Joseph Hallberg walked toward St. Patrick’s Parish Festival from his West Scranton apartment two summers ago, excited to hear his favorite band.
The 64-year-old retiree stepped onto North Main Avenue after the light changed. Just feet from the other side, a car struck him from behind, hurtling him into the air. He landed on his head and died 11 days later.
He is the sixth pedestrian killed in a 2-mile stretch on South and North Main Avenue from Court to West Locust streets in West Scranton since 2010, an analysis of Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crash data from 2007 to 2017 found. Five died between 2014 and 2017.
The road has the highest pedestrian death toll of any state road in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties in that time frame.
Of 1,305 traffic fatalities on state roads in seven counties, 134, or 10%, involved pedestrians. More than one in four of the pedestrian deaths — 28%, or 38 — involved alcohol. And, the pedestrian was intoxicated in 16, or 42%, of the 38.
‘No common
denominator’
Of the 35 pedestrian deaths in Lackawanna County, 14 were in Scranton, with two alcohol-related. Both involved impaired drivers, including one of the six South and North Main Avenue deaths.
Thomas Anthony Gill admitted he was high on heroin and other drugs when he fatally struck bicyclist Michael Harmer on Aug. 28, 2016,at South Main Avenue and West Locust Street. Gill, who fled the scene, pleaded guilty in March 2018, to accidents involving death or injury and other charges, and is serving a six- to 12-year state prison sentence. State data lists the crash as a pedestrian fatality.
Main Avenue is a heavily traveled main artery that links Scranton with Taylor, Old Forge and other Downvalley municipalities. Average annual daily traffic count ranges from 12,628 to 14,870 vehicles, according to PennDOT. It cuts through a densely populated area lined with dozens of businesses, residences and churches.
Scranton Police Chief Carl Graziano said he initially suspected speed might be a factor on Main Avenue. Police set up a speed monitoring device from March to April 2017.
“For the most part, speeds were within the limit or close to it,” he said.
The department looked at other factors, including line of site, traffic control devices and the topography of roads, Graziano said. No pattern or anomaly was detected to explain why there were so many pedestrian deaths.
“There was no common denominator,” he said.
In Hallberg’s case, the driver, Dana Mascaro,said she was blinded by the sun as she turned left from Jackson Street onto North Main Avenue around 7 p.m., July 8, 2017,police said. The PennDOT data lists aggressive driving as a factor in the crash. No charges were filed against her.
Hallberg’s sister, Bertha Barthold, said losing him devastated their family. Her brother was a deeply religious man who attended church twice a day. He was the primary caregiver for their now 96-year-old mother, with whom he resided.
“Our whole lives just changed in a matter of seconds when she hit him, especially my mom,” Barthold said. “She is heartbroken and will never get over it.”
Hallberg’s niece, Kelsey Phillips, said a traffic study should be done to determine ways to prevent other pedestrian deaths.
“Nothing can console our grief ... but we need to focus on what we can do and try to make a safer situation for pedestrians in our area,” Phillips said.
Scranton fatalities
Two other Scranton roads had two pedestrian fatalities each:
North Washington Street: one at Linden Street and one at Mulberry Street.
Lackawanna Avenue: one at Wyoming Avenue and one in the block between Wyoming and Penn avenues.
Plans are underway to make some safety changes at the traffic signal at Lackawanna and Penn avenues, which sees a lot of pedestrian traffic because it is directly across from the main entrance to the Marketplace at Steamtown mall, said Graziano.
Motorists turning left onto Lackawanna Avenue after the light changes sometimes fail to yield to pedestrians. Graziano is working with PennDOT to change the timing of the light to give pedestrians a few extra seconds before the light changes for motorists.
Poconos’ windy roads
After South and North Main Avenue in Scranton, the only other roads with similar pedestrian fatality rates are Route 611 and Route 196, also known as Sterling Road, both in Monroe County. There were 31 pedestrian deaths in Monroe.
On Route 611, five pedestrians were killed on a two-mile segment between Pocono and Stroud Twps. On Route 196, four pedestrians died in 4.4-mile span from Edgewood Road to just outside the entrance to A Pocono Country Place, a private housing development in Coolbaugh Twp. Two of those deaths occurred within 3/10 of a mile by the housing development.
Officials in Pocono Twp. and neighboring municipalities are working on a traffic task force to examine all the roads, said Jerry Lastowski,president of Pocono Twp.’s board of commissioners.
Route 611 and Route 196 are among the primary concerns, he said.
Heavily traveled Route 611 cuts through a large commercial and retail area, including the Crossings outlet shopping center in Tannersville.
“It’s a three-lane highway and unfortunately, a good portion of it is dark because of the nature of the Poconos being a wooded area,” Lastowski said. “If people are wearing dark clothing it’s hard to see them. All it takes is one error by a walker or a driver and you have a catastrophe.”
Aware of the issues, officials are taking steps to address them. They plan to install lights and sidewalks on Route 611 near the intersection with Route 715 to Werner Road, Lastowski said.
Sean Brown, spokesman for PennDOT’s District 5, said similar issues exist on Route 196, a narrow, windy road with no lights or sidewalks. It is the main artery leading to A Pocono Country Place and another large housing development, Pocono Farms East.
“Many times, it’s people getting off the bus going into the housing developments,” he said.
PennDOT is in the midst of a safety study to determine what can be done, he said. The department also is working with busing companies to help educate riders on precautions to take when exiting the bus and crossing roads.
Other deaths scattered
While Luzerne County had the most pedestrian deaths, 53, no state road had five or more deaths in a six-mile range.
Route 11 from Plymouth to Kingston had the most pedestrian fatalities in the county — four in a roughly 3.3-mile stretch. Of those, two occurred in Plymouth. One was a hit-and-run at the intersection with Center Avenue in which police believed, but couldn’t prove, that the driver was intoxicated. The other, near the intersection with Elm Street, was because of aggressive driving and rainy weather, PennDOT data shows.
Borough Police Chief Anthony Gorey said he does not believe issues with the roads contributed to the crashes. He noted there are sidewalks and crosswalks along Route 11 through Plymouth.
The other two fatalities occurred in Larksville, on a stretch of road that has no street lights or sidewalk, and in Kingston at Pierce Street, where two cars struck a woman while she was trying to cross four highway lanes.
In Wilkes-Barre, there were 12 pedestrian deaths. Of those, three occurred on a 1.3-mile stretch of South and North River Street from the intersection with Academy to West North streets.
The rest are scattered throughout the city.
In Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties, there were a combined 14 pedestrian deaths. No single road had more than one pedestrian death.
Gavin Gray,chief of PennDOT’s Highway Safety Section, said increasing pedestrian safety has become a national priority in recent years. A recent Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) study found that pedestrian deaths sharply increased over a 10-year period, rising about 26.2%, to 5,977 in 2017, from 4,414 in 2008. The association attributes the rise to several factors, including more distracted drivers and pedestrians on roads.
Pedestrian deaths in Pennsylvania fluctuated in the same general time frame — from 148 in 2010,to 172 in 2016,then 150 in 2017, according to PennDOT.
PennDOT has several initiatives to help reduce pedestrian accidents, including safety education for pedestrians and motorists through videos and social media, Gray said. The state also launched a pilot program that funds police departments to monitor high pedestrian traffic areas.
“It’s an opportunity not only to make sure the pedestrians are safe but to make sure motorists realize what the motor vehicle codes require,” he said.
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A 2-mile stretch of Main Avenue in Scranton saw six pedestrian deaths since 2010,
the most of any state road in the region