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Distracted Driving Needs Pols' Attention
Road WATCH FOR Aug. 23….
(Crash outside Hospital Raises Readers’ Ire)
As of Friday, Upper Darby Police Superintendent said no charges had been filed against a 20-year-old Havertown woman who killed one college student and seriously injured another outside Delaware County Memorial Hospital after losing control of her car and running up on the sidewalk a week ago.
The tragic incident raised the ire of over 20 readers after reading that the driver lost control of her car while she was trying to retrieve her iPod. Rachael Jankins, 20, of the 200 block of Hastings Avenue, Haverford, was driving south on Lansdowne Avenue when she suddenly crossed over two northbound lanes and mowed down the two victims from behind.
Killed was Nicole Gallo, 19, of the 300 block of West Park Lane, Upper Darby, a soon-to-be sophomore at Lebanon Valley College. Injured seriously was Christine Bochanski, 20, of the 100 block of Berkley Avenue, Lansdowne, Nicole’s best girlfriend and a fellow 2008 Archbishop Prendergast High School grad.
Bochanski is enrolled as a sophomore at Villanova University. Both girls had participated in numerous activities at their high school.
Most readers expressed their shock at the accident about 11:13 a.m. Aug. 14 on busy Lansdowne Avenue near the main entrance of the hospital and offered their sympathies to the families of both young women.
They also hammered away at the need for tougher motor vehicle laws banning the use of handheld cell phones, texting and other electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle.
I’ve been a longtime advocate of a state law against handheld cell phones and texting while driving, but, of course, such requests have fallen on the deaf ears of our Harrisburg honchos for the most part.
To those passive and politically correct observers who don’t want to be judgmental or criticize our readers for voicing their opinions against such stupid distractions, I have two words: WHAT IF?
WHAT IF the sidewalk the two victims were walking on before they were struck from behind was also crowded with young concert-goers to the nearby Upper Darby Performing Arts Center?
WHAT IF a mother was pushing her child in a stroller after visiting the hospital?
The loss of one life in such a senseless incident is one too much, but it’s a miracle that more lives weren’t lost on a busy Friday around lunchtime outside a major hospital.
A driver’s first priority should be keeping your eyes on the road and traffic conditions – and keeping your vehicle under control.
If you drop your cell phone, iPod or whatever electronic device, it can be retrieved when you come to a full stop at a red light and put the car in park, or by eventually pulling over in a parking space. It’s not the end of the world.
You shouldn’t be performing contortions trying to stretch over to the passenger seat floor or under the seat while steering your vehicle at the same time.
Is trying to recover an iPod, cell phone or whatever worth the life of a young woman with a bright future ahead of her and crippling another young lady who were on routine business at a hospital?
Harrsiburg, open up your ears to the tragic results of distracted driving.
SEPTA Drill
SEPTA will conduct an emergency simulation drill 9 a.m. today at the entrance to the Green Line tunnel near 36th and Market streets in Philadelphia. It will be a simulated trolley crash to test its readiness to respond. About 30 students from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital will participate in the drill, along with SEPTA and city emergency personnel.
As a result, there will be temporary service suspensions on trolley routes between 6 a.m. and noon today. Riders can use the Market-Frankford Line to 40th Street Station for connections to and from these lines.
Service in the tunnel at the 36th Street tunnel for trolley routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 will also be diverted from 10 tonight through 5 a.m. Monday to 40th and Market streets for routine maintenance.
Customers can continue to travel to Center City by using the Market-Frankford Line Night Owl bus service at 40th Street.
Pre-Labor Day Crackdown
Motorists will see an increased police presence on the highways starting this weekend as more than 600 municipal police departments and state police will be joining in a national crackdown on impaired driving through the Labor Day weekend.
A key focus of the crackdown will be underage drinking and driving as college students prepare to return to campuses and high school football season gets under way. Awareness events will be held at several high schools during the next two weeks.
There were more than 1,400 alcohol-related crashes involving drivers aged 16-20 across the state last year. Those crashes resulted in 45 fatalities.
Police made more than 9,100 DUI drug arrests in 2008.
Traffic Delays
Upper Darby – Victory Avenue/Cardington Road, bridge repairs between West Chester Pike and Lansdowne Avenue, 24-hour detour, beginning Tuesday and lasting through Sept. 8.
I-476 North/South (Blue Route) – herbicide application along several municipalities with intermittent lane restrictions between U.S. Route 1/Media Bypass and I-95, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday.
Upper Chichester – Naamans Creek Road, Southern Delaware County Authority utility installation, closed/detoured between Larkin and Meetinghouse roads 9 a.m.-3 p.m., detour posted through Sept. 6.
Holmes Road/Amosland Road – Ridley Township, Prospect Park and Norwood, Aqua utility installation between MacDade Boulevard and Chester Pike 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Oct. 2, detour posted.
Baltimore Avenue – Lansdowne, East Lansdowne, Upper Darby, Aqua Pennsylvania utility installation, closed/detoured between Church Lane and Lansdowne Avenue, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., detour posted weekdays through Nov. 30.
Tinicum – Second Street, Aqua Pa. utility installation between Erickson and Putcan avenues 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Aug. 31. Work began June 1.
Middletown and Media – Baltimore Pike, AT&T conduit installation with lane restrictions between Routes 452 and 352, 7 p.m.-6 a.m. weeknights through Aug. 28. Work began April 20.
Haverford – Coopertown Road, Aqua installation, closed/detoured between College Avenue and Darby Road 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Aug. 28. Work began April 20.
Also, College Avenue closed/detoured 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays between Coopertown Road and Spring Mill Lane through Aug. 28. Work began April 20.
Chester — Flower Street, ramp construction with a new traffic pattern at Fourth and Second streets, 24-hour restriction through 2011. Work began Jan. 12.
Also, Norris Street, ramp construction with lane restrictions at Front Street and Delaware Avenue, 24-hour restriction through 2011. Work began Jan. 12.
Ridley Park – Ridley Avenue, Aqua utility installation, closed/detoured between Constitution Avenue and Cresswell/Tasker streets 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays and through Aug. 28. Work began March 9.
“Road Watch” appears Sundays. Only messages and mail with phone numbers will be considered. E-mail: jroman@delcotimes.com.
(Crash outside Hospital Raises Readers’ Ire)
As of Friday, Upper Darby Police Superintendent said no charges had been filed against a 20-year-old Havertown woman who killed one college student and seriously injured another outside Delaware County Memorial Hospital after losing control of her car and running up on the sidewalk a week ago.
The tragic incident raised the ire of over 20 readers after reading that the driver lost control of her car while she was trying to retrieve her iPod. Rachael Jankins, 20, of the 200 block of Hastings Avenue, Haverford, was driving south on Lansdowne Avenue when she suddenly crossed over two northbound lanes and mowed down the two victims from behind.
Killed was Nicole Gallo, 19, of the 300 block of West Park Lane, Upper Darby, a soon-to-be sophomore at Lebanon Valley College. Injured seriously was Christine Bochanski, 20, of the 100 block of Berkley Avenue, Lansdowne, Nicole’s best girlfriend and a fellow 2008 Archbishop Prendergast High School grad.
Bochanski is enrolled as a sophomore at Villanova University. Both girls had participated in numerous activities at their high school.
Most readers expressed their shock at the accident about 11:13 a.m. Aug. 14 on busy Lansdowne Avenue near the main entrance of the hospital and offered their sympathies to the families of both young women.
They also hammered away at the need for tougher motor vehicle laws banning the use of handheld cell phones, texting and other electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle.
I’ve been a longtime advocate of a state law against handheld cell phones and texting while driving, but, of course, such requests have fallen on the deaf ears of our Harrisburg honchos for the most part.
To those passive and politically correct observers who don’t want to be judgmental or criticize our readers for voicing their opinions against such stupid distractions, I have two words: WHAT IF?
WHAT IF the sidewalk the two victims were walking on before they were struck from behind was also crowded with young concert-goers to the nearby Upper Darby Performing Arts Center?
WHAT IF a mother was pushing her child in a stroller after visiting the hospital?
The loss of one life in such a senseless incident is one too much, but it’s a miracle that more lives weren’t lost on a busy Friday around lunchtime outside a major hospital.
A driver’s first priority should be keeping your eyes on the road and traffic conditions – and keeping your vehicle under control.
If you drop your cell phone, iPod or whatever electronic device, it can be retrieved when you come to a full stop at a red light and put the car in park, or by eventually pulling over in a parking space. It’s not the end of the world.
You shouldn’t be performing contortions trying to stretch over to the passenger seat floor or under the seat while steering your vehicle at the same time.
Is trying to recover an iPod, cell phone or whatever worth the life of a young woman with a bright future ahead of her and crippling another young lady who were on routine business at a hospital?
Harrsiburg, open up your ears to the tragic results of distracted driving.
SEPTA Drill
SEPTA will conduct an emergency simulation drill 9 a.m. today at the entrance to the Green Line tunnel near 36th and Market streets in Philadelphia. It will be a simulated trolley crash to test its readiness to respond. About 30 students from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital will participate in the drill, along with SEPTA and city emergency personnel.
As a result, there will be temporary service suspensions on trolley routes between 6 a.m. and noon today. Riders can use the Market-Frankford Line to 40th Street Station for connections to and from these lines.
Service in the tunnel at the 36th Street tunnel for trolley routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 will also be diverted from 10 tonight through 5 a.m. Monday to 40th and Market streets for routine maintenance.
Customers can continue to travel to Center City by using the Market-Frankford Line Night Owl bus service at 40th Street.
Pre-Labor Day Crackdown
Motorists will see an increased police presence on the highways starting this weekend as more than 600 municipal police departments and state police will be joining in a national crackdown on impaired driving through the Labor Day weekend.
A key focus of the crackdown will be underage drinking and driving as college students prepare to return to campuses and high school football season gets under way. Awareness events will be held at several high schools during the next two weeks.
There were more than 1,400 alcohol-related crashes involving drivers aged 16-20 across the state last year. Those crashes resulted in 45 fatalities.
Police made more than 9,100 DUI drug arrests in 2008.
Traffic Delays
Upper Darby – Victory Avenue/Cardington Road, bridge repairs between West Chester Pike and Lansdowne Avenue, 24-hour detour, beginning Tuesday and lasting through Sept. 8.
I-476 North/South (Blue Route) – herbicide application along several municipalities with intermittent lane restrictions between U.S. Route 1/Media Bypass and I-95, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday.
Upper Chichester – Naamans Creek Road, Southern Delaware County Authority utility installation, closed/detoured between Larkin and Meetinghouse roads 9 a.m.-3 p.m., detour posted through Sept. 6.
Holmes Road/Amosland Road – Ridley Township, Prospect Park and Norwood, Aqua utility installation between MacDade Boulevard and Chester Pike 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Oct. 2, detour posted.
Baltimore Avenue – Lansdowne, East Lansdowne, Upper Darby, Aqua Pennsylvania utility installation, closed/detoured between Church Lane and Lansdowne Avenue, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., detour posted weekdays through Nov. 30.
Tinicum – Second Street, Aqua Pa. utility installation between Erickson and Putcan avenues 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Aug. 31. Work began June 1.
Middletown and Media – Baltimore Pike, AT&T conduit installation with lane restrictions between Routes 452 and 352, 7 p.m.-6 a.m. weeknights through Aug. 28. Work began April 20.
Haverford – Coopertown Road, Aqua installation, closed/detoured between College Avenue and Darby Road 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Aug. 28. Work began April 20.
Also, College Avenue closed/detoured 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays between Coopertown Road and Spring Mill Lane through Aug. 28. Work began April 20.
Chester — Flower Street, ramp construction with a new traffic pattern at Fourth and Second streets, 24-hour restriction through 2011. Work began Jan. 12.
Also, Norris Street, ramp construction with lane restrictions at Front Street and Delaware Avenue, 24-hour restriction through 2011. Work began Jan. 12.
Ridley Park – Ridley Avenue, Aqua utility installation, closed/detoured between Constitution Avenue and Cresswell/Tasker streets 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays and through Aug. 28. Work began March 9.
“Road Watch” appears Sundays. Only messages and mail with phone numbers will be considered. E-mail: jroman@delcotimes.com.
posted by John Roman at
8:01 AM
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