You know, it sure seems that Lower Merion might have a "Sunshine Issue" going on over this scooter accident. Do you think Lower Merion is embarrassed about how cold they are being portrayed by this particular media attention? Should how accidents are handled and how what one would think is public information is actually released be re-examined? Please note that I am not trying to intentionally slam the police department, and I acknowledge they work incredibly hard...but I feel that what I am reading represents a problem, ok? You know, this article makes people think. After all, how many accidents (even fatal ones) might get a tiny blurb , and then nothing ever is said again? Why is that? Why does it seem this reporter can't get information?

FATAL SCOOTER ACCIDENT
Details emerge in investigation of Gee family tragedy
Saturday, August 9, 2008 3:09 AM
By Theodore Decker
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Dr. Rebekah Gee and Dr. Allan Moore were not wearing helmets when their scooter crashed into a sport-utility vehicle in suburban Philadelphia last month, police said.

Moore, who was driving, suffered fatal injuries. Gee was severely injured.

Lower Merion Township police have released few details of the July 12 crash involving the daughter and son-in-law of Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee. Unlike in Ohio, crash reports in Pennsylvania are not considered public record.

In an e-mailed statement, Lower Merion Police Superintendent Joseph Daly expressed condolences for the Gee and Moore families, calling the collision "an intersectional crash that occurs countless times throughout the day in this country."

"There were no deliberate or criminal acts on the part of either operator," Daly wrote. "In regards to the helmet issue, no helmets were in use."

He said his department would not comment further.

Peter Stoveld said his 21-year-old daughter, Paige, who was driving the Land Rover struck by the scooter, remains traumatized by the collision.

Stoveld said his daughter saw the scooter as a red blur that emerged from a side street and slammed into the passenger side of the SUV. Moore was thrown off the scooter and into the front passenger-side window, shattering it, he said.

Though Mr. Stoveld has not received a completed crash report, he said police have told him and his daughter that they believe Moore "came straight through the junction without stopping" at a stop sign. Paige Stoveld, traveling on a busy four-lane road, had the right of way.

The collision occurred with enough force that the scooter pushed the Land Rover into another lane, Mr. Stoveld said. His daughter was not seriously injured but was cut by flying glass, he said.

A resident of the neighborhood where the crash occurred said in an e-mail to The Dispatch that the stop sign had been "grown over with bushes." The township cut back the shrubbery two days later, he said.

Mr. Stoveld, who rushed to be with his daughter after learning of the crash, also noticed the obscured sign.

"I did see, and I did point out to the police, that the stop sign was not visible, especially from the height of the motor scooter," he said. He said he left a message to that effect at the Philadelphia hospital where Gee and Moore were taken.

Questions about the stop sign were referred to Lower Merion public-information officer Brenda Viola, who did not call back by yesterday afternoon.

The crash left Moore, 31, in a coma at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He died 12 days later.

Rebekah Gee suffered broken bones and head trauma in the collision....Dispatch reporter Encarnacion Pyle contributed to this story.

Maybe like we need pedestrian crosswalks enforced, we also need stop signs enforced? Why is it that seems to happen in other communities, just not around here? And not to be mean, but if these two on the scooter were doctors, shouldn't they have at least known to wear helmets whether or not they are required by law? And shouldn't they have known better and NOT run stop signs if that is what caused this?