A man from Arnold, PA was hurt on Sunday after his brother wrecked his car into a residence. This is Arnold's third such type of accident at the same intersection in the last year. Residents are beginning to speak up about the Motor Vehicle Accidents at the intersection of Murray Avenue and Leishman Avenue, saying that the town should do something and that clearing off the road when it's covered with ice and snow would be a good start.
The 54-year-old was injured at around 2 p.m. when his brother lost control of his Kia Soul as he was coming down the hill on Murray Avenue and approaching Leishman. He ended up through the front porch of a home on Leishman. The accident caused serious damage to the man's vehicle and broke one of the porch's supportive beams. Luckily, however, no more damage was caused to the house and neither the woman nor her one-year-old daughter inside were injured. She did tell reporters that the two of them had been outside playing in the snow just ten minutes prior to the accident and would have been directly in the car's path.
The victim's brother said the car "just kept skidding...and going faster...and we slammed into the porch." This accident is the third one in a calendar year and fifth in two years since December 2012 that has resulted from dangerous conditions on the hilly part of Murray Avenue.
One resident says that Arnold needs to do something about the intersection because someone is eventually going to lose their life if these car accidents persist. The mayor, Larry Milito, said that conversations have been had at council meeting over what to do about the intersection and that one solution is limit Murray Avenue to one way, making coming down the street illegal. The problem, the mayor says, is that if people have trouble going up the hill in the winter, nothing will really be resolved. Another proposal is to have the town by a vacant home at the bottom of the hill, demolish it, and create a run-off for vehicles. The vacant house was last owned by a woman and her family who left the home last year after a February 2012 accident where a car coming down Murray smashed into the front of the home and sent the homeowner to a Pittsburgh hospital via Life-Flight. Her children, ages three and five at the time, were luckily not injured in the accident. After the home was left, another accident occurred last month, sending the driver to Allegheny Valley Hospital with a serious knee injury. Other property damage and parked car damage has happened as well.
Arnold Chief of Police Willie Weber says that the accidents are not caused by the weather so much as they are by inattentive drivers and mechanical errors. "A lot of accidents can be avoid with better maintenance of vehicles. My advice would be to put decorative boulders in their front yards." Residents are not pleased with the chief's remarks.
Two years ago, the Arnold City Council banned commercial tractor-trailers from driving on Murray Avenue and other steep declines that follow Freeport Road to Constitution Boulevard.
If nothing is done about this dangerous intersection, residents say they will begin looking into filing a lawsuit against Arnold for negligence. In the meantime, if you're in the area, stay off of Murray Avenue.
If you have been injured in a car accident, call the Pittsburgh motor vehicle accidents attorneys at Dugan & Associates today for a free consultation. Even nuanced cases such as the Arnold one will be considered once we have all the facts. Call today at 412-922-0800.
Source: TribLive.com, "Vehicle careens down hill into another Arnold home" 2 February 2015
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