Pedestrians Hit by Driver in Town

I received a comment (but couldn't find the post it was attached to) so I'm reprinting it here. It was an anonymous comment (when they come to my email they are not referenced).

Here is what was written:

I don't know if everyone heard the sirens last night, but this is what the commotion was about ...

Teen driving without glasses hits pedestrians in Nazareth

A mother and daughter from Nazareth were injured Thursday night when they were hit by a car outside of Nazareth Area High School.

Police Chief Bruce Ruch said Caroline M. Strack, 49, and her daughter Samantha Strack, 15, were crossing Center Street about 7:30 p.m. when they were struck by a vehicle driven by Sarah Firman, 17, of Farmview Road, Upper Nazareth Township.

Police were assisted on scene by Upper Nazareth police and Nazareth EMS. Ruch said initial reports said Caroline Strack was seriously injured, but both victims were walking around by the time police responded. They were taken by ambulance to St. Luke’s Hospital.

Ruch said that Firman was not speeding, but she is being cited for driving without her glasses. Ruch said the citation usually is accompanied by a fine and a point on the driver’s record. “I’ve been here for 27 years and I think this is the first time I’ve seen that as a citation,” Ruch said. “We’re just happy no one was seriously hurt.”

I've written alot about pedestrian safety and seeming lack of awareness by drivers of pedestrians in town. This case is one where I can only assume the individuals did not cross at an intersection or the additional fine of failing to yield to pedestrians (or whatever the legal term is) would have been added.

Then coming home from the football game tonight, crossing Center at Liberty, I was halfway through and a car drove on Center toward me and my daughter whom I was carrying. My wife and other daughter were ahead of me. I held my hand out to indicate I wasn't real happy with him driving up to us, but was reasonable comfortable I'd be alright as an officer wasn't more than six feet away issuing tickets to illegally parked cars.

None-the-less, the driver ought to have waited at the stop until I got to the corner and then crossed.

If you have more information about the story noted above (the accident, not my own experience;-), please go ahead and comment. In reading the text it sounds like it came from a printed report.

UPDATE: The Express-Times ran this story on Saturday (read it here). Can only assume the reader found it online first. Thanks!