Garbage Truck Strikes, Injures Woman in Wheelchair

A pedestrian crosses the street right where Donna Goldinger was hit. Drivers fail to yield to the pedestrian.

On July 19th, shortly after 9:30 AM, Donna Goldinger began to cross Brownsville Road in her electric wheelchair, from in front of Pete’s Beer Distribution to the Carnegie Library at the corner of Matthews Avenue. When she was nearly across, she was struck by the driver of a City garbage truck. She suffered a serious compound leg fracture and was taken to the hospital. The driver of the garbage truck has been tested for the use of drugs or alcohol and put on desk duty pending the outcome of an investigation.

Brownsville Road is a minor arterial street that forms the boundary between the City of Pittsburgh and the Borough of Mount Oliver, which complicates its maintenance, but at least on the Pittsburgh side, the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) is responsible for its upkeep. While it has had as many as 21,000 cars per day in 2005, that dropped to 11,000 in 2018 and 2019 and 9,000 in 2020. This particular stretch was left out of Pittsburgh’s Bike(+) Master Plan and is listed as a “Network Need Corridor” in the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, indicating that the pedestrian facilities are not adequate for the traffic volume. It is also on the City’s high-injury network. Brownsville Road is designated for transit improvements in 5-15 years in the Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) NEXTransit plan, although the document lacks specifics. The speed limit is a reasonable 25 miles per hour. Where Donna crossed, there is no marked crosswalk or stop sign. The nearest marked crosswalk is approximately 230 feet to the south, but doesn’t have a stop sign or signal; for that, one would have to travel about 500 feet to the north.

Let’s be clear that Donna was following the law. The Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 75 § 3542.(a) states:

When traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection [emphasis added].

Donna crossed at an intersection and had the right-of-way regardless of the lack of a marked crosswalk. It is unclear at this point if the driver was entirely at fault; the City has not released the results of their drug and alcohol test, but it is hard to understand how they couldn’t see her when, according to one report, she was already most of the way across the street. But even if the driver was at fault, improvements could be made to this intersection to reduce the harm a driver is capable of causing.

Quick build strategies in Bloomfield: high-visibility crosswalks, painted curb extensions, and signage.

A recent story highlighted DOMI’s “quick build” safety strategies. This is a great example of where small improvements can be made quickly and hardened over time. The most basic of these would be a crosswalk, ideally a high-visibility style like a ladder or longitudinal crosswalk. This could be supplemented by painted curb extensions with bollards, which could be installed one-side-at-a-time to reduce complications in working with the neighboring municipality. Signage, another relatively cheap intervention, could also be used to bring attention to the new crosswalk.

Then, as these interventions prove their worth, they could be hardened. The painted curb extensions could be upgraded to concrete and planters. The simple signs could be replaced with a HAWK beacon or a full signal. Traffic calming measures like a raised crosswalk or intersection could come even later on.

As a road shared by two municipalities, there are many people who share the responsibility for it. In Pittsburgh, DOMI is the responsible party, and they accept requests for traffic calming here. Mayor Ed Gainey’s office can be contacted on this website or at (412) 255-2626. The Councilperson over this intersection is Councilman Bob Charland, who can be reached by phone at (412) 255-2130, and whose policy director, Alicia Carberry, can be reached by email at Alicia.Carberry@PittsburghPA.gov. On the Mount Oliver side, the Public Works Department is responsible for streets. Their Foreman, John Michener, can be reached at (412) 431-8107 ext. 111 or john.michener@mtoliver.com. The Borough Manager, Rick Hopkinson, can be reached at (412) 431-8107 ext. 106 or rick.hopkinson@mtoliver.com. Mayor JoAnna Taylor can be reached at mayor@mtoliver.com, and the Borough Council can collectively be reached at council@mtoliver.com.