The mother-in-law of a woman who was killed last month in a head-on collision on Sharon Station Road in Upper Freehold Township described her daughter-in-law's fatal injuries to the Township Committee at its July 9 meeting.

Debbie Van Pelt, of the New Egypt section of Plumsted, told Upper Freehold Township officials that Christine Squires, 44, died from a broken neck and injuries to her abdomen. Van Pelt said Squires' body was driven over by the truck that collided with her vehicle.

Van Pelt said her son and Squires would have celebrated their second wedding anniversary in September.

Squires also left behind a 9-year-old stepdaughter she was raising, Van Pelt said, adding, "That child [now] has no mother."

Van Pelt voiced her anger about the problem of vehicles speeding on Sharon Station Road.

Said Van Pelt: "She was a human being, not a dog running loose. Something should be done about that road."

William Miscoski, a former mayor of Upper Freehold Township, said he believes the accident that claimed Squires' life should never have happened.

When he was in office, he said, all of the members of the governing body voted to turn over control of Sharon Station Road to Monmouth County.

In 2006, a group called Citizens Advocating Road Safety sued Miscoski and the Township Committee to prevent a county takeover of the road.

Miscoski said he was sued individually because he was a partner with a trucker. The lawsuit was dropped in 2008.

"These people thought they would stop trucks on the road," Miscoski said. "They weren't going to — it's a connector road. I blame these people for this [death]."

Miscoski said he specifically blamed a resident of the Woods at Cream Ridge housing development off Sharon Station Road, and said he hoped that person would meet a similar fate on Sharon Station Road.

Committeeman Dr. Robert Frascella, a Woods at Cream Ridge resident, said Sharon Station Road is a bad road. He agreed with Miscoski about the specific resident and called that person the "ringleader" of the residents who sued Upper Freehold Township.

Frascella said the 2006 lawsuit was filed "by a bunch of cowards who couldn't even put their names on it."

Miscoski suggested closing the road "until the county gets off their a— and does something." He said Sharon Station Road could be made accessible to local residents only.

"There is so much documentation on how unsafe it is," the former mayor said.

Frascella said he almost gets run off the road every time he turns into his development.

Upper Freehold Deputy Mayor Stanley Moslowski Jr., who lives farther down on Sharon Station Road, said the street is unsafe and he called the way people drive on it "horrendous."

Miscoski said closing Sharon Station Road would force truckers and other drivers to put pressure on the county.

Township Attorney Granville Magee told officials that if Upper Freehold Township closes the road, someone will file a claim about the action.

"Closing it is not so simple," Magee said. "There are a number of issues."

Upper Freehold Mayor Steve Alexander said if Sharon Station Road is closed, trucks might start going down Route 539 past a school.

The members of the governing body were concerned that Monmouth County is now linking the redesign of Sharon Station Road with the construction of a local thoroughfare known as the westerly bypass.

Frascella said he hopes the county "sees the light and drops the westerly bypass hostage situation."

Alexander said there is no one on the Township Committee who supports the westerly bypass.

"This Township Committee is committed to getting Sharon Station Road redesigned in a safe manner," the mayor said. "We don't want to be held hostage to the westerly bypass. The priority is Sharon Station Road - period."

Monmouth County Engineer Joseph Ettore did not return phone calls or emails regarding the Sharon Station Road/westerly bypass situation.