A 47-year-old Hampton Bays woman was killed in a head-on collision on Flanders Road near the intersection with Spinney Road at approximately 8 a.m. today.
Police said Barbara Tocci was northbound on Flanders Road in a 2000 Ford Explorer when a southbound 2005 GMC utility truck driven by Michael Pepe, 53, of Bayport, crossed into the oncoming lane of travel and hit the explorer head-on.
Tocci was pronounced dead at the scene, Southampton Town Police said. She was extricated from her vehicle by the Flanders Fire Department and was transported to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office.
Pepe, an employee of PSEG, was taken by Flanders-Northampton Volunteer Ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center with injuries police described as not life-threatening.
Police are investigating the cause of the accident and ask anyone who may have witnessed it to contact Southampton Town Police detectives at 631-702-2230.
The N.Y. State Police forensic I.D. and collision reconstruction unit responded to assist in the investigation of the accident scene, Southampton police said.
The N.Y. State Department of Transportation also responded to repair damage to the roadway in the area of the crash, police said.
Police said they are trying to determine whether the condition of the road was a factor in the crash.
Both vehicles were impounded to police headquarters for safety checks and further investigation.
No criminal charges are expected, police said.
Tocci grew up in Flanders and attended Riverhead High School. She worked at a Riverhead title insurance office.
Flanders residents have been complaining about the condition of Flanders Road, a state highway, for weeks.
Lifelong Flanders resident Tanya Zaleski, a friend of the Tocci family, described the road surface in the area of the accident scene as “horrendous.”
“I drove past there last night at 10:30 to pick my son up from work in Hampton Bays. The road is a disaster. I thought I lost my front end right when I hit a pot hole on Flanders Road right near Spinney,” Zaleski said.
State DOT crews are on Flanders Road now making repairs.
A DOT spokesperson said today damage to roads throughout the state is “unprecedented” due to the repeated freezing and thawing associated with recent drastic temperature changes.
“We are deeply saddened by the news of the fatality on NY Route 24 in Flanders,” DOT spokesperson Eileen Peters said. “We will coordinate with the police, review their reports and take appropriate action.”
Peters said motorists should call 1-800-POTHOLE to report a pothole on a state roadway. DOT will repair it as soon as possible, usually within 48 hours, weather permitting, she said.
Zaleski said Tocci was well-known and loved by all in the tight-knit Flanders community.
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