Mount Sinai, NY — Crash Data, Roads, History & Law
Mount Sinai is an unincorporated hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, with 11,623 residents at the 2020 Census. Federal crash records show 18 fatal crashes that killed 20 people within its boundaries from 2010 through 2024 — 1 of them on foot. Northern Boulevard / Route 25A accounted for more of those deaths (5) than any other road. Residents who commute travel an average of 37.3 minutes each way.
Long Island Town Fact Book · Updated · Sources & method
Mount Sinai at a glance
- Status
- Hamlet (unincorporated; census-designated place)
- Town
- Brookhaven
- County
- Suffolk County
- Population (2020 Census)
- 11,623[C]
- Housing units (2020)
- 4,339
- Land area
- 6 sq mi (plus 1.44 sq mi of water)
- Density
- 1,937 people per sq mi
- Average commute
- 37.3 minutes[B]
- Traffic deaths, 2010–2024
- 20[A]
- ZIP Code
- 11766
- Founded / settled
- The Mount Sinai Civic Association dates the community's official establishment to 1664, when Native Americans sold the land to the Town of Brookhaven, under the name Old Man's.[2]
- Legal status
- Unincorporated hamlet of the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, tabulated by the Census Bureau as the Mount Sinai CDP[3]
- School district
- Mount Sinai School District, 118 North Country Road[4]
- Policing
- Suffolk County Police Department, 6th Precinct (400 Middle Country Road, Selden)[5]
- Prior written notice law
- Town of Brookhaven Code Chapter 84, "Notice of Defective or Dangerous Conditions," adopted June 16, 1987 by Local Law No. 7-1987[6]
- Harbor
- Mount Sinai Harbor, about 455 acres, predominantly salt marsh, mudflats and open water[2]
- Census geography
- Mount Sinai CDP · GEOID 3649066 · GNIS 2389517
- Coordinates
- 40.9418°N, 73.0202°W
Hamlets in New York have no legal boundary or government of their own. Figures here use the Census Bureau's census-designated place, the standard statistical outline for the community; local usage of the name can be wider or narrower.
Name:According to the Mount Sinai School District's own history, the community was renamed from Old Man's after its first postmaster, Charles Phillips, is said to have chosen a new name by closing his eyes and pointing a knitting needle at a page of his Bible; the nearest name, Mount Sinai, replaced Old Man's in 1841-1842.[1]
Fatal crashes in Mount Sinai, 2010–2024
From January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2024, 20 people died in 18 crashes on public roads inside Mount Sinai, according to the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System.[A] Pedestrians account for 1 of those deaths (5%). The deadliest year was 2019, with 4 deaths.
- Fatal crashes
- 18
- People killed
- 20
- Pedestrians
- 1
- Bicyclists
- 0
- Motorcyclists
- 2
- Vehicle occupants
- 17
2024 figures come from NHTSA's Annual Report File and may be revised.
View the chart as a table
| Year | Fatal crashes | Deaths |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2 | 2 |
| 2011 | 1 | 1 |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | 1 | 1 |
| 2014 | 2 | 2 |
| 2015 | 2 | 2 |
| 2016 | 3 | 3 |
| 2017 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2 | 4 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 1 | 1 |
| 2022 | 2 | 2 |
| 2023 | 2 | 2 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 |
Roads where people died
| Road | Crashes | Deaths |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Boulevard / Route 25A | 5 | 5 |
| North Ocean Avenue / Patchogue–Mount Sinai Road (CR 83) | 5 | 5 |
| Mt Sinai Coram Rd | 2 | 4 |
| Chestnut St | 2 | 2 |
| N Country Rd | 2 | 2 |
| 228 N Country Rd | 1 | 1 |
| 43 Plymouth Ave | 1 | 1 |
Road names as recorded by police and normalised to common Long Island names.
When and where
- Of the 18 crashes with a recorded time, 8 happened between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., 6 between 4 and 8 p.m., 2 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and 2 between 6 and 10 a.m.
- 61% happened in darkness.
- 0 of the 20 deaths were on expressways or parkways; 20 were on arterials and local streets.
- 1 crash killed more than one person.
- In at least 5 crashes, a driver had a reported blood-alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. This counts known test results only; NHTSA's official alcohol estimates, which impute untested drivers, are higher.
Who owns the roads where they happened (2015–2024)
FARS has recorded the owner of the roadway since 2015. Of the 12 fatal crashes in Mount Sinai since then:
- Town roads 6 (50%)
- State highways 3 (25%)
- County roads 3 (25%)
Ownership matters in New York because claims against a county, town, city or village generally require a notice of claim within 90 days (General Municipal Law § 50-e), while claims against the State are brought in the Court of Claims under Court of Claims Act § 10. This is general information, not legal advice.
Rate: 11.5 traffic deaths per 100,000 residents per year, against 9.1 for Suffolk County. This is a resident-based rate, not a measure of how risky the roads are to drive: crashes are counted where they happen, not where the people involved live, so a small community crossed by a major highway shows a high rate.
The 15 most recent fatal crashes
| Date | Time | Road | Deaths | Who died | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 a.m. | Northern Boulevard / Route 25A | 1 | Vehicle occupant | daylight | |
| 1 p.m. | North Ocean Avenue / Patchogue–Mount Sinai Road (CR 83) | 1 | Vehicle occupant | daylight | |
| 10 p.m. | North Ocean Avenue / Patchogue–Mount Sinai Road (CR 83) | 1 | Pedestrian | dark | |
| 1 a.m. | Mt Sinai Coram Rd | 1 | Vehicle occupant | dark | |
| 6 p.m. | Northern Boulevard / Route 25A | 1 | Vehicle occupant | daylight | |
| 9 a.m. | North Ocean Avenue / Patchogue–Mount Sinai Road (CR 83) | 1 | Vehicle occupant | daylight | |
| 11 p.m. | Mt Sinai Coram Rd | 3 | 3 vehicle occupants | dark | |
| 7 p.m. | Chestnut St | 1 | Vehicle occupant | dark | |
| 11 p.m. | N Country Rd | 1 | Motorcyclist | dark | |
| 11 p.m. | Northern Boulevard / Route 25A at Chestnut St | 1 | Vehicle occupant | dark | |
| 6 p.m. | 228 N Country Rd | 1 | Vehicle occupant | dark | |
| 5 p.m. | Chestnut St | 1 | Vehicle occupant | daylight | |
| 9 p.m. | Northern Boulevard / Route 25A | 1 | Motorcyclist | dark | |
| 2 a.m. | North Ocean Avenue / Patchogue–Mount Sinai Road (CR 83) | 1 | Vehicle occupant | dark | |
| 4 p.m. | N Country Rd | 1 | Vehicle occupant | dusk |
FARS contains no names or personal identifiers. * 2024 records are preliminary. Download all 18 records (CSV) · How this was compiled
Recent Mount Sinai Incident Reports
St. James Man, 66, Charged With DWI After Pickup Hits Sign at Mount Sinai Bolla Market
St. James Man, 66, Charged With DWI After Pickup Hits Sign at Mount Sinai Bolla . September 1, 2026.
Mount Sinai Teen, 17, Struck by Westbound Acura While Crossing Road After Midnight
Mount Sinai TD Bank Fraud: Man Arrested for Cashing Fraudulent Checks in Scam
Mount Sinai TD Bank Fraud: Man Arrested for Cashing Fraudulent Checks in Scam. Suffolk County. July 15, 2026.
Manhattan Driver Charged with DWI, Manslaughter in Fatal NYC Pedestrian Crash
Manhattan Driver Charged with DWI, Manslaughter in Fatal NYC Pedestrian Crash. May 16, 2026.
Updated continuously from 511NY, NYSP, NCPD, and SCPD feeds — all Long Island reports.
All reported crashes in the Town of Brookhaven, 2021–2024
New York's crash file codes each crash to a town, city or village — never to a hamlet — so the finest official count that covers Mount Sinai is for the Town of Brookhaven, which contains it. Police reported 44,155 crashes there from 2021 through 2024 — about 30.2 a day. 11,428 (25.9%) injured someone and 172 were fatal. [D]
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,663 | 10,234 | 11,739 | 11,519 | 44,155 |
- Injury crashes
- 11,428
- Fatal crashes
- 172
- Struck a pedestrian
- 445
- Struck a bicyclist
- 390
- Struck a deer
- 599
Counts are crashes, not people. The municipality is entered by the reporting police agency, and coding is less consistent for small villages, so compare places with care.
How Mount Sinai gets to work
Mount Sinai commuters travel an average of 37.3 minutes each way, 6.2 minutes longer than the Suffolk County average (the national average is 26.4 minutes). About 74.6% of workers drive alone. [B]
| Measure | Mount Sinai | Suffolk County | New York State | United States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average one-way commute | 37.3 min ±10.5 | 31.1 min | 32.6 min | 26.4 min |
| Commute 60 minutes or longer | 20.8% ±6.7 | 14.1% | 16.8% | 8.6% |
| Commute under 15 minutes | 17.4% ±4.3 | 22.8% | 20.5% | 26% |
| Drive alone | 74.6% ±1.4 | 72.1% | 48.8% | 68.8% |
| Carpool | 9.1% ±6.3 † | 7.5% | 6.3% | 8.5% |
| Commuter rail (LIRR) | 1.8% ±1.4 † | 3.2% | 1.8% | 0.3% |
| Bus | 0.4% ±0.5 † | 0.6% | 5.1% | 1.5% |
| Walk | 0.2% ±0.3 † | 1.4% | 5.6% | 2.4% |
| Work from home | 12.9% ±3.1 | 12% | 14.9% | 15.1% |
| Leave home before 6 a.m. | 11.1% ±3.9 | 12% | 10.6% | 14.4% |
| Households with no vehicle | 3% ±1.6 † | 5.1% | 29.2% | 8.4% |
| Households with three or more vehicles | 32.5% ±6.6 | 28.8% | 11.8% | 21.9% |
Survey estimates for 5,124 workers aged 16 and over; ± values are 90% margins of error. † Small sample — the margin of error is large relative to the estimate, so treat the figure as indicative only. Travel-time rows exclude people who work from home.
Notable facts about Mount Sinai
- Mount Sinai was called "Old Man's" from its 1664 founding until 1841-1842, when it was renamed after a postmaster reportedly pointed a knitting needle at random into his Bible.[1][2]
- About 5,500 years ago, the area around Mount Sinai Harbor was known to its Native American inhabitants as Nonowatuc, "the stream that dries up."[2]
- A Revolutionary War raiding party that landed at Mount Sinai's Cedar Beach and burned British supplies at Shirley's Manor of St. George is commemorated today as the Tallmadge Historical Trail.[2]
- A Long Island Rail Road branch ran through Mount Sinai from 1895 to 1939, carrying visitors to beachfront summer cottages, before the line was discontinued.[2]
History
Mount Sinai is an unincorporated hamlet of the Town of Brookhaven, tabulated by the Census Bureau as its own census-designated place.[3] The Mount Sinai Civic Association's history dates organized settlement to 1664, when Native Americans sold the land to the Town of Brookhaven; the resulting community was called Old Man's (also written Old Mans or Ould Mans).[2] The Civic Association separately notes that Native people had lived around the harbor roughly 5,500 years earlier, when the area was known as Nonowatuc, or "the stream that dries up," and that the harbor's south shore was one of the most densely populated sites in the Long Island Sound region in that era.[2]
The Mount Sinai School District's own history recounts a popular legend for the Old Man's name: a swindle involving Major John Gotherson, "an elderly Englishman," and John Scott, described as "a notorious wheeler-dealer of the 1600s," who allegedly took payment for land he could not deliver, after which "local people reportedly started to refer to the land as 'the Old Mans' lands.'"[1] In 1840, residents of Old Man's applied for a post office, but, in the school district's words, "Old Mans was not considered a proper name;" after a brief, rejected switch to "Mt. Vernon," the community's first postmaster, Charles Phillips, is said to have settled the new name by closing his eyes and pointing a knitting needle at a page of his Bible, landing on "Mt Sinai," which has been in use since 1841-1842.[1]
During the American Revolution, a patriot raiding party landed at Cedar Beach in Mount Sinai and crossed Long Island to the Manor of St. George in Shirley, burning British supplies there; the route is commemorated today as the Tallmadge Historical Trail, named for Setauket-based Continental intelligence officer Benjamin Tallmadge.[2] The Long Island Rail Road's Port Jefferson Line ran through Mount Sinai from 1895 until 1939, carrying visitors to summer cottages on the beach before the line closed.[2]
How the roads got here
New York State Route 25A (North Country Road) runs through Mount Sinai; the Mount Sinai School District's own address, 118 North Country Road, sits directly on this state highway.[4] A separate county road, CR 83, is named the "Patchogue-Mount Sinai Road" in NYSDOT's own official touring-route records, tying the hamlet by name to a county-maintained road running south toward Patchogue.[7]
Law and legal history
As an unincorporated hamlet, Mount Sinai falls under the Town of Brookhaven's prior-written-notice law, Chapter 84 of the Town Code, adopted June 16, 1987 by Local Law No. 7-1987, which bars a civil action against the Town over a defective road, sidewalk or snow/ice condition unless written notice was first given to the Town Clerk or Superintendent of Highways and the Town failed to act within a reasonable time.[6]
The Town of Brookhaven maintains no police department of its own; the Suffolk County Police Department's 6th Precinct, headquartered at 400 Middle Country Road in Selden, covers the hamlets and incorporated villages of the northern Town of Brookhaven, including Mount Sinai.[5]
Government, courts and policing
Mount Sinai has no government of its own; it is an unincorporated hamlet of the Town of Brookhaven.[3][6] Public schools come from the Mount Sinai School District, at 118 North Country Road, which operates Mount Sinai Elementary School, Mount Sinai Middle School and Mount Sinai High School.[4] Policing is provided by the Suffolk County Police Department's 6th Precinct.[5]
Railroad and transit
A branch of the Long Island Rail Road's Port Jefferson Line ran through Mount Sinai from 1895 to 1939, carrying beachgoing visitors to summer cottages before the line was discontinued; unlike the still-operating Port Jefferson Branch through neighboring communities, this line did not survive into the present day.[2]
Mount Sinai timeline
- Land purchased. Native Americans sold the land encompassing present-day Mount Sinai to the Town of Brookhaven; the community was known as Old Man's.[2]
- Revolutionary War raid. A patriot raiding party landed at Cedar Beach and crossed Long Island to the Manor of St. George in Shirley, where they burned British supplies -- an action the Tallmadge Historical Trail commemorates.[2]
- Post office sought. Residents of Old Man's applied for a post office; the Mount Sinai School District's history says "Old Mans was not considered a proper name" for postal purposes, prompting a search for a replacement.[1]
- Renamed Mount Sinai. The community was renamed Mount Sinai after first postmaster Charles Phillips is said to have chosen the name at random from his Bible; residents have used the name since 1841-1842.[1]
- Rail line opens. The Long Island Rail Road's Port Jefferson Line began running through Mount Sinai, bringing visitors to summer cottages on the beach.[2]
- Rail line closes. The LIRR line through Mount Sinai stopped running.[2]
- Prior-notice law adopted. The Brookhaven Town Board adopted Local Law No. 7-1987, the Town Code's current "Notice of Defective or Dangerous Conditions" chapter.[6]
Major roads in Mount Sinai
| Road | Route | Maintained by | In Mount Sinai |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Country Road [4] | NY 25A | New York State | runs through the hamlet |
| Patchogue-Mount Sinai Road [7] | CR 83 | Suffolk County | runs south from the hamlet toward Patchogue |
Emergency Resources
Hospitals
See county-level hospital listings.
Police
- Suffolk County Police Department, 6th Precinct — 400 Middle Country Road, Selden, NY 11784 — (631) 854-8600 (non-emergency); 911 for emergencies (Patrols the incorporated villages and hamlets of the northern Town of Brookhaven, including Mount Sinai.)
Local Driver Services in Mount Sinai
Practical resources for Mount Sinai drivers — tire shops, gas prices, and live traffic conditions.
Safety Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do after a car accident in Mount Sinai, NY?
Move to safety and call 911 immediately, then document the scene with photos and exchange insurance and contact information with everyone involved. File a police report with SCPD and notify your insurer promptly. New York is a no-fault state, so your own PIP coverage pays initial medical costs regardless of fault, and you have just 30 days to file the NF-2 application.
Which roads are most dangerous in Mount Sinai?
Route 25A and Route 83 carry the heaviest traffic through Mount Sinai and account for most of the reported crashes we track. Route 25A at Route 83 — a busy North Shore signalized junction. Commercial driveways, signalized intersections, and turning movements along these corridors drive the local crash mix.
How current are these Mount Sinai accident reports?
Long Island Traffic adds new reports every 2–4 hours from 511NY, NYS Police Troop L, SCPD, and verified local news. Scroll up for the latest Mount Sinai and Suffolk County incidents, and check the "Dangerous Roads" section for corridor-level breakdowns.
Do I need a lawyer after a Mount Sinai accident?
If you suffered serious injuries, significant property damage, or the other driver was uninsured, consulting a Suffolk County personal injury attorney is strongly recommended. Many firms offer free consultations and work on contingency. See our free guides at /know-your-rights/car-accidents/ and /know-your-rights/insurance-claims/.
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Data: machine-readable fact sheet (JSON) · fatal-crash records (CSV) · methodology and limits
References
Datasets
- [A] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2010–2024 national files. Retrieved September 17, 2026.Crashes on public trafficways in which a person died within 30 days. No personal identifiers. Placed by reported coordinates into 2020 Census boundaries.
- [B] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-Year Estimates, tables B08303, B08013, B08301, B08302, B08201, B19013, B01002. Retrieved September 17, 2026.Survey estimates with 90% margins of error. lowReliability = coefficient of variation above 30%.
- [C] U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb — 2020 Census tabulation geography (POP100, HU100, AREALAND). Retrieved September 17, 2026.
- [D] New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, Motor Vehicle Crashes — Case Information: Four Year Window. Retrieved September 17, 2026.Police-reported crashes coded to a town, city or village by the reporting agency. Hamlets are not coded; hamlet pages show the parent town.
Sources for history, roads and law
- [1] Mount Sinai School District. Mount Sinai History (school history page) (n.d.). Government record.
- [2] Mount Sinai Civic Association. About / Our History (2026). Institution.
- [3] U.S. Census Bureau. 2020 Gazetteer Files: Places, New York (2020_gaz_place_36.txt) (2020). Government record.
- [4] Mount Sinai School District. Mount Sinai School District (home page) (2026). Government record.
- [5] Suffolk County Police Department. Sixth Precinct (2026). Government record.
- [6] Town of Brookhaven / General Code (ecode360). Town of Brookhaven Code, Chapter 84, Notice of Defective or Dangerous Conditions (2026). Government record.
- [7] New York State Department of Transportation, Office of Traffic Safety & Mobility. Official Description of Highway Touring Routes... in New York State (CR 83 entry) (2017). Government record.
Sources opened and checked September 17, 2026.