Teen Getting Ice Cream Killed by Driver

Around 7:30 on the night of February 5th, Bailey Lentz Veitch walked to the Dairy Queen on East Crawford Avenue in Connellsville. After picking up some ice cream, she began walking south towards her home. At the same time, Mark Lucic, who was on his way home to Ontario from Seven Springs Mountain Resort, drove his 2005 GMC Sierra pickup truck south on Crawford. Lucic had been drinking and later told police he had no memories of what happened that day.

When Veitch reached the berm in front of Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School, Lucic crossed the yellow line into oncoming traffic, then swerved off the road, hitting Veitch with such force that witnesses say she was knocked out of her socks and shoes before she was rammed into the plastic fencing in front of the school (which is missing in the image above). Lucic drove away and was later found by State police at the Circle K three miles down the road. Neighbors rushed out to help Veitch, who was later taken to Highlands Hospital, where she died. A family friend has started a GoFundMe to help cover funeral costs. Lucic has been charged with 12 offenses, including homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence.

East Crawford Avenue is owned by PennDOT District 12. I often criticize PennDOT (not unfairly, I think) for not building infrastructure that could protect bike riders and pedestrians. To be clear, Lucic’s alleged behavior was so flagrant that I’m not sure there is anything that infrastructure could have done to prevent the crash. New vehicle technology, which would disable a vehicle if a driver is drunk, may prevent similar crashes in the future. But there are some infrastructure improvements that, while not preventing the crash, may have been able to reduce the severity of harm that Lucic caused, and possibly could have saved Veitch’s life.

Residential complete street with sidewalk and street trees. From NACTO.

There is no sidewalk on the side of Crawford Avenue where the crash happened. Even in suburban contexts like this, sidewalks should be a standard part of a complete street. A raised curb, while it probably wouldn’t have stopped Lucic, would have slowed him down, and speed is one of the major predictors of severe injury or death in a pedestrian crash. A green buffer could have further bogged him down, while street trees would have gone even further to reduce his speed.

“I can't imagine what the family and friends are going through,” Said Dave Lohr, Chairman of the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. “Crawford Avenue is a state road.  The state would have to approve and even proceed with a project of a sidewalk and/or improvements…I know we would support anything to make it safer.”

Veitch’s death was covered extensively locally (see the first link in the post, here, and here), but not in regional media. I only found out about it through reading State Police reports. I don’t know why this didn’t make the cut for the Tribune or KDKA, but I think it’s a very important story. It shows that road violence happens everywhere, not just in big cities like Pittsburgh. It shows the wide range of people effected by road violence. And hopefully it can get more people to think about how these tragedies in their neighborhood should be prevented.

PennDOT District 12 would be responsible for any changes on Crawford Avenue, and can be reached here. For political support, please contact the Connellsville Township Supervisors here, the Fayette County Commissioners here, State Representative Ryan Warner here, and State Senator Pat Stefano here.