Woman hospitalized after Griffing Avenue crash
A woman suffered minor injuries after the SUV she was driving was struck by a delivery truck at a residential intersection in Riverhead Thursday morning, town police said.
The delivery truck, an International 4700, was traveling north on Griffing Avenue when it T-boned the Ford Edge traveling east on Lincoln Street about 10:10 a.m., police said. There is a stop sign at the intersection on Lincoln Street, though it was unclear if the woman stopped at the sign or continued through without stopping before the accident, police said.
The woman was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center with non-serious injuries. The driver of the truck was unharmed in the accident. There were no other occupants in the vehicles, police said.
The truck driver, who did not give his name, said he was unable to stop the truck after the SUV drove into the intersection.
“You can’t stop that truck within two feet,” he said. “You need to be decelerating 50, 100 feet before.”
The man said he normally makes deliveries in Smithtown or Miller Place, but was driving the truck on a route to deliver Polar Seltzer bottles to the Stop & Shop on Route 58 to cover for another driver. He said he became lost on the route and was driving north on Griffing Avenue to get back to Route 58.
The driver, who said he himself had been T-boned by a truck while driving a car in the past, said he hoped the victim would be OK.
“It’s a nerve-wracking experience,” he said.
