WEST VIEW, Pa. -- Some West View residents want help to make their road safer after two crashes at the same intersection.
Thousands of vehicles a day travel Highland Avenue, a main thoroughfare that connects Interstate 279 to Perry Highway, where the speed limit is 30 mph, but residents said it's rarely followed, WTAE Channel 4's Jon Greiner reported.
Last Saturday, an accident sent a car into Carlene Bensch's house. Her family of six had just returned home when they heard a loud crack.
"I am used to hearing the cracks and crashes and didn't mind it until my house shook and I ran downstairs and saw a van in my window," Bensch said.
Just over a year ago, an accident nearby sent a car into the retaining wall of a house across the street. That prompted homeowner Nadine Penwell to start a petition drive and safety crusade.
West View police worked some speed arrests, and the borough changed some signage, but it couldn't change speed limits or put up stop signs because it's a state road.
"I know the borough did everything they could, but because it's a state-maintained road, they said we had to go to the next level, and, at this point, there isn't any follow up at all," Penwell said.
West View Police Chief Charles Holtgraver said the two accidents were the only reportable ones in the past four years, so he doubts the state Department of Transportation will make any changes.
He suggested the women lobby the Legislature to support a bill that would let local police use radar.
"I think radar would be a big deterrent to the speed because the people would know where you're sitting at and we know where the problem areas are," Holtgraver said. "We'd be able to sit there and enforce the speed and the element of surprise. People would start slowing down."
The women said they are perhaps a little discouraged by what they've heard, but said that doesn't mean they're going to end their fight to make this intersection safer, Greiner said.
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