Suffolk County Community College (SCCC), in the span of a little over two months, has faced up to 12 car accidents on Grant Campus, leaving students susceptible to a banged-up car and staff worried about student safety on campus.
“Almost all car accidents are minor fender benders or banging your car when parking, it is rarely serious,” shared Phillip Sandusky, Assistant Director of Public Safety. “Every couple of weeks there’ll be an accident that requires an ambulance, sometimes a car is towed, but vast bulk are property damage.” A lot of the time, what happens is that new drivers don’t measure distance correctly. Students are urged to be slower and careful, more mindful about what they do, and to signal their intentions clearly. “Be prepared for other drivers to do silly things!”
Five of the 12 accidents occurred on Lot 2, by Asharoken Hall and the Sagtikos Arts and Sciences Building. They were each around the times of either 12:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m., both popular times for students to head out to their classes or return home from them – it’s parking lot is simply too crowded. Two of the 12 occurred in Lot 3, the closest parking to the Learning Resource Center, one in Lot 1 which is in front of Nesconset Hall, now two in Lot 5 that’s in front of the Suffolk Credit Union Arena, and one each on the inner and outer loop roads. One of the accidents which occurred in Lot 5 left two people injured, but no further information was shared.
Ironically, while asking Sandusky about the accidents on campus, he got a call about two people having a collision at the Wicks Rd. entrance. They were moved to Lot 5, the Arena parking lot, and the police had to fill out an MV104 – motor vehicle accident report. This is shown to the insurance company to show there’s been an accident. This makes for the first, and unlikely to be the last, accident for November 2025.
For any accidents that happen on campus contact Public Safety first. “We’ll respond much faster than police,” said Sandusky. He explained that “most of the time, accidents are minor so police won’t answer right away – Public Safety will.”
So, what steps does one take if faced in a collision with another vehicle? First, make sure everyone in the car is safe and, if possible, move the car to a more secure spot. Next, call Public Safety for help and safely exit your vehicle to exchange information with the other driver, asses and document any damages for insurance purposes. What exactly does Public Safety do? Sandusky shared that they will “evaluate the scene and ask students if they wish to call police or settle it amongst themselves. Sometimes the police will be called regardless of intent.”
Whether you’re a new driver or have been through defensive driving courses, accidents happen, and SCCC wants to try to educate its students about these accidents to make sure everyone is made aware of them and therefore drives more carefully. The goal is to make Grant Campus a little safer and help anyone who might find themselves in an accident. Props to the Assistant Director of Public Safety, Philip Sandusky, and the Public Safety officers keeping our campus safe day after day.
In case of emergency, please contact the Office of Public Safety at 631-451-4242.
