Car accidents not indicative of road safety

With both a hit-and-run accident and a fatal car crash earlier this week, some students may be wary of Washington Road.

But Borough Police and Public Safety officials maintain that there is no cause for alarm.

There is an average of five pedestrian accidents per year along Washington Road, Borough Police Capt. Anthony Federico said.

This number is relatively low, considering the heavy traffic that passes through the road on a daily basis.

Official property of the Princeton Borough, Washington Road is the busiest thoroughfare that cuts through the campus.

Public Safety Crime Preventation Specialist Barry Weiser said the University has tried to increase safety along this heavily traveled route by placing traffic lights on five different intersections along Washington Road.

The two most recent traffic lights on Washington Road, located at the intersections of McCosh Walk and Ivy Lane, were installed nearly three years ago.

"The traffic lights have helped," Weiser said. "It's good to know that at any time of night or day, students can cross the street with a light."

The traffic lights have been especially helpful in decreasing bicycle accidents, Weiser said.

He explained that before the installation of the lights, there had been several cases where University students on bicycles would try to turn at the same time as cars, resulting in minor accidents.

But the best way to ensure student safety may be simple common sense, he said.

Weiser explained that students crossing Washington Road should be aware that it is a public road with many drivers going to and from work or to other destinations.

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These drivers may not be watching carefully for University students who are crossing, he said.

"It's one thing to jaywalk when there are no cars in sight," Weiser said. "But it's another to just walk out into the street when no one is expecting you to be there."

The hit-and-run accident occurred Monday when the driver of a black Lincoln Continental attempted to make a right-side pass of another vehicle that was making a left turn onto Prospect Avenue, Federico said.

While trying to get around the other car, the driver of the Continental jumped the curb, grazing a University student with the car's side-mirror.

Though the accident appears to have been unintentional, the flight of the driver after the collision makes the incident "a major crime," Weiser said.

Borough Police have been unable to locate the driver or the car involved in the incident.

Longtime University employee Ole Lillestolen, 81, of Franklin Township, lost control of his car Wednesday after suffering a heart attack and hit a stone wall near Guyot Hall.

Though it was technically a motor vehicle fatality, the second incident may have resulted from a medical emergency rather than a traffic violation.

The fatal car crash was the first fatality along Washington Road in 20 years, Federico said.

There were no pedestrians on the sidewalk when the accident occurred.