Crime & Safety
Updated: Pickup Crashes into Pole, Closes Bakers Basin Road
Bakers Basin Road was closed for about eight hours Friday while PSE&G crews worked to replace the snapped pole.
Bakers Basin Road was closed to traffic for about eight hours today (Friday, Sept. 9) while PSE&G personnel worked to replace a utility pole that was knocked over when a pickup truck crashed into it.
The accident occurred when Thomas Stronski, 28, of Bensalem, Pa., lost control of his 2008 Ford pickup and slammed into the pole shortly before 1:45 p.m., according to Lawrence Township Police Sgt. Gary Schenck.
The impact snapped the pole, causing live power lines carrying thousands of volts of energy to hang low over the road.
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Stronski was not hurt, Schenck said, but PSE&G personnel had to shut off power to the wires, erect a new pole and reattach the wires to that new pole.
As a result, Bakers Basin Road was closed between Route 1 and Youngs Road/Lawrence Station Road until almost 10 p.m.
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Schenck said the circumstances of the crash remain under investigation by Officer Richard Laird III.
At almost the same time today – 1:48 p.m. – another accident involving a vehicle striking a pole occurred in Lawrence.
In that second crash, the 2004 Hyundai Sonata being driven by 88-year-old Lawrence Township resident Alice Fitzgeorge ran into and knocked down a light pole near the intersection of Federal City Road and Denow Road, Schenck said, noting that Fitzgeorge was not hurt.
He said that accident remains under investigation by Officer Matthew Grossi.
