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Neighbors: Hit & Run Shows How Dangerous Our Street Is

Neighbors: Hit & Run Shows How Dangerous Our Street Is - Monday, September 14, 2009 at 5:50PM EST

Reported by: Mark Hiller
Monday, Sep 14, 2009 @ 05:50pm EDT
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY -- A hit and run in Wilkes-Barre Sunday night is drawing more attention to what many call an unsafe situation.

It's a street where many complain that drivers are speeding. It runs through the city's Miners Mills and Parsons area. One intersection drawing much of the concern is North Washington and Beatty Streets. Now neighbors are calling for some stop sign help.

Mike Shinko said, "I've seen nothing but cars go flying by here. I've seen accidents up here."

Shinko is talking about North Washington Street near his Beatty Street home in Wilkes-Barre.
He believes the speeding problem on this 25-mile per hour zoned road has a solution - installing stop signs on North Washington in both directions at the intersection.

Just last week, Wilkes-Barre City Council proposed a traffic study for stop signs on North Washington, but the proposal was turned down and won't be brought up until the next meeting.

"I'm appealing to city council and they're working with me but it just seems we're not getting anything done," said Shinko.

He says he wasn't surprised that a woman was run over Sunday night along North Washington. The victim was picking up a hub cap that fell off her car when she was struck by a hit and run pickup truck.

The area of the hit and run is about a half-mile from the intersection where Shinko lives and all throughout that distance not a single stop sign or traffic signal to slow down traffic here on North Washington Street.

Shinko says it may sound like a stretch, but he speculates the stop signs he wants could have made a difference. "It probably would have slowed him down, at least because he has a quarter-mile head start to hit here from the last stop sign," he said.

And Shinko isn't alone in his concern. Neighbors say without the stop signs, it's a tragedy waiting to happen. Pete Drozd said, "The children are out here every morning and like I say, a lot of the kids will be standing here waiting for their school bus. And how kids play they push, they push. One of these days they're going to push somebody right out in the road because the cars are coming down here pretty fast."

"And eventually, somebody's going to get hurt," Shinko added.

A safety concern neighbors hope city leaders stop ignoring. Eyewitness News has a call into the Leighton administration for comment.

Meanwhile, police are still looking for the hit and run driver of a pickup truck. And there's still no word on the victim's name or condition.
 


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