Brother’s fatal crash near ‘dangerous’ intersection spurs sister to action
Paul J. Cook Jr. was driving home from East Penn Manufacturing Co. in Richmond Township after working a day shift Oct. 21 when he lost control of his car and it collided with another a few miles from the factory.
The 25-year-old Exeter Township man and father of a 7-year-old son had been employed at the battery plant, which is Berks County’s largest employer, for more than three months. His father, Paul Sr., worked there and helped him get the job.
The younger Cook was getting his life together, his sister, Isabella said, and the job at Deka Battery, which is the name most locals use for the plant, was a giant step toward stability.
Around 2:30 p.m. Cook lost control of his car after cresting a hill westbound on Fleetwood Lyons Road. His car swerved into the opposing lane and was hit on the passenger side, according to Fleetwood police, who patrol Richmond Township.
The other driver, whose name was not released, was transported to the Reading Hospital for serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Cook suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
In the wake of his unexpected death, Cook’s family struggles for answers about how the crash occurred and whether anything could have prevented it.
“The thing that is so confusing is we knew that P.J. took every safety precaution he could,” Isabella said of her older brother. “He was a stickler for not texting while driving. From what we conjured up, he wasn’t on the phone when that happened. It’s just confusing to us as to why this freak accident happened.”
One possibility, Isabella said, is the traffic may have been backing up as one or more motorists waited for a break in eastbound traffic to turn left onto Dryville Road. Given that it was around shift change at East Penn, traffic volume is heavy that time of day, but Paul may not have noticed this in time and swerved to avoid plowing into the line.
Isabella’s grief over her brother’s death has spurred her to action.
She started an online petition for safety measures on Fleetwood Lyons Road near the crash site, pointing to multiple skid marks on the road that police told the family were there before Paul’s crash as evidence of the need.
“When approaching this intersection traveling westbound on Fleetwood Lyons Road you come over a hill that prevents drivers from seeing in an adequate amount of time if traffic is backed up,” her change.org petition states. “This leaves drivers little to no time to break. Drivers are traveling up to 55 miles per hour or more while facing these potential hazards. Adding on to this, the combination of traffic at shift changes ranging from 1:45 pm- 3:30 pm from East Penn Manufacturing and the dangerous speed displayed at this point of the road creates extreme hazards to drivers.”
Before another life is taken, the petition continues, there needs to be “reduction of speed” signs warning those traveling westbound on Fleetwood Lyons Road to slow down for potential hazards such as backed-up traffic and stopped vehicles.
Isabella plans to reach out to the PennDOT District 5 engineer and local elected officials to see that something is done.
Fleetwood Lyons Road is used by many motorists as an alternative to Route 222 in northern Berks.
No safety improvement projects for Fleetwood Lyons Road are included in the recently approved fouryear and long-range transportation improvement plans, said Alan Piper, Berks County transportation planner.
Developed in coordination with PennDOT district officials, both lists include projects recommended by PennDOT as well as local officials to address safety or traffic flow problems.
Isabella said she did a lot of online research, including social media comments from East Penn Manufacturing workers about frequent Fleetwood Lyons Road accidents and safety concerns, and is convinced something needs to be done.
“If you have thousands of employees leaving at the same time every single day you’re faced with the same hazard at that specific time,” she said.
She believes her brother’s death may have been prevented if something had been done to make the road safer.
“It’s a shame a young soul was taken way too soon,” said Isabella, 22, who grew up in Exeter Township and now lives in Pittsburgh. “He was an amazing person, a very charismatic person. Just a magnet. Even if you knew him for a day, he left a lasting mark on you. He had a smile that was contagio us.”