COSTA MESA : Busy Intersection to Get Traffic Signal

Workers this week began installing a traffic signal at a busy intersection where two 78-year-old pedestrians were struck by a pickup truck and killed last March.

City officials had planned to place the signal at West 19th Street and Meyer Place for more than a year and were accepting bids for the job when the accident occurred.

The signal costs about $98,000 and is expected to be activated later this summer, said Peter Naghavi, the city’s transportation manager.

“I’m happy they are doing it. This will slow the cars down,” said Madeleine Baebler, 87, a resident of the nearby Bethel Towers retirement center who witnessed the accident. “Quite a few (seniors) still go over that way. I promised my children I would not cross that way anymore.”

Fred B. Young and Patricia E. Crowell were walking back to their home at Bethel Towers after having breakfast at a fast-food restaurant when they were struck by the pickup.

They were in a crosswalk, but the driver’s view was obstructed by the sun and he apparently did not see them, police said at the time.

Naghavi said the signal will include pedestrian signs, left-turn arrows as well as a light that will direct traffic out of the restaurant’s parking lot. The restaurant, a McDonald’s, agreed to close one of its driveways to conform with the signal’s traffic flow pattern.

“They have been a good neighbor on this,” Naghavi said of the fast-food chain.

Baebler said that the accident remains a painful and personal memory to Bethel Towers residents.

She has not been out to the intersection for several months because of a leg problem. But Baebler said she plans to visit the area once the signal is working.

The same intersection was the site of another accident in October, 1990, when a 25-year-old woman was hit by a car and seriously injured. The victim filed a lawsuit against the city, which is still pending.