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“A valued member of our community has been lost and it is imperative that we make sure we can do everything in our power to ensure this never happens again,” said Legislator Alden H. Wolfe, chairman of the county Legislature.
Faith M. Leigh was killed trying to cross the road near Mayer Drive on Monday, May 9.
According to police, she was struck by a Hyundai sedan being driven by Anna Cantu, 21, of Monroe.
According to media reports, there are no traffic lights or crosswalks near where Leigh lived.
Wolfe was joined by Montebello Mayor Lance N. Millman, and Deputy Mayor Stacy Caridi, in calling for the safety study.
Collectively, they have written to Jennifer Clark, the state Department of Transportation’s resident engineer, in the hopes, they said, that the DOT will eventually install traffic and pedestrian signals and make other road improvements on that stretch of Route 202.
According to Wolfe and the others, there have been 17 accidents near the Route 202/Mayer Drive intersection since 2009.
A dozen people have been injured in those accidents, and now one person has been killed, they said.
“It is incumbent upon us to take action so we don’t lose another resident in such a senseless way,” Millman said.
Caridi said that, as far as safety goes, “the statistics speak for themselves.”
“Our neighbors are more than numbers and they don’t deserve to end up as a statistic when there are steps that can be taken to bolster public safety,” the deputy mayor said.
According to Leigh’s obituary, the Mechanicville native had been an art teacher in the Albany and Ramapo school districts and a children’s librarian at the Suffern Free Library.
She was active in local organizations, most notably the Rockland County Conservation Society and the Woman’s Club of Suffern.
She left her husband, Harry; three children and many grandchildren.
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