ALPHONSO TOMAINO, who lives on Broad Street, ritualistically sits on a bench in the Red Bank Super Foodtown everyday for four hours to escape the heat of his apartment.
But as recently as November, just across the street, an automobile struck the 96-year-old bachelor as he crossed the intersection of Broad Street and Pinckney Road to go to the store. Tomaino is thankful his injuries healed.
Unfortunately, the 78-year- old Red Bank woman who was carrying groceries when she was hit by a 2012 Ford Econoline van at the same intersection Tuesday has a more dire situation. Michael Phillips, 42, of Brick Township allegedly hit the woman, who was flown to Jersey Shore Medical and is now in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
“I avoid it at all costs,” Beth Hanratty, a Red Bank resident, said of the same left turn off Pinckney Road onto Broad Street that caused Tuesday’s accident. “I won’t even turn here.”
With a railroad crossing, a bus stop, residences and a Super Foodtown piled into the same two blocks, the intersection of Broad Street and Pinckney Road is a recipe for traffic congestion.
“It’s very tough being a pedestrian and being a driver around here,” said Cheryl Menosky, a 17-year resident of the Les Gertrude apart- ment complex, which is located at the corner of Broad Street and Pinckney Road. “It’s like I live at the worst intersection in town.”
Menosky said the intersection has so much traffic that instead of going to the Foodtown conveniently located across the street she shops mostly at a Shop Rite in Aberdeen. When she does shop at Foodtown, Menosky said she drives across the street instead of making the hazardous walk.
While acknowledging that there is a lot of traffic in the area, Foodtown store manager Joe Collison, who was around for two pedestrian collisions in his seven years at the grocery store, said he still feels safe around the intersection.
As a two-week resident of Les Gertrude, Lillian Fasman initially shared Collison’s sentiment of safety. But after finding out about Tuesday’s accident Fasman said she might not feel safe anymore.
Tuesday’s accident shed light on illegal maneuvers made at the intersection by drivers, pedestrians and bikers.
From 3:15 p.m. to 4 p.m., after the accident, a total of 47 illegal maneuvers were recorded at the corner of Pinckney Road and Broad Street by The Two River Times.
Almost all of the vehicles, with the exception of seven, were seen rolling through the stop sign at the end of the street when it intersects with Broad instead of coming to a complete halt at the indicated line. Actual stops were only made when there was a line of traffic, caused by the train, on Broad Street.
If traffic was too heavy, vehicles were seen stationary in the middle of the crosswalk at the corner of Pinckney Road, even in the middle of the right lane going towards Red Bank on Broad Street. Pedestrians were forced to walk behind the automobiles and oncoming traffic was cut short. A line of cars waited as the violator attempted to make a left on Broad Street.
Once the drivers made their potentially dangerous, inconvenient left turn, they were found either in the appropriate lane or the painted island, which is not considered to be a driving path. Motorists act as if there is a double traffic lane and accelerate through the marked, yellow lines.
Out of six pedestrians, only two utilized the designated crosswalks to cross the bustling Broad Street. The other four individuals were sighted walking across the busy road directly in front of the Foodtown, where a crosswalk was nowhere to be found.
Worries about these traffic violations are not limited to the Broad Street and Pinckney Road intersection, however. Business owners and employees along Shrewsbury Avenue also noticed similar congestion and dangers to pedestrians.
“I’ll tell you what, walking across Shrewsbury Ave. by my deli is like taking life into your own hands,” said Marisol Rooney, owner of Strokers West Side Deli at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Locust Avenue.
“I’m not surprised, no, not really,” said Glen Piscitelli, 61, who works at the deli, after hearing about the hit pedestrian. “I’m surprised it doesn’t happen (on Shrewsbury Avenue) more often.”
Hanratty said though Chief of Police Darren McConnell and the Red Bank Police Department are “shining a spot light on (pedestrian safety) it’s been something we’ve been talking about for years.”
Hanratty is also a member of Safe Routes Red Bank, a community organization focused on making the streets safer for pedestrians through grants and traffic studies. She is also a part of the Two River Times Crossroads initiative that has joined the newspaper, Red Bank, county and state officials as well as stake holders including Meridian’s Riverview Hospital and Newport Media Holding, LLC, here, in a collective approach to improving safety in Red Bank and the surrounding Two River Area.
“My kids walk to school every day and they have for nine years and I thank everyday for the crossing guards that are there…” Hanratty said.
Steve McLeod, owner of Morris Plate Glass, here, agreed.
“There’s a lot of cars going back and fourth, especially in rush hour in the morning and in the afternoon. Even bicycles go on the sidewalk against the traffic when they really should be on the street. So there’s been number of near-hit collisions with bicycles and walking pedestrians. As far as the car traffic is concerned, it’s a very heavily trafficked road and it’s hard to cross the street. There’s really not enough cross walks.”
Jamya Cooper, 25, of Red Bank, suggested more traffic lights are needed, but not on every block, just midway
through town.
“It’s a really busy street and you almost have to fend for yourself,” she said.
But Bharadkuman T. Patel, owner of On The rocks Wine & Liquor, disagrees.
“I’ve been here 15 years and have had no problems, he said.”
As Red Bank police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office continue to investigate Tuesday’s accident, residents were at a loss for ideas to lessen the dan- gers of the Broad Street Pinckney Road intersection. “I don’t know what they can do,” Menosky said. “Maybe a light, but it’s just such an awkward intersection.”
By Dan Russo, James Romano and Dillon Stambaugh
