Bensalem cops: Woman killed on Street Road crossed against light

Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The intersection that Time magazine called the most dangerous in America claimed another life Tuesday morning, but a preliminary investigation shows that it was not driver error that left a 28-year-old Bensalem woman dead.

Christina Massie was walking north on Knights Road and attempting to cross Street Road on a red light shortly before 6 a.m., Bensalem Director of Public Safety Fred Harran said.

She was struck by two cars traveling west on the four-lane highway, Harran said, adding that the cars had a green light and that the woman was wearing dark clothing, making it hard for the drivers to see her.

Massie was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The first car that hit the woman stopped, the second car did not, though Harran said it appears the second driver may not have known the car hit a person. Witnesses at the scene used cell phones to snap a picture of the license plate and the car was later located in New Jersey, Harran said.

Both drivers are cooperating with police, and the accident remains under investigation, he added.

Street and Knights roads is one of the most heavily traveled intersections in the Philadelphia region with nearly 55,000 vehicles passing through it daily, according to PennDOT data.

It was also the site of seven fatal accidents between 2003 and 2012, the most in that time period, according to the Time magazine story last year that called it the most dangerous intersection. The story cited a 2008 traffic audit that found the intersection had poor signage, dim lighting, discontinuous sidewalks, aggressive drivers and jaywalkers.

Three of the fatal accidents the Time story cited involved pedestrians struck by vehicles. Both Bensalem police and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation disagreed with the Time magazine findings involving the intersection.

At the accident scene Tuesday morning, Harran called the death an unnecessary accident.

“This is a tragedy that certainly could have been avoided,” he said. “If people just obey the lights.”

Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia