Car misses Columbia Avenue house by inches, takes out street sign and railing in 2-car crash Saturday

Kathleen Allebach was gardening in her backyard of her Columbia Avenue corner lot Saturday afternoon, when she heard an all-too-familiar sound out front.

It was the same sound she and her husband, Tom, have heard far too many times since buying their brick home in Lansdale’s West Ward in 1985; in fact, 21 years later, the familiar sound was followed by the destruction of their sunroom along Cannon Avenue.

    By James Short   

“A mini school bus, with kids on it, hit the stop sign and crashed into the sun porch,” she said.

On Saturday, Kathleen rushed out of her backyard, turned right onto the sidewalk, and ran to the corner. The first she saw the black Ford Mustang GT with a smashed front passenger side and deployed airbags, plastic debris scattered throughout the intersection at Columbia Avenue.

Then, she saw what a few people outside were staring at – the blue Chevrolet Trailblazer with severe front-end driver’s side damage that barely cleared her house and steps.

It did, however, destroy the left front railing of the Allebach’s front steps and some landscaping, and tool the “Cannon Avenue/Columbia Avenue” street sign with it.

“It’s only a little structural – some landscaping and bushes,” she said. “I heard it, and ran out. At first, I didn’t know the railing got hit.”

    By James Short   

    By James Short 

  

One neighbor, who wished not to be identified, said the crash woke up her husband. She said he knew just from the usual sound what had happened. She sipped her coffee and spoke about how she told her student-driver 17-year-old daughter how dangerous the intersection was, no thanks to the straight-shot Cannon Avenue.

From West Main Street, Cannon Avenue has three stops – a 4-way at Derstine Avenue, another at West Mount Vernon, and the final one at White’s Road. All cross streets are forced to stop for Cannon Avenue traffic.

    By James Short 

The situation has become so dangerous that Lansdale Borough Public Safety has conducted a traffic study, which will be presented the end of the month.

The driver of the Mustang was a thirtysomething male, who was treated for an arm injury at the scene by VMSC EMS and released. The occupants of the Chevrolet – a couple in their 40s or 50s – were uninjured in the crash.

Both vehicles were towed from the scene.

Lansdale Police responded to the scene to investigate and take statements.

By sunset Sunday, the intersection was still stained with the sawdust-looking absorbent used to soak up leaks left from impacts and the street signpost remained at nearly a 90-degree bend into the Allebach’s front yard.

Kathleen is lucky no serious damage occurred – this time.

“It’s this roadway – people drive way too fast,” she said. “This is a family neighborhood. There’s kids out here all the time.”

    By James Short   

    By Tony Di Domizio   

    By Tony Di Domizio   

    By Tony Di Domizio