Driver issued 2 summonses in Chambers Bridge Rd. fatality
Christine Wirth, 79, died at scene of July 21 accident
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer

Brick Township police have determined that a Lakewood man was at fault in an accident that killed a disabled woman trying to cross Chambers Bridge Road last month.

Ronald R. Caroselli, 69, was charged with careless driving and failure to yield to a pedestrian, following an investigation by the Police Department's Traffic Safety Bureau, Lt. John E. Rein Jr. said.

It will be up to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office to determine if vehicular manslaughter charges should be filed in the July 21 accident that took the life of 79-year-old Christine Wirth, Rein said.

Officers in the Police Department's Traffic Safety Bureau recently concluded a monthlong probe of the accident at the troubled intersection of Chambers Bridge and Ovation Way.

Caroselli had the green light on the westbound side of Ovation Way. But when he turned his 2004 Ford van onto Chambers Bridge Road, the van struck 79- year-old Christine Wirth, who was headed across the street on her motorized scooter.

Wirth "was doing everything correctly" when she tried to cross the intersection in the crosswalk, with a green light, traffic safety officer Sgt. Donald Ling has said.

Wirth, who lived in the nearby Forge Pond Housing Authority complex, died at the scene of multiple injuries. She had to be extricated from underneath the van by members of the Breton Woods Fire Company.

"He [the driver] said his vision was blocked by a truck turning before him," Rein said. "But he probably could have seen her had he looked first before turning."

Officers in the Traffic Safety Division begin accident investigations immediately after the incidents, Rein said.

They examine witness statements, the positions of the vehicles at the point of impact and a number of other factors before coming to a conclusion, he said.

Wirth was the fourth resident from the apartment complex to die over the past 18 months. The others who were killed either did not use the crosswalk, crossed against the light, or crossed in the dark.

The Ocean County Engineering Department installed 1,170 feet of fencing on the roadway median earlier this year, from the entrance to Kohl's Plaza to Bally Total Fitness, to keep pedestrians from crossing anywhere but at the crosswalks.

Jersey Central Power & Light installed 15 additional streetlights with higher-intensity bulbs to increase visibility.

The county also installed "talking" boxes recently, next to the pedestrian-activated button signal, so pedestrians can cross the busy six-lane highway on a green light. The devices tell people when it's safe and when it's not safe to cross, Ling has said.

Henry Genovese, 69, was killed on Nov. 13, 2007. He was in the crosswalk in a motorized scooter, trying to cross against the light, police have said.

Genovese died less than a month after William Gregson, 74, was killed. Gregson died Oct. 15, 2007, when he tried to cross the highway in the area of 150 Chambers Bridge Road in the dark. He was struck by a township police cruiser driven by Patrolman Scott Smith.

John F. Auerbacher, 81, died Jan. 19, 2007, after he tried to cross Chambers Bridge Road near the entrance to Kohl's Plaza. He failed to use the crosswalk, police have said.