Sep 30, 2009 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Dangers Of Notorious Chester County Intersection
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
Only on Eyewitness News: a dangerous intersection in Chester County, the injuries mount and local officials are refusing to help. Neighbors are frustrated and mad.
When our own Stephanie Stahl was in an accident there, we started asking questions and found a long, twisted history.
Stahl's wrecked SUV was totaled. It was a scary crash and a frightening ambulance ride to a trauma center.
She says, "I came to a stop and was crossing the intersection when I suddenly got hit by a truck.
"No one did anything wrong. I was a little banged up, but had no serious injuries. We found out the intersection where it happened is notorious and others haven't been so fortunate."
Jay Leimbach has learned to live with a limp, but it's the dizziness and memory problems that are especially frustrating for this Chester County free lance writer. He says, "I've been lucky, but I still have major troubles."
His accident happened 10 years ago. Jay's mother was killed instantly. And he had extensive injuries and was on life support and in coma for weeks. "My father was driving, he lost his wife and his son was expected to die for weeks as well," Leimbach said.
The intersection is at Sugartown and Monument roads, on the border of Malvern and Willistown township.
"This is insane here", said Bill Dondero who lives at the intersection. He says he calls 911 all the time about accidents here.
The problem, according to neighbors, is only Monument has stop signs. Trees and bushes can obscure the view, and there's a blind spot in one direction on Sugartown because of a little hill.
You can't see cars crossing on Monument until right before the intersection.
Neighbor Catherine Dunlop says, "People fly over that hill and there's such a short stop distance from the top of the hill to the bottom.
Another neighbor Anthony Mancini says, "My sister was in an accident. I'll never forget that. She was okay, but it demolished her car."
It's on a 5 mile stretch of Sugartown road where PennDOT says there have been 74 accidents between 2004 and 2008, 9 have been at the Monument intersection.
A simple solution might be a stop sign. Why isn't there one? That's when the story turns into one of these. That's Malvern and that's Willistown Township and the road is PennDOT.
Charles Metzgar with PennDOT says, "The request for the traffic signal has to come from the municipalities." He says the state then investigates and if a light or signs are warranted, the municipality that makes the request has to pay.
"They can't agree who ought to put up a traffic sign, so I would like to think for the price of a traffic sign we can avoid a few more tragic accidents in the future," Jay Leimbach said.
After my accident, when CBS 3 started asking questions, officials from both Malvern and Willistown refused on camera interviews. But Willistown did put up new signs under the stop signs on Monument - warning that on coming traffic doesn't stop. And brush was cleared so it's easier for drivers to see.
"We knew it was because of Stephanie and Channel 3 they were being very responsible, but it's a shame it takes that kind of pressure on any local government knowing that there are accidents and deaths."
And the neighbors say it's not enough, they want a stop sign on Sugartown, or warning lights- something, something to stop the accidents.
Leimbach says, "I would like to think that we're not going to have more deaths here before somebody gets the message that we need a traffic sign."
But officials from Willistown and Malvern disagree and both say there is no need for a sign.
Officials from Willistown also told us they felt an additional stop sign would create a more dangerous situation.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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