SOUTH BEAVER, Pa. — Another crash at the intersection of Route 51 and Route 168 in South Beaver is renewing calls from neighbors and drivers to have a red light installed at the intersection.
Alec Rowe and his wife, who is pregnant, were in their SUV Monday morning when he said they saw a red Chevrolet SUV start to trickle out from Route 168 on the Darlington side of Route 51.
“[We] thought there’s no way that this car is going to come out in front of us, and before we know it, it pulls out in front of the car in the left lane right next to us,” Rowe told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek.
Three cars, including Rowe’s, were involved in the crash.
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“[It] smelled like smoke in my car. [I] got my wife out, sprinted to the side, and immediately called 911,” Rowe said.
Rowe’s wife was taken to the hospital. She and their unborn baby are okay.
This is at least the second crash at this intersection in the last two weeks. Last week, Channel 11 spoke with a mom whose son was on a bus involved in a crash at this intersection.
In 2009, a crash that killed four people led to a flashing light being installed.
Natalie and Sean Cekovich live nearby and say they hear sirens and helicopters land far too often.
“Has that flashing light done enough?” Havranek asked.
“Clearly not,” Sean Cekovich said.
“No, no, in fact sometimes I’m sitting at that red light and people get frustrated that you’re taking too long and drive out around you,” Natalie Cekovich said.
State Representative Roman Kozak agreed.
“I think it’s close to 90 crashes in the past 20 years at this intersection. You have five fatalities. There’s a lot of serious injuries,” Kozak said. “So, status quo doesn’t work. Period. We have to do something. PennDOT has to do something about this.”
PennDOT sent the following statement to Channel 11.
“The details of the latest crash are still under investigation. PennDOT plans to initiate a safety study of the overall intersection in 2027 and will take into consideration the cause of this latest crash and any previous recorded crashes. The installation of new traffic signals could only occur after a specific traffic signal study is completed, and must be requested by the municipality since the municipality would own, maintain, and operate the signals. PennDOT will work with the municipality on next steps forward regarding a traffic signal study and potential sources of funding to assist with the installation, if found warranted.”
Kozak said he and State Representative Josh Kail will work with South Beaver to help secure funding for that study.
“I hope nobody else has to go through what we did yesterday,” Rowe said.
If the study shows a red light is needed, PennDOT said it would be up to South Beaver to own, maintain, and control.
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