Cmmw. Court: Crosswalk is traffic control

Thursday, January 4, 2001
By Danielle N. Rodier
Of The Legal Staff

No Gov't Immunity For Lower Merion
Plaintiff Represented by: Alan M. Feldman

The Commonwealth Court has ruled that a pedestrian crosswalk can be considered a traffic control and therefore it fits into the trees, traffic and street lighting exception to governmental immunity.

The decision allows plaintiff Tina Glenn to pursue her action against Lower Merion Township for failing to maintain a crosswalk at the intersection where her husband was killed.

Glenn's husband, William Glenn, was hit by a car driven by Timothy Horan while William was crossing the intersection at First Avenue and North Gulph Road in Montgomery County to get to a SEPTA bus stop.

There was a pedestrian crosswalk near the accident scene, composed of "faded white lines," Commonwealth Court President Judge Joseph T. Doyle said in the opinion, Glenn v. Horan. There were no traffic signals, stop signs or other traffic-control devices, not any streetlights.

Glenn filed a wrongful death and survival action against the township, alleging a hazardous condition of the streets existed surrounding the bus stop, that it failed to provide safe means for pedestrians to cross First Avenue and that it failed to provide traffic controls.

The township claimed it was protected by governmental immunity.

The Montgomery County Common Pleas Court dismissed Glenn's complaint, finding the township had no duty to provide traffic controls. The court also said that even if the crosswalk could be considered a traffic control and its paint was faded, it did not believe that condition could have caused the accident. The court rejected Glenn's motion for reconsideration.

On appeal to the Commonwealth Court, Glenn maintained her claim fell under the trees, traffic and street lighting exception to governmental immunity, which allows a city or municipality to be sued for a dangerous condition f trees, traffic signs, lights, traffic controls or street lights if "the dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the kind of injury which was incurred" and the agency had or should have had enough notice before the accident to fix the condition.

Glenn said her claim fit within the exception because a crosswalk is a traffic-control device.

Doyle looked to the Motor Vehicle Code for the definition of a "traffic control," finding that the term includes "markings" which have been erected to warn or guide traffic.

The Department of Transportation's regulations also state: "crosswalk markings across roadways on which traffic is not controlled by traffic signals or STOP signs, shall also serve to warn the motorist of a pedestrian crossing point."

Those guidelines supported Glenn's argument, the court found.

"Considering the above, a crosswalk is properly characterized as a marking which serves the dual purpose of guiding pedestrians and of warning motorists of the presence of a pedestrian crossing point," Doyle said.

"Markings designed to warn motorists and guide pedestrians plainly fall into the definition of "official traffic control device" in Section 102 of the Vehicle Code, and the Department of Transportation's regulations treat crosswalk markings as traffic control devices."

Doyle also pointed out that because there were no stop signs or traffic signals at the intersection, the crosswalk was the only warning to motorists that the corner was a pedestrian-crossing point.

The court found that Glenn's allegations were sufficient for her to state a claim that the township was negligent because the crosswalk had deteriorated, it was not safe for pedestrians to cross there, and the township was aware of the dangerous condition.

"Glenn averred in her complaint that the crosswalk on First Avenue consisted of "several faded, painted white lines on the street surface" and she alleged that no additional traffic controls or lighting had been installed to facilitate the safe passage of pedestrians across First Avenue," Doyle said.

"The complaint also alleged that the township owned and maintained First Avenue and that it had "actual and constructive notice" of the dangerous conditions."

Judges Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter and William J. Lederer also sat on the panel.