We will pray for this victim to reach a full recovery. It is sad that as a resident of Summit, I have to literally run daily to cross the streets when walking around town for fear of being run over with my baby carriage. Cars ignore stop signs or "no turn on red" signs and, they do not wait for Pedestrians, who have the right of way, to cross the street because they are in a hurry to make a turn or grab a parking spot as soon as the light changes. Beware when walking along the parking lots behind the businesses on DeForest Avenue heading towards Summit Avenue or the parking lots on Summit Avenue behind Food/Pastaria, etc. - cars bolt out of the lots without giving a thought to slowing down to look for pedestrians. There need to be tougher laws governing the traffic in Summit.

Thanks for the warnings Sally. We do wish the accident victim a full recovery as well.

Driving has also become a hazard in Summit. What has happened to courtesy for drivers and pedestrians here? Safety should be a priority to avoid future accidents but caution and care seem to have gone out the window. Is making it to your gym class or saving 15 seconds important enough to jeapordize safety? I was making a left turn at the 4-way intersection at Beechwood & DeForest Ave. recently and didn't move fast enough for the driver behind me. The woman in her SUV proceeded to honk at me three times (once would have been enough - regardless I was waiting for traffic to clear so I could proceed safely). I decided to make a right instead to keep traffice moving and the woman pulled up next to me and gave me the finger. Besides a lack of safety, things have also become downright unpleasant. Let's change things!

I hope the woman who was struck has a full and quick recovery!
My experience as both a pedestrian and driver in Summit has been very positive. I find that cars stop when they see me approach a crosswalk and almost always stop to allow me to cross. I notice that most drivers are very courteous as well.
As with anything, there are always exceptions and those few who have no respect for others are the ones that cause problems for the rest of us. Not all drivers in Summit are a problem! I have also noticed that some pedestrians walk into the street without looking both ways first. That's not a smart thing to do.
Let's all try to be more responsible for our actions, both as drivers and pedestrians and let's be safe!

Why am I not surprised that it is a huge SUV. Too many people in Summit and other towns drive around in these obnoxios gas guzzling monstrosities and in my opinion have a hell of a nerve. Selfish, selfish people.

I also wish the best for the victim here. Lousy time of year for such a terrible thing to happen. Our prayers are with her. As for Summit traffic, its a busy town with lots of intersections and pedestrians. More than most downtowns. But I always find the people in Summit to be more friendly than anywhere I go. But Yuppies will be Yuppies, even when they are 50 and driving huge SUV's. And if the Summit Police every read these comments, a pedestrian walk sign where people cross from the bank parking lot to the Farmers Market would be a very good place to start. After years of crossing there, I'm amazed that no one has been struck by a vehicle.

Even though the Summit Police really do a good job at patrolling this area near the train station, I constantly see drivers blow by cross walks with pedestrians getting ready to cross. I've even had the drivers glare at me when I gave them the finger, like they had the right of way. As a former Prosecutor, I believe that the only way to get peoples attention is to really throw the book at the driver. The law in Summit (and the signs) are clear, you MUST stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk.

From my experiences, downtown Summit is way too dark at night. The intersections are poorly lit and desperately need to be improved. As both a driver and a pedestrian in this town, I cannot believe that the lighting by the intersections is as bad as it is. Improve the lighting Summit before this happens again!!

Don’t hold your breath about stricter enforcement of accidents related to pedestrians being run over. It is standard practice in the Summit Court to pleas such accidents down to a meaningless offense. Believe me, it happened to me.

I was there with my 6 year old daughter in Cafe Mavi. I also called 911 when a woman came in and asked. I went outside to see a ghastly sight of nothing but a head sticking out from under an SUV and a man in his 50's having a nervous breakdown because he just ran a woman over as his own teenage son stood next to him emotionless and speechless - totally in shock. I covered my daughter's eyes so she wouldn't see it and got out of there. So sad for everyone involved.
-Nicole Turon-Diaz

This is a real tragedy. I would like to thank everyone for sharing their thoughts, concerns, opinions and eyewitness accounts on this very serious accidents. More details are coming. Stay tuned.

Cindy was a close friend and colleague. She will be sorely missed.

Bob Gandel

My heart goes out to the family, friends, co-works and the man that hit Cynthia. This is by no means a way of trying to find fault but, there is nothing the police can do to make the crossing of a road safer than it is. The real responsibility falls on the pedestrians and drivers. I have been guilty of both not crossing in a cross walk and also not seeing pedestrians and having to stop short. I believe that the proper way to cross a street is in a cross walk and to stop, look both ways then proceed. Unfortunately a lot of people have misunderstood this law to be only in the pedestrians favor and giving them the ability to just walk out into the street, not smart or safe. I'm definitely not saying that is what happened here but drivers, walkers, bikers and strollers need to look out for each other. *You can not trust anyone to do what you think they should do.* It also looks from some of the pictures and the description of how this particular person was found that she may not have been in the cross walk and the driver didn't see her, it was dark and raining, extra caution on all parts should especially be taken. Pure accident. RIP Cynthia.

This particular crosswalk is very, very dark. I am always concerned when crossing there on the way home from the bus., particularly in a dark coat. Better lighting should be considered.

How about banning SUV's in Summit. That would be a start. People that drive SUV's are obnoxios selfish indivuiduals.

The Patch can help in this tragedy. How? Ask the police and court to publish the stats on pedestrian/vehicle hits for the last five years and include full details of how the court handled the matter, including exactly what the original charged offense for the driver of the vehicle was and what the court reduced the charge to. It seems when the party who hit the pedestrian is a Summit resident, they were treated to a less offense. Let’s start with what the current charge was for the fellow who hit the person who died.

Really Patch? 'Pelham-Webb was pulled from underneath the vehicle by a 56-year-old man police say is Owen Flannery of Chatham.' Please, get the facts straight

I've updated the article with information from a Christ Church Short Hills newsletter. Mrs. Pelham-Webb was a much-loved and active member of the community.

There a number of problems in Summit. The first is the sense of entitlement of the people in general - this is one reason the drivers are the way they are. When I go to Summit at lunchtime the pony-tail set are cruising around in their SUVs- Gym, lunch whatever. I would say 30-40% are typically on a cellphone; never seen one get pulled over. Lighting and marking for crosswalks in Summit are really poor. there are far too many traffic lights and no turn on red signs. This leads to stress and impatience. Get rid of 90% of them and replace with 4 way stop signs. There is not enough enforcement - the police should go to the Middle School every morning - no one stops at those crossings. We could probably fully fund the city from those violations alone. Plus get rid of that double crossing in front of the Station - it's dangerous and confusing and unnecessary.

The crosswalk where this woman was killed is signed and marked as a Pedestrian Crosswalk.

I do not know if the guy that ran over this unlucky woman committed a crime, but everyday Downtown Summit sees dozens of reckless drivers speeding thru the downtown, ignoring the pedestrian crosswalks and traffic signage, and they do so with complete impunity and reckless disregard for the safety of others.

Can someone explain why Summit's police force does little to nothing to enforce the traffic laws, and are unwilling to write tickets?

I was at the scene of this accident just as it happened and I can tell you that it was horribly dark that evening - there were three or four of us right there and frankly not a one saw the victim crossing the street. Unfortunately there were two, yes two, streetlamps that were not working that night, making an already dark intersection that much more treacherous. Very sad to hear that this poor lady didn't make it, I had hoped that would not be the case when she left the scene still alive. So sad.

Its an awful tragedy particularly right before the holidays. What I find unfortunate is that despite the serious issues concerning pedestrian safety in the city of Summit, the town has recently decided to invest $70k into a lightning detection system. Considering the odds of being struck by lightning versus being struck by a car I can't imagine what brilliance drove the town to this decision. Its apparent that these accidents aren't rare and the enforcement of traffic safety found lacking. I've had a few close encounters myself as a pedestrian at the cross walk between the train station and the parking garage where I was clearly in the marked crossing zone. That $70k could be used to better improve the lighting around that walk and others or even afford a crossing guard's annual salary or two. Perhaps pedestrian safety is high on the list, but right after the town gets a tornado detection system too.

Thanks to the majority of Summit residents, this will not change. They voted Ellen in as mayor and she does not believe in public safety, she believes in luxuries like not having to take your garbage to the curb. The police always get blamed for not doing their jobs which I think is pretty unfair. They write down what street lights are out and hand that into the city but apprently it is more important to have a lightning detection system?!?!?! Is that really true? WOW!

Perhaps the only thing that will have near term impact is to have the Municipal Court, City prosecutor included, to stop doing senseless reduction of charges on these vehicle pedestrian hits. Seems the police issue the proper tickets but once the Judge/Prosecutor take over out goes all seriousness related to the matter. What happened to a ‘throw the book at them’ approach? As earlier mentioned by JIH and myself, that is not being done. So, what you get is more serious accidents with no accountability. Perhaps the police are reluctant to write tickets knowing it is a waste of time since they will be dismissed or reduced to a meaningless plea. What charges/tickets have been issued to Flannery? Anything less than vehicular manslaughter would seem to be business as usual. Ben Jacoby died this past October when a vehicle hit him in Summit. What happened to that driver? Am I wrong and just being mean?

"AStar Gazer" - I agree with most of what you said but to say, "Anything less than vehicular manslaughter would seem to be business as usual" is irresponsible. Let the facts come out. While Summit drivers are in general rude and obnoxious we do not know the facts here. What we have heard so far is that it was really dark, two lights were out, several witnesses said they didn't see her in the crosswalk, and someone I spoke to said she was not fully in the crosswalk. Let justice take its course with facts. Based on that you are definitely wrong and maybe a little bit mean. Overall though you are right, there is a distinct lack of enforcement, either by the police, courts or both.

It has been addressed but it needs to emphasized that Summit, which is a very affluent community, doesn't have proper lighting at its major downtown pedestrian crossings. Halogen lighting is available and certainly with Summit's affluent community is available. How many more people are going to have to die before we wake up and provide the proper safety precautions needed to protect lives? While you enjoy Christmas with your family, just take a minute to think about the Pelham-Webbs and what is like for them. How would you like to be in their place?