UPDATE/POST EDIT: Names of the three people who passed away have been released. Matthew Haller, 20 of Wind Gap was driving the black Mustang. Ronald Bogart, 68, and Chester Bogart, 74, were in the Subaru Forester. They were brothers from East Stroudsburg. Autopsies are being performed this morning.
The Coroner’s Office confirms 3 people died in a 3 vehicle crash last night on Route 209 near Shafers Schoolhouse Road.
The fate of this controversial and deadly intersection has been debated for years.
There is nothing wrong with the intersection. These two drunk and reckless and speeding young drivers (Matt Haller and the other Mustang driver) are solely to blame. RIP for the two elderly Bogart brothers. Haller will not do that again as he reached his final destination.
====================================
UPDATE FROM POLICE:
On Sunday September 16th, 2018 at approximately 9:30 P.M., the Stroud Area Regional Police Department responded to the area of Route 209 and Shafer’s Schoolhouse Road for a report of a motor vehicle accident. Upon arrival, Officers observed two vehicles fully engulfed in flames on the northbound side of 4 Lane Route 209, and another vehicle south of the intersection that had also been involved in the accident.
Initial investigation revealed that one white Ford Mustang and one black Ford Mustang were traveling south on four lane Route 209. Both Mustangs then lost control of their vehicles and crossed the median into the northbound lane. The black Mustang then collided head-on with a Subaru Forrester, causing both vehicles to become engulfed in flames. The white Mustang continued traveling south in the northbound lane until it collided with a guardrail and came to rest just south of Shafer’s Schoolhouse Road.
The driver of the Black Mustang was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and the passenger in the Subaru were also pronounced dead at the scene. Names of the victims will not be released pending identification and notification of the next of kin.
SARPD Accident Reconstruction Unit is currently investigating this accident.
The SARPD would like to thank all responding agencies that provided assistance during this investigation.
================================
East Stroudsburg brothers, Wind Gap man killed in fiery Route 209 crash, coroner says
Three people are dead after a crash in Monroe County on Sunday night. It happened along Route 209 near Shafers Schoolhouse Road in Stroud Township.
Manuel Gamiz Jr. Contact Reporter Of The Morning Call
As police in Monroe County continue to investigate what caused a fatal crash this weekend that left a Wind Gap man and East Stroudsburg brothers dead, officials with the state Department of Transportation say they’ve already started plans to improve safety at what many consider a dangerous intersection.
Monroe County Coroner Thomas Yanac said Matthew Haller, 20, of Wind Gap, and brothers Ronald and Chester Bogart, of East Stroudsburg, were killed Sunday in the fiery 9:30 p.m. collision at Route 209 and Shafers Schoolhouse Road in Stroud Township.
Stroud Area Regional police have only said that two Ford Mustangs were heading south on Route 209 when both went out of control and one hit an oncoming Subaru SUV. The other Mustang hit a guardrail southwest of Shafers Schoolhouse Road.
Haller was driving one of the Mustangs and Ronald Bogart, 68, was driving the Subaru in which his 74-year-old brother was the passenger, the coroner said. The collision caused both cars to erupt into flames and all the men died at the scene.
The driver of the second Mustang survived the wreck, but police have not given any details on the driver's condition.
The Bogart brothers, former mechanics for Ertle Subaru in Stroud Township, were driving home from a visit to another brother Sunday when the accident occurred, May Ertle told WBRE-TV on Tuesday. She said both men were married with children, WBRE reported.
Stroud Area Regional police said they have an accident reconstruction unit investigating the crash. They have not said what may have caused both southbound Mustangs to lose control.
The crash happened at a four-way intersection, less than 2 miles west of Stroudsburg, that has long been considered dangerous because of the number of crashes in that area.
In October 2014, two women, ages 78 and 76, were killed when their car was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer. In 2010, a tractor-trailer rear-ended a row of vehicles stopped at a red light, killing a woman.
Ron Young, a spokesman for PennDOT, said when Route 209 was built in 1964, there were only 8,000 vehicles using the road. Now, he said, there are “21,000 vehicles with higher speeds and more trucks."
He said part of the reason there have been so many crashes in that intersection is a traffic light, what he called the “unexpected presence of a signal-controlled intersection along an otherwise limited access expressway.”
PennDOT statistics show that there have been 24 crashes in that intersection in the past five years, leading to two fatalities and 30 injuries. Most of the crashes happened when vehicles collided at an angle.
As a result, Young said, there is a project in the preliminary design stage to make safety improvements to Route 209.
The project, he said, would eliminate left turns from Route 209 onto Shafers Schoolhouse Road, and it would also eliminate cross traffic from Shafers Schoolhouse Road. After the project is completed, vehicles will only be able to make right turns from the intersection.
“We know the most frequent type of crashes occurring there are angle crashes, and the removal of the crossing movements at the intersection will virtually eliminate this type of crash,” Young said.
Design engineering is expected to take up to three years before it enters into the contract bidding and construction phase.
The project would close the intersection of Route 209 at Beaver Valley Road in Hamilton Township and partially close Route 209 at Shafers Schoolhouse Road for an extended period of time, Young said.
According to his Facebook page, Haller graduated from Pen Argyl High School, where he played football. He attended Northampton Community College and worked as a technician for the service department at Koch 33 Ford.
“He is going to be missed,” the company said in a statement. “He was a great employee, the staff here is very upset.”
Also, on his Facebook page, Haller posted several pictures of a black Mustang.