From the COO of the Museum:

Dear staff,

As many of you know, on Wednesday morning a young woman jogger was hit by a
car on Kelly Drive in the crosswalk at Fairmount Avenue. The driver had
disregarded a red signal. Thankfully, the jogger is in stable condition and
likely to recover.

This unfortunate incident is what we feared might happen and we had hoped to
avoid. We have been deeply concerned about the intersection and have worked
to improve safety for pedestrians in the areas around the museum in a
variety of ways. There are both short term and long term solutions.

The long term solution would involve a reorientation of streets and improved
signals, signage, lights and crosswalks and requires the approval of both
the City administration and PennDot.

In the short term, we are working with City officials to improve the signage
and crosswalks for the existing configuration of roads and we urge you to be
careful when you are crossing.

Thanks to our efforts and letters like Kathy Fosterıs (attached below), the
Streets Department conducted an investigation and began work to improve the
crossing, but more work needs to be done. We need more voices speaking out
to let the City administration know how important this is. We encourage
staff members to write to Clarena Tolson, Streets Commissioner, to further
improve the signals, signage and striping. Any letter should be copied to
our District Councilman, Darrell Clarke, who has been advocating for these
improvements and he is also helping to convey our concerns and is demanding
results.

A further request could be for enhanced enforcement of traffic rules and
speed limits, and for this reason letters should also be copied to Pedro
Ramos, Managing Director, and Sylvester Johnson, Police Commissioner. As
noted above copies should be sent to Darrell Clarke and please copy me, Gail
Harrity, as well.

Pedro Ramos
Managing Director, City of Philadelphia
14th Floor, Municipal Services Building
1401 John F Kennedy Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19102
<Pedro.Ramos@ phila.gov>

Clarena Tolson
Commissioner, Streets Department
7th Floor, Municipal Services Building
1401 John F Kennedy Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19102
or
csstreets@phila. gov <mailto:csstreets@phila. gov>

Sylvester Johnson
Commissioner, Police Department
3rd Floor, 750 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
or
<Sylvester.Johnson@ phila.gov>

Darrell Clarke
City Hall, Room 484
Philadelphia, PA 19107-3290
or
<Norma.Morales@ phila.gov>

Lastly, I have attached below some safety tips from our Safety Officer,
Matthew Poissant.

Thank you in advance for your willingness to take the time to add your voice
to our petition to improve the pedestrian access to areas around the Museum.

Sincerely,

Gail Harrity

Pedestrian Safety

There are many benefits to safe walking including improved fitness & health,
and cleaner air. Use the following tips for safe walking:
> · Plan your route and allow for sufficient time to get where you are
> going.
> · Be alert.
> · Use sidewalks or walking paths.
> · Do not jaywalk, cross streets where it is safe and legal, in the
> crosswalks.
> · Stay in a safe area until you prepare to cross. Stand a safe distance
> back from the curb.
> · Cross with the green light or pedestrian signal.
> · Before stepping into the street look LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT for moving cars.
> · Before you cross in front of the vehicle, make certain that the driver
> sees you and stops. Attempt to make eye contact with the driver.
>
> · Cross when it is clear, and keep looking left and right.
> · Use extra caution when crossing multiple lanes of traffic, on higher
> speed streets, at night or during bad weather.
>
> · Watch for vehicles turning right on red.
> · Watch for distracted or impaired drivers.
>

Kathy Fosterıs Letter

Dear Commissioner Tolson:

I live in the Fairmount neighborhood and walk to my job at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, which means that every day I must cross the intersection of
Fairmount Avenue and Kelly Drive. Hardly a day goes by without witnessing a
car running the red light southbound on Kelly Drive, and recently I saw-and
not for the first time-- a pedestrian almost hit in the crosswalk below the
Museum. This crosswalk is almost invisible, because pedestrians are hidden
by trees until they step into the street, and the street is not painted with
crosswalk lines. People standing at the curb do not see the oncoming traffic
because of the trees, and do not expect it because the stop line for the
cars is at least a hundred feet north of the actual crosswalk. To make
matters worse, the ³walk² sign is so brief that even an able-bodied person
cannot make it across the four lanes of traffic before it begins to flash
³wait.² If you wait to make sure the oncoming traffic has stopped, you will
surely be stranded in the middle of the street.

I worry that, when the Museumıs new building opens across the street next
year, many more pedestrians unaccustomed to the dangers of this intersection
will be attempting to cross at this spot, and I urge you to take steps to
make this crossing safer.

1. Please paint the crosswalk, so drivers will be aware of it.
2. Install a ³Crosswalk² sign preceding the intersection.
3. Retime the walk/wait sign to allow for more time to cross.
4. Consider posting cameras, to discourage running the red light.

Ultimately, I hope that you will reconsider the entire configuration of this
intersection and the next one (by the Joan of Arc statue, at 25th
Street-also very dangerous) to allow for the future stream of pedestrians
between the two museum sites. However, I think that steps can be taken
immediately to reduce the hazard at this intersection, and I hope you will
give earnest attention to this request.

Yours Truly,

Kathleen A. Foster

cc: Darrell Clarke
Councilman, 5th District
Room 484 City Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19107-3290

Gail Harrity
Chief Operating Officer
Philadelphia Museum of Art
PO Box 7646
Philadelphia, PA 19101-7646

telephone: 215-684-7702
fax: 215.232.7646
gharrity@philamuseu m.org
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