By BRETT R. WHITLING
Clarion News Writer
A Strattanville man who took his concern about a Clarion intersection to the streets two months ago has now taken it Borough Council.
Mike Shaw, a bus driver for Clarion Area Transit, stood at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Main Street for several hours on May 28 to raise awareness of what he believes are the unsafe conditions for pedestrians crossing the streets.
Shaw, along with Anna Bowen – the mother of a victim struck on July 27 – addressed council on Tuesday.
Shaw said he has driven transit buses in Clarion for eight years and recalls five people being hit at the intersection in the last seven years – with one fatality.
“Something needs to be done; that’s why I stood out there with a sign for several hours,” Shaw said. “It was not a protest. It was just to bring attention to it.”
Shaw said blame for the unsafe conditions rests with both drivers and pedestrians, along with lights at the intersection not being programmed correctly.
Jason Noto, who acted as council president in the absence of Carol Lapinto, said, “I don’t think council disagrees with you that it’s a dangerous intersection and that something needs to be done.”
Although Clarion owns and maintains the traffic signals, Noto said the borough has no authority over changing the signals. They are controlled by the state.
Noto said some borough residents have expressed concern about the safety of the intersection and that council will contact the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to express the borough’s concern.
He suggested that Shaw contact PennDOT and possibly state Rep. Donna Oberlander, R-63rd District, and state Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st District, for additional support.
“The more they hear this is a problem, the more likely they will address the problem,” Noto said.
Waiting to walk
Bowen said she was not aware of an issue at the intersection until she saw Shaw with his neon-pink sign at the corner the day after her son was hit.
Bowen said she tested the crosswalk from Veteran’s Memorial Park across from Fifth Avenue by watching the lights change and then timing them.
After approximately three minutes and several light cycles, the light told her to “walk,” she said.
“What was more frightening to me than anything, when I finally got a ‘walk’ sign, it may have lasted three seconds,” Bowen said. “As soon as the ‘walk’ sign came, the green light arrow to turn down Fifth Avenue turned on immediately; if I would have stepped out, I would have been struck.”
Bowen said that she wanted to test other crosswalks since her son was hit at a different crosswalk but didn’t have enough time to test them.
An expanded report on this issue will be published in Tuesday’s edition of The Clarion News.