Mt. Lebanon continues to promote pedestrian, vehicle, bicycle safety
For motorists who have experienced close calls or worse near St. Clair Hospital, it may come as no surprise that the corresponding block of Bower Hill Road has registered the highest number of reportable crashes in Mt. Lebanon during the past decade.
“People can’t see the other vehicles coming,” Mt. Lebanon police Lt. Mark Rayburg explained. “They’ll wave them on to make a left-hand turn. They make a left-hand turn; they get hit by oncoming traffic.”
Rayburg, who heads the department’s traffic services division, joined Chief Aaron Lauth to give an update addressing the Mt. Lebanon Commission’s goals of improving pedestrian, vehicle and bicycle safety.
During the commission’s Jan. 25 discussion session, the police officers presented data about the top trouble spots in the municipality for accidents and offered recommendations toward lowering the numbers.
Data compiled by the department show 93 reportable crashes, those involving injuries or disabling of vehicles, in the 1000 block of Bower Hill Road between 2005 and 2015. A major contributing factor is the offset intersection with Segar Road to the north and Greenhurst Drive to the south, as driver attempt to turn left in either direction.
“The way that the road is engineered is still the same, but we do have new traffic signals there,” Lauth said about recent improvements. “So we’ll have to see how some of these things play out over the next 10 years.”
Three of the top five blocks for vehicular accidents involve Washington Road: two on either side of the intersection with Connor and Gilkeson roads, and one in the heart of the Uptown Business District.
“Approximately 32,000 vehicles traverse Washington Road daily,” Rayburg said. “In 365 days a year times 10 years, that’s really a low number of total crashes.”
The block of Gilkeson closest to Washington makes the list, along with the 300 block, with many of the crashes there occurring because of turns associated with an assisted-living facility.
Rounding out the list are blocks of Cochran Road near Virginia Manor Shops, Castle Shannon Boulevard near Scott Road, McFarland Road near its convergence with Beverly Road to form Banksville Road, and Connor Road at the intersections with Greenridge Road and Oregon Trail.
Michael Haberman, traffic engineer for Gateway Engineers, also participated in the discussion and said that improvement has been made to traffic signals and lanes on Connor.
“It eliminated a lot of that free-for-all left turn that was happening out there,” he said, noting that the number of accidents in that area may have dropped since the modifications.
Also presented were the top 10 intersections for accidents involving pedestrians or bicycles during 2007-12, as identified in the road safety audit conducted for the municipality in 2012-13.
Most involve either Washington Road or Cochran Road, including the intersection of the two. The lone exception is Bower Hill Road at Kenmont Avenue, which is a block away from Washington.
The road safety audit also makes several recommendations for safety improvements.
“We are constantly looking at things and evaluating them to determine, are we putting our resources in the best places,” Lauth said.
Among the approaches is an education campaign, perhaps similar to one in Ocean City, Md., where Lauth once served on the police force.
“They have instituted a campaign where they are trying to remind people constantly, barrage them with informational messages about using the crosswalks, walking safely,” he said.
Another safety measure involves enforcement of laws requiring drivers to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.
“We did this a number of years ago during our aggressive driving campaign,” Rayburg said. “We put plainclothes police officers crossing the roadway. If the drivers did not yield for the plainclothes police officer, an unmark police car would soon follow and issue citations.”