend days averaged 4.8 per day, according to the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic. The morning period — 6–9:59 a.m. — showed the sharpest difference: 2.1 crash records per weekday against 0.8 per weekend day.
The overnight period (midnight–5:59 a.m.) was the one time of day where weekend days averaged more records than weekdays, at 0.7 versus 0.4, the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic shows.
Average 511 crash records per day, weekdays vs weekends, all Nassau and Suffolk roads (62 weekdays and 25 weekend days in the window)
| Time of day | Per weekday | Per weekend day |
|---|---|---|
| Overnight (midnight–5:59 a.m.) | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Morning (6–9:59 a.m.) | 2.1 | 0.8 |
| Midday (10 a.m.–2:59 p.m.) | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| Afternoon (3–6:59 p.m.) | 1.9 | 0.9 |
| Evening (7–11:59 p.m.) | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Whole day | 6.6 | 4.8 |
Tuesdays and Thursdays carry the highest per-day averages by road
Tuesday produced the highest average on the Long Island Expressway at 2.4 crash records per day, according to the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic. Monday led on the Southern State Parkway at 2.3 per day, while Wednesday and Thursday tied for the top spot on the Northern State Parkway at 1.1 per day.
Thursday posted the highest all-roads average across Nassau and Suffolk at 7.2 crash records per day, the 511NY event feed as recorded by Long Island Traffic shows. Friday and Wednesday tied for the lowest weekday average on the Long Island Expressway at 1.7 crash records per day, and Saturday was the quietest single day on the Northern State Parkway at 0.4 per day.
Average 511 crash records per day, by day of week
| Day | Times in window | LIE | Southern State | Northern State | All Nassau and Suffolk roads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 13 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 6.3 |
| Tuesday | 13 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 7.1 |
| Wednesday | 12 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 6.6 |
| Thursday | 12 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 7.2 |
| Friday | 12 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 5.8 |
| Saturday | 13 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 4.5 |
| Sunday | 12 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 5.1 |
How we measured this
- Records: 511NY accident-class records titled Crash, Vehicle fire or Overturned vehicle on Nassau and Suffolk roads, stored by Long Island Traffic’s 511NY monitor, reported from 12:00 a.m. July 6 through 11:59 p.m. October 3, 2026 (Eastern). Queens records are excluded.
- Time and day come from each record’s 511 “Reported” time (Eastern). Records without a readable “Reported” time are left out.
- Per-day averages divide the records on a given day type by how many such days the window contains, so weekdays and weekends can be compared fairly.
- The window is the last 87 complete days; our 511 coverage expanded in June 2026, so no window reaches before July 1, 2026.
Limitations
- 511NY data was missing or incomplete on Sep 30, 2026, Oct 1, 2026, Oct 2, 2026 (a 511NY system change); those 3 days are excluded, and all per-day and per-mile figures use the remaining 87 days.
- A 511 record is not a verified crash: one collision can produce more than one record, and some crashes never reach 511. These are record counts, not crash totals.
- More records at a time of day largely reflects more traffic at that time; without hourly traffic counts these figures are not a risk rate per vehicle.
- The “Reported” time is when 511 logged the incident, which can be minutes or more after the crash.
- These are patterns over one 90-day summer-to-fall window and say nothing about why crashes happen.