Update 2/16/07: Our most recent accident on the Northway occurred on Wednesday, February 14th during the height of the largest storm of the year. This was well predicted. Again, the lack of cell phone coverage is being blamed for this death.

A recent accident on the Northway has the Orthodox Jewish community in an uproar. Many don’t know it, but there is a huge amount of traffic between the NY metro area and orthodox communities in Quebec. Check out some of these comments:

Is there more to be said about these Environmentalists/APA (Adirondack Park Agency) people???

It’s quite obvious, that they’re the ones responsible for this horrible (& horrific) accident! & they ought’a be prosecuted!

In-order to preserve the looks of the of this gorgeous woods, & to save some small cockroach that might be an endangered-species, they’re willing to spare the life of a human-being!

This is what’s called cruelty, inhuman, ruthless & LIBERALISM,

They tend to call themselves liberals, but they are the worst dictators of modern-history!

Sucks to be the APA.

Would cell phone coverage be of help to the Yeshiva Yagdil Torah people?

Huh?

sorry but I’m just trying to explain why it wasn’t done until now, also there is a call box a 10th of a mile from where the accident happened, why isn’t that good enough?

call boxes were put in place just for that reason, in case of an accident.

because of one reckless driver from where down in Brooklyn where you all are, you don’t have to mess with nature.

and beside that all you always driving to and from Montreal, why don’t you take a plane, isn’t it much faster?
we moved here to be a way from all you city people.

A tragedy for sure, but I’d like to see a sane solution. When did universal cell phone coverage become a necessity? What if your too poor to even own a cell phone? Will that become a human right? Recent discussions regarding personal responsibility in the wilderness and rescue come to mind.

Related

Spring Snow Storm Warning Ignored
Plattsburgh-based State Police reported one person died in a one-car accident at about 5:17 p.m. in the south-bound lane of Interstate 87 just north of Exit 34 in Keeseville.

Cell issue addressed at Local Government Day
Blah, blah, blah. Still no towers. Don’t care anymore.

Calling Al Gore
If Al Gore is as concerned about human welfare as he says he is — as well as being concerned about the reputation of the environmental movement — he should pick up his cell phone, call the environmentalists in the Adirondacks, and tell them to cease their misguided crusade. Because on the Northway, it’s an inconvenient truth that environmentalism is leading to unnecessary death and devastation.

The Constitution Is Upheld In The Face Of Fear Mongers Hysteria
I firmly believe no one died because of lack of cell phone coverage. They died because they were careless and drove off the road. Cell phones don’t make you safer, they merely give you a false sense of security. Suppose the Langers cell phone didn’t work because it ran out of batteries, should we install chargers along the Northway?

Spitzer’s cell-tower response has some upset
Local officials had mixed reactions Thursday to Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s decision not to allow movable cell towers along Interstate 87.

Cells on Wheels won’t be allowed
Movable cell towers will not be allowed along the Adirondack Northway.

Spitzer rejects temporary plan for cell phone towers on Adirondack Northway
Governor Spitzer says he won’t install temporary cell phone towers along the Adirondack Northway, but he’ll continue to seek a solution to limited cell phone coverage in the remote area of northern New York.

A World Without Cell Service….Is It Such A Bad Thing!!!
This is certainly an inconvenience but to make it seem to be more than that is absurd. We’ve simply become too dependent on a connection to the outside world. Anytime that is broken we feel there is a problem.

Adirondack Northway Cell Phone Controversy
Complete cell-phone coverage in the Adirondacks is a pipe-dream, unless there are towers on nearly every mountain in the region. Anyone who lives in the mountains, or even in the hilly suburbs knows they lose service all the time, no matter how close the nearest tower is.

Cell phone representatives say plans are in the works
With 103 towns scattered throughout 6.5 million acres of primitive forest and strict land-use zoning laws, most cell phones don’t work inside the “Blue Line.”

Communication Towers in the Park
The Council believes that reliable emergency wireless coverage, and other private wireless uses, can be achieved while ensuring the environmental and scenic resources that the Park possesses

Cellular dead spots are common things
Is the Northway in the Adirondacks some special place in the world where people have some inherent privilege to have complete cell phone coverage, or is it just a place that has a convenient scapegoat to blame all of life’s troubles on – the APA and/or environmental community – without having to understand or deal with the real issues we all face especially in the rural areas of this country?

KILLER VIEWS – GREENS BRING HIGHWAY DEATHS
“LET ’em die – just don’t mess with our perfect view. That’s the message from New York environmentalists who’ve prevented the construction of cell-phone towers along Interstate 87 in the Adirondacks. ”

Cellphone towers would have saved motorists
In Other News: All new cars to be installed with ejection seats which turn into Willy Wonka’s Magic Elevator.

Verizon Wireless puts cell plan in action
“We are in the very, very early stages, but, when it’s done, this will provide blanket coverage of the Northway from Schroon Lake north. These nine sites would fill in the gaps.”

The APA Flip Flops, and Dov Hikind is In Hiding.
We need to step up the pressure on the APA. They will not accomplish anything if we relax our guard on this story. The agency is only trying now to redirect attention from itself, until this issue cools off. Must we suffer more tragedies after the widespread interest quiets down?

APA Responds to Vos Iz Neias Call for Action!
The APA are a bunch of lying MURDERERS. They approved a plan they knew the wireless companies could not do, since it would be uneconomical, and the companies could only do it if profitable (fidiciary responsibility to shareholders.)…..Note: This whole thing is getting silly.

Groups Call for Sensible Northway Cell Service that Protects the Natural Resources of the Adirondack Park
Environmental groups joined together today to call upon Governor Spitzer to protect the authority of the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and find a solution to the Northway cellular communications issue without suspending the laws, rules and regulations that protect the Adirondack Park. The groups also called for the state to help finance a responsible plan. (Letter to Governor Spitzer – PDF)
Cell Tower Battle Continues
Environmentalists today fired back in the escalating battle over whether large cell towers should be installed along the Adirondack Northway, AKA I-87.

Family speaks out about I-87 crash
…much of the Orthodox Jewish community is outraged by the lack of emergency cell service along the Adirondack Northway.
“What is a human life worth?” Herbst said. “Millions of deaths happen every day, and each one you could ask, ‘Is it preventable?’ My father-in-law would have been alive if there was cell service.”

Towers at rest stops one option before governor
At issue is a nearly 50-mile dark zone along the four-lane highway through New York’s northern mountains — the main road from Albany to Montreal. Cell phone service cuts out around Exit 26 near Pottersville and resumes around Exit 35 as drivers leave the Adirondack Park below Plattsburgh.
The entire mountainous and sparsely populated 6-million acre park has only limited land-based cell phone service.

Little calls for mobile cell towers for I-87
LAKE PLACID — State Sen. Betty Little wants Gov. Eliot Spitzer to issue an executive order to allow placement of temporary cellular-phone towers on the Northway.

Call Crusade For Cell Towers
An aide to the Spitzer administration’s public safety czar, Michael Balboni, said she has received “hundreds” of phone calls today from people who say they want cell towers installed on the Northway.

Proceed at your own risk
The Adirondack Park doesn’t have gates, it doesn’t have a bunch of fake rides and it doesn’t have lights.
It costs something to get in, though.
It costs a lack of modernity.

A special status for Northway
The blame put on the lack of cellphone service for vehicular deaths along deserted stretches of the Adirondack Northway is being stretched beyond the absurd.

Lawmakers push for cell service after second Northway death
Adirondack Council spokesman John Sheehan said heavy snowfall and road conditions that slowed down ambulance travel contributed to the Canadian truck driver’s death, not just the lack of cellular phone service.
“It’s tough to blame no cell service for culpability in this case,” he said.

N’Way Cell Battle Intensifies
This issue could turn into a significant problem for lawmakers and the governor if they don’t act fast. Orthodox Jewish voters tend to cast their ballots in a bloc, which is why their respective communities are courted with such ardor come election season. Angering them is something elected officials generally try to avoid.

Massive Campaign to Governor Elliot Spitzer
TODAY IT’S A TRUCKER – TOMORROW IT COULD BE YOU! WE NEED TO STOP THIS NOW!
A tragic story keeps growing more unfortunate.

“We are in 2007, we should have cell towers along every Thru-way, around every park, and hiking trails.”

Trucker Dies on Northway — Another Cell Phone Tragedy?
A tractor trailer driver on Interstate 87 became confused in last night’s snowstorm and drove on to the median around 6:30 PM. Question: Did these people not know the biggest storm of the year was hitting AT THAT VERY MOMENT?

Cell-phone coverage on the Northway appears likely
“Should the state take it upon itself to make sure every inch of its jurisdiction is blanketed by cell signals?”

Group proposes federal funding for cell towers on upper Northway
A U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint … could be justification for using federal and state homeland security funding to improve cellular phone service along the northernmost stretch of the interstate highway, said John Sheehan, a spokesman for the Adirondack

What you’ll not see or hear in the dead zone
“You can’t ask people to come to an area, to travel through an area and spend money in an area and have it be a third-world country.. Question: When did cell coverage become a first-world thing?

Cell Tower Progress in New York
Area legislators say that since the accident on I-87 they have had meetings with the governor’s office and they say that they believe cell phone service is now finally getting the attention it deserves.

Northway cell-service a top legislative focus
PLATTSBURGH — The issue of getting cell-phone service installed along the Adirondack Northway dominated Thursday’s Plattsburgh/North Country Chamber of Commerce Legislative Forum breakfast.

Essex County supports cell tower plan for Northway
ELIZABETHTOWN — Essex County is officially supporting a plan to overrule the Adirondack Park Agency and allow 100-foot cell towers along the Adirondack Northway.

Cell phone coverage is critical
New York can do more than just lament the Langners’ misfortune. It can increase visitors’ and residents’ safety by ensuring that there is strong, consistent cell phone coverage along the I-87 corridor and in other remote areas across upstate.

Delay on the Northway called unforgivable
Dr. Magu does not see the issue as debatable. “Note: “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Can you hear me now?
The bottom line is you can’t legislate common sense. And common sense is what saves lives, not cell phones, not cell towers and certainly not legislators.

Lack of cell service called ‘discrimination’
State Assemblyman Roy McDonald said the lack of cellular phone service in rural pockets of the state is an example of “geographic discrimination.” — What a a stupid notion.

Tragedy must now spell solution
But first, everybody has to climb out of their bunkers, where they ducked for cover, to show why none of it was their fault. Note: Personal responsibility not paternal government.

Cell Tower Rant
What happens if one day someone drives off the side of the road and dies because no one knew he/she was there … they die not just as a result of not having a cell signal but because they don’t have a phone and no one bothered to notice or stop to assist

Death on the Northway
If money is the problem, then Mr. Spitzer and the Legislature should act quickly to subsidize service. There is no time to waste. Lives truly hang in the balance.

Cell phone tragedy sparks controversy, debate
…what was once a regional feud over cell service has quickly escalated into a statewide controversy.

Cell tower debate rages after I-87 death
“We will work with the private sector, state agencies and local communities to identify technology solutions that improve communication in the Northway corridor while also respecting the unique Adirondack environment through which the highway passes,”

Kayleigh’s Blogs: A little too late!
It’s the 21st century people. Does everyone know that? Technology by now should be well advanced and coverage; … cellphone should be widespread and everyone should have access. Well don’t think too fast, a man died…

Accident renews cell service debate
“There is a scenic easement that runs along the Northway. It guides what kind of development can occur along the sides of the road and generally prohibits most of it.”

Frum community in uproar over cell towers
If you ever travel on the Northway any day of the week, you can practically put together a minyan for Mincha at any rest area.

“wrongful death” claimed due to no cell coverage in Daks – ADKHighPeaks Forums
“Geez I wonder how many wrongful deaths there were before the inception of cell phones?”

Cell Phone reception in the Adirondacks – Adirondack Forum
Huge cell phone thread

Public Safety officials push for better cell service on Northway
“I care about public safety. I don’t care about the permits. I don’t care about the costs. It just needs to get done.”

Can you hear me now? Money at root of cellphone problem
Now comes the blame game over the death of a Brooklyn man along a deserted length of the Northway, a death attributed to the lack of cellphone service.

Orthodox Jews pulled into cell tower dialogue
“The Orthodox community is roaring mad. Everyone is extremely angry,”

The Night Hashem Did the Rest
“Would I find a minyan there in about an hour or so?” “Sure. Even later. You’re looking for a minyan? There’s a heimishe oilam here. We could probably pull one together now.” HERE??? In Yennemsville, N.Y??? At 10:30 at night?

Northway death seen as the last straw
A Orthodox Jewish group out of the New York City area has joined the public push for cell towers. “Thousands of our readers have read with great sadness about the tragic accident that happened last Friday on the (Northway),” the group said on the Vos Iz N

Cell Phones in the Backcountry
Adirondack cell phone coverage–even in built-up areas–is spotty at best, so one should never count on being able to summon assistance instantly.

The use of a cell phone while driving is clearly irresponsible
One hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a cell phone pressed to his or her ear. It’s a common sight — as common as seeing someone driving along a street or highway holding a cup of hot coffee in one hand.

Frozen hubby’s final words: We’re going to live
The couple – unable to get a cell-phone signal – was trapped for 32 hours before help arrived on the lonely stretch of mountainous Adirondack Park highway.

Outrage at death for lack of signal
“The governor’s office is aware of this issue and we are looking into working together with the state Department of Transportation and the Adirondack Park Agency to see if a solution can be reached,”

Death Upstate Renews Phone-Tower Controversy
An accident on Thursday that resulted in a Brooklyn man freezing to death while he and his wife were trapped in their car for 32 hours has renewed the discussion for cellphone service along a mountainous stretch of highway in Adirondack Park.

One I-87 suit down, one to go
Can nobody take personal responsibility anymore?