Yesterday on the news I heard about a hit and run in Bryn Mawr, in Lower Merion Township where I used to live. At an intersection where I almost got hit several times over the years. The intersection is the big one at Lancaster Avenue and Bryn Mawr Avenue right where Bryn Mawr Trust Company is and across from Ludington Library. I held my breath every time I crossed, and played chicken with cars ignoring the stopped traffic and pedestrian crossing signal more than once. I hate that intersection for pedestrians.

This is a busy pedestrian intersection and on weekends there are things like the Bryn Mawr Farmers Market in the big municipal parking lot. Lots of the vendors who serve that Farmers Market hail from Chester County, incidentally.

This light has signals which are supposed to stop traffic in ALL directions for pedestrians. Only I have discovered that many impatient Main Line and other drivers often disregard this.

So why am I writing about this in Chester County? Because the truck that mowed down a mom and her twin children headed WEST on Route 30/ Lancaster Avenue, so who knows who may have seen the truck.

And this mom is part of a group I belong to called Philadelphia Social Media Moms. They sent out an e-blast a while ago asking people to tweet out the following:

Here is a tweet you can copy and paste. We are trying to raise awareness so the perpetrator will be caught:
6yr old in hospital, Black Ford F150 still at
large. See something? Call police. #PSMM4Janeane http://ow.ly/ks5hi

By my calculations, 24 hours have passed since this incident. This mom has one child at home and one at DuPont in Wilmington.

This is not ol, and what this mom wrote to those of us who are part of this group chilled me to the bone. I will share an excerpt only:

It is a terrible thing to see your child hit so hard [they are ] knocked out of [their] shoes. Please know we appreciate all your kindness and help

This is one of the things I disliked most about living on the Main Line, and in particular, Lower Merion. They always talk a good game about pedestrian friendly communities and business districts, but the reality is often quite different. Like now.

This intersection is no stranger to horrific accidents, either. Here is a photo from July 2007. A woman named Maryjo Delvescovo, 43 died from her injuries in this accident. I remember at the time the media saying she left behind a child. This photo taken by a friend of mine is pretty raw:

Accident at same intersection in 2007

If you know anything about this accident, please call police ASAP! Police are asking for witnesses or anyone with information to contact them at (610) 649-1000 or (610) 645-6260.

It would be nice if the driver of this black pick up truck were to come forward on their own of course.

This is why I wish more municipalities around here enforced pedestrian cross-walks more like they do in other places including New York State and Washington, D.C.

I am just sitting here shaking my head as I type. I remember having conversations with one local politician in particular about this very intersection in the past. I said at the time I was afraid a pedestrian would get hit. Mind you, I completely expect this politician to have a large case of political Alzheimer’s when it comes to this.

Please…if you know anything come forward. Everyone else, please say a prayer for this family whose children and mom were hit.

Update: Police looking for driver of Bryn Mawr hit-and-run that left a 5-year-old in hospital

Published: Friday, April 26, 2013

By Richard Ilgenfritz rilgenfritz@mainlinemedianews.com

Lower Merion police are asking for the public’s help with information on the truck or the driver who stuck a woman and her two children crossing Lancaster and Bryn Mawr avenues Thursday afternoon. One of those children remains hospitalized in Delaware with head injuries.

According to police, the woman and her five-year-old twins were crossing Lancaster when the driver of a black pickup truck going north from Bryn Mawr onto west on Lancaster Avenue stuck them.

….One of the children was taken to Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., overnight Thursday for a head injury….The driver failed to stop and continued going west on Lancaster Avenue toward Villanova. The vehicle was described as a full-sized black pickup truck similar to a Ford F-150.