Lansdale residents Karalyn Derstine, Sheldon Good, Marianna Kirkner, Shannon DeBellis, and Mayor Rachael Bollens pose with ‘SAFE Guards of Lansdale’ shirts and a map of recent accidents in the west ward of the borough, during the Feb. 18, 2026 council meeting. (Photo courtesy of Sheldon Good)
West Ward neighbors continue to push for safety upgrades
West Ward residents in Lansdale are getting organized with a new name and mission to make the town SAFE for everyone.
Residents rolled out their new initiative last week, debuting the SAFE Guards of Lansdale, a volunteer group they say aims to address longstanding worries about road and sidewalk safety in town.
“SAFE stands for Safety and Accessibility For Everyone. We are a coalition of concerned, committed and caring neighbors, who live in the West Ward. We are dedicated to reasonable safety and accessibility solutions for our neighborhood,” said Shannon DeBellis of Delaware Avenue.
In early February residents from that ward packed council’s chambers to petition for road and sidewalk safety improvements, the continuation of several years of complaints about traffic throughout town and drivers speeding and ignoring stop signs on the town’s side streets. Residents have continued to raise concerns as several accidents have happened along those studied streets in recent years; in fall 2024 the town’s traffic engineer presented a formal study of several targeted areas in town, and in summer 2025 council voted to repaint no-parking zones and ban turns on some of the targeted streets.
On Feb. 18 the conversation continued: DeBellis said she was speaking on behalf of Safe Guards Lansdale, a group of residents who petitioned the public safety committee earlier this month for more attention to their area, and want to make sure their voices are still heard until changes are made.
“We believe there is a lack of adequate solutions currently in place to keep our drivers, pedestrians and cyclists safe. We are working to change that,” DeBellis said.
That group is focusing on their ward because of a series of recent crashes and accidents, including a pedestrian killed last year, and numerous pedestrian destinations including three schools, a library, the Boys and Girls Club, and a community pool in the ward.
“We hope that the West Ward can serve as a pilot neighborhood for the much-needed safety improvements that all of our residents need, and deserve, every single one of you,” she said.
“We want all of Lansdale to be a safe and accessible place to live, work and play,” she said.
Close to home
As she spoke, fellow neighbor Karalyn Derstine held a poster showing intersections in the area where accidents have happened from 2020 through 2025, as DeBellis recalled her response to a pedestrian being struck in January.
“I saw a car, with its front end destroyed, a car just like mine, same make. And standing next to it: two scared, crying little kids, and a traumatized, shell-shocked mom. I immediately pulled over, because I happened to be the right person at the right time,” she said.
A pediatric nurse, DeBellis was able to offer aid, but as a mom with kids in the same neighborhood, she was shaken by having driven the same route with her children just minutes before. Two of the three appeared uninjured, but the young girl in the family was not.
“When she tried to speak, there was blood coming from her mouth. And when I looked in her mouth, I could see that her teeth had twisted in their sockets, and I knew that something was terribly wrong. So I stayed with the family until police and EMS arrived,” DeBellis said.
“So what happened here? Per the police report, the driver was traveling at over 50 miles per hour, which is a deadly speed per traffic accident statistics, especially in a T-bone situation. He struck a mom and her two kids on their way to school, because he failed to stop. No speed hump to slow him down. no four-way stop sign to prompt drivers on Cannon to pause. This reckless individual was inches away from killing an entire family, on Friday morning, at 9 a.m., on their way to school.”
Derstine picked up from there: the daughter was taken to a local hospital and had her broken jaw surgically repaired, and the son was unharmed but now panics during car rides.
“All of them are terrified to drive in their own neighborhood, as many of us are. While these dots are indications of actual accidents, how many of you here have had a near miss in this neighborhood?” Derstine said, prompting dozens of neighbors to raise their hands.
“For decades, it seems the borough has prioritized cars over pedestrian traffic,” she said.
Petition numbers grow
Derstine summarized the neighborhood petition circulated in early February, now up to 335 total signatures from residents calling for safety upgrades, and gave a recap of comments made to the council public safety committee two weeks earlier, adding residents have since noticed more police patrols and digital speed signs in their area.
“We want to acknowledge that, and offer a sincere thank you for taking these steps. We are noticing. Now let’s continue to commit to further action,” Derstine said.
Requests from those residents include meetings with borough staff, police, North Penn School District officials, PennDOT local officials, and state politicians to try to enlist support for more fixes soon.
“We’re not here to bash or disparage. We’re here to be adults. And we do not have time or patience for anything but productive movement forward,” she said.
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