09-08-2025
Petition calls for traffic signal at site of fatal vehicle crash in Potsdam
Aug. 7—POTSDAM — A petition is circulating asking the state Department of Transportation to install a warning light or traffic signal at the intersection where two prominent Massena businesspeople were killed in December.
Real C. "Frenchie" Coupal and Loretta Perez were killed in the Dec. 17 motor vehicle crash at the intersection of State Route 310 and County Route 34 in the town of Potsdam.
The two were returning from a Rochester Regional Health St. Lawrence Region board meeting when their vehicle was struck and they were killed. Perez was a board chair and Coupal was the vice chair.
Connor A. Graveline, 19, was charged with criminally negligent homicide in connection with the crash.
David Frary said he started the petition to address an area where other fatalities have been reported. James R. Murray, 78, of Madrid, died in a September 2021 motor vehicle crash at the intersection. James S. Andes, 53, of Canton, was also killed following a two-car crash in December 2017.
Frary said records he requested from the Department of Transportation indicated that there had been 14 collisions in nine years, three of them with fatalities. Patrick Brady assisted him with compiling statistics. Both men belong to the Massena Rotary Club, where Coupal was also a member.
"Nobody was compiling statistics," he said. "The majority of them were in the early morning or late afternoon and early evening, and in December."
He suggested the intersection could be made safer by installing a traffic control device, whether it was a warning light or four-way traffic stop.
"I think we need to do something. The Potsdam Town Board agrees," Frary said,.
The petition can be signed at the Massena Community Center, Frenchie's Chevrolet or Frenchie's Ford. Coupal was the owner and president of Frenchie's Chevrolet and Frenchie's Ford, and Perez was a retired teacher and manager of Massena Travel Inc.
Frenchie's Chevrolet announced the availability of the petitions in a Facebook post.
"Earlier this year, we lost someone very dear to us — the owner of Frenchie's Chevrolet and Frenchie's Ford, and a deeply active member of our community — in a tragic accident at the intersection of NYS Highway 310 and County Route 34 in the Town of Potsdam. This intersection has been the site of numerous accidents over the years, and now, heartbreakingly, fatal ones," they wrote. "We are gathering signatures for a petition urging the NYS Department of Transportation to install a warning light or traffic signal at this dangerous intersection to help prevent future tragedies. The loss is immeasurable — but your signature can help make sure no more families go through what ours has."
Frary said the petitions will be provided to Potsdam Town Board members, who will be asked to forward them to the Department of Transportation during their September meeting.
