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An elderly woman was hit by a “distracted” driver Wednesday while she was walking on the sidewalk near the intersection of Rengstorff Avenue and Central Expressway, officials with the police department confirmed today.
Details are still scarce, as a full police report has yet to be filed on the April 3 incident in which a car struck a pedestrian, closing down the intersection for several hours while police investigated the accident.
The 81-year-old woman remains in a local hospital, according to a Mountain View Police Department spokesman. “The driver was distracted and veered off the road.” Police did not disclose what was distracting the driver.
The accident occurred at about 4:30 p.m. near the ramp from westbound Central Expressway to north Rengstorff Avenue, according to Sgt. Sean Thompson, public information officer with the MVPD. No arrests were made, which likely means that neither alcohol nor drugs appeared to be a factor, Thompson added.
In an ironic twist, April is “Distracted Driving Awareness Month,” according to the California Highway Patrol. The CHP is reminding drivers that it is illegal to text or talk on the phone without a hands-free device while driving.
I hope the victim survived. Best wishes on your recovery.
I hope that the car was obeying the big yellow 25mph sign in the photo. A 25mph car-vs-pedestrian collision is much more survivable than 35mph.
So at this point, it’s pretty safe to assume I should never walk outside again in Mountain View if I want to avoid being hit by a car.
I just read a report saying that the majority of car vs pedestrian collisions occur when the car is turning left. I imagine that off ramps are far more dangerous, but they don’t rank very high because there are less of them than less turns. Car drivers just don’t pay attention to the crosswalks at off ramps (or left turns).
God help us in Mountain View.
So the hysteria will begin again, with the righteous citizens of Mountain View demanding even greater crackdowns and persecution of those evil motorists. Don’t bother waiting for any details, get the pitchfork!
Whoa there people! Slow down! We don’t have any facts here yet and I see a lot of conclusions being drawn already! I am looking at the photo and I don’t see ANY crosswalk there. Was the pedestrian in a crosswalk or were they on the ramp itself? If they were in the crosswalk walking and the driver had an unobstructed view, then it’s definitely on the driver! If not, then I think we should wait to see what the investigation finds before we get out our pitchforks. I walk far more thank I drive, but I just as many people stepping off the curb, outside of the crosswalk and into the path of a car moving at speed because they know the car “has to stop” no matter what boneheaded thing the pedestrian does, as I see cars that don’t wan’t to stop even at stop signs for those “idiotic pedestrians who are slowing me down”. Lets all just calm down and wait for the facts.
so much for police decoys to fine motorists! could the police department try other methods to educate motorists and pedestrians? hopefully in the next mountain view wine and art festival, we will see the police department handling flyers for prevention of accidents in mountain view. it breaks my heart seeing so many accidents that could be prevented by exercising good judgment from the pedestrian and motorists perspective.
That intersection is scary. The speed on that stretch of Central is 45, I think. But I know people go way over that speed.
There is not really an off-ramp, though, just 2 major roads intersecting. If the driver was turning right, from Central onto Rengstorff, I can imagine he/she didn’t need to slow down to 25. I pray that the victim is going to be okay!
I did not realize that there was a ramp at this intersection. A ramp??? What kind of ramp is it? But this intersection is the worst intersection in Mountain View. BY FAR!!!!
But another story of a pedestrian getting hit by a motorist that is apparently not looking. Let’s hope the pedestrian is still alive…
Is there some kind of sick game going on in MV that we’re not aware of? Are points being given out for pedestrian hits? At least bikes have remained out of the press for the most part.
Why is there a ramp there? Now CalTrans discourages high speed turns like that. Look at the east El Camino to south 85 ramp with its 90 degree turn which was designed to slow people down so they don’t mow over pedestrians in the crosswalk there.
The marked crosswalk is located well into the corner, right where an approaching driver making the curve will be looking at their left-hand mirror and/or craning their neck back to their left to see the Rengstorff traffic lane into which they are going to merge. In other words, there is a built-in conflict here between properly seeing the sidewalk and crosswalk ahead and to the right and making a safe merge to the left. Of course we do not have any facts yet, but the only good way for a driver to deal with this in general is to SLOW DOWN.
It is definitely a “ramp” in the sense that it is a separated, dedicated lane connecting the two streets. This configuration (in addition to avoiding getting stacked up at the light) allows for a much faster speed than a right-angle corner, except for proper cautions re the bike lane and crosswalk.
Some people like to call ramps like this “free right turns”, but that is bogus. You are still required by law to check for pedestrians in crosswalks and be prepared to come to a complete stop.
This place is surreal. Are the MVPD and city council really doing anything about it? Anyone knows?
In a general sense, both pedestrians and motorists need to observe caution. There are motorists driving over the speed in most roads, freeways,etc..and I see pedestrians crossing in the middle of the road especially Rengstorff. Motorists should anticipate pedestrians before they hit the white solid lines where people can cross to the other side. I don’t know if it happened while the pedestrian was croossing it in the marked section or some unmarked areas. Also, motorists should stop before making a right turn or left turn because pedestrians may be crossing. More than anything else, Pedestrians should never assume that motorists will stop and be extra extra cautious.
I’m going to start riding my bike. It seems if I drive, a pedestrian will jump in front of me, and if i walk, I’ll get hit by a car.
Seems biking is the safe way to go in MV, at least of late anyways.
Pitchforks a-flyin’. We’re cursed with inattentive drivers and pedestrians. oh oh, don’t forget this is near the dayworker center too. uh….I guess that’s all I’ve got for now.
Oh wait, we should fill in this ramp and make it into a park….or a city approved smoking area.
ok, now i’m really done being pointless. Hope this provided someone with a laugh!
maybe the driver was blinded when a single use plastic shopping bag flew up into his face, or maybe they were loopy on TCE fumes.
@Future Cyclist, you won’t be safe on a bicycle. On your first ride you’ll be accosted because some other dipshit was riding on the sidewalk.
You see, here in the comments we vilify everyone for the actions of one person in the group. Then we deny that any improvement is necessary because the vilification is unwarranted. In this way we can bitch and moan while we block all progress and still feel like we’re doing something productive.
It’s the circle of life, strangling each one of us with complacency.
Congratulations, you are a winner!
The first time you try to bicycle around Mountain View, someone in a SUV or pickup truck will drive up behind you and blast his horn and yell at you to get on the sidewalk. Then anonymous people on the internet will yell at you for biking on the sidewalk.
@Lets wait for the facts: I agree with what you write in principle, but in practice, the facts rarely become available. Except in high profile cases like that of the unfortunate Ware’s, newspapers rarely follow up on collisions. For example, what happened in the case of the unfortunate woman who was killed crossing Phyllis Ave in early March? A search on Google News suggests the press has written nothing more about the case since the initial identification of the deceased. What about the cyclist killed on San Tomas Expressway in mid-March? What about the guy hit on South Shoreline in late February? The result of never getting the facts is that we’re left to speculate in comment threads at the initial presentation of the incident. The Voice would be doing a great service for the community if it would consistently report on both the initial incident and the eventual findings.
I agree with 100% bicycle commuter. This event was 3 days ago and we still do not have the most basic facts about what happened.
1. Was the pedestrian killed? Or how serious are his or her injuries?
2. Who was the driver? What kind of vehicle were they driving?
3. What charges were filed?
How can citizens work for safer streets without the most basic information about the danger? If you really want to find out what is happening in this city, this newspaper is the wrong place to look.
To all worried about someone yelling or honking at me, that’s OK, I can deal with dipshirts. I’m just looking at how many are involved in actual accidents. Bike seem to not be involved recently, going by the reports.
Cheers all…love your neighbors
All over the bay area you hear about these kind of accidents which some to lead to injuries or worse yet death. We have to face facts, we have more drivers, more cyclists and more people on foot.
Maybe its time to redesign Central Expressway to more of a city street instead of a 45 mph expressway.
So how is it that MVPD can’t seem to make a press release on this? Makes me wonder if whoever was driving had connections.
Still no additional info? Still no further report on the Phyllis fatality? Sensational stories, but no meat.
Someone just probably had a heart attack running and someone mistakenly mistook what happened.
The Voice finally updated the article with some details. It is even scarier than I imagined. An elderly woman was walking ON THE SIDEWALK when a distracted driver lost control and jumped the curb and nailed this poor woman. This is “Distracted Driving Awareness Month”. You can’t make this stuff up.
Best wishes to the victim. She is still in the hospital with unknown injuries. You certainly did not deserve this.
No information about the driver yet, but I hope he or she is still in jail.
Best wishes to the woman for a speedy recovery. And thanks, MV Voice, for updating the article with details.
Walkability. Gotta love it. Last week I walked from Whole Foods on ECR to Dittmer’s at ECR and San Antonio. I almost passed out on all the traffic fumes. And almost got hit by a truck mirror from a truck making a left turn with the mirror sticking way into the sidewalk. And it’s no better with the VTA buses. Walkability. Gotta love it. First chance I get I’m selling my house for a cool million plus to some googler and I’m jumping ship on this town.
Subpoena the cell phone records of the driver. $20 says the driver was on the phone at the time of the accident.
That’s the big problem here.
Are subpoenas really necessary? If so, we need to change the laws so that this is an automatic part of the police investigation. Subpoenas are not needed for DUI tests and should not be required for distracted tests either.
Who is allowing the streets lanes to be designed to run along the sidewalks. That only allow less than 1 foot of safety margin between the cars and a pedestrian. Most cities have parking space, bike lane even a little green grass. People be aware if you are on the side walk, step back a few feet. I constantly see people standing at the curb edge waiting for the light to turn.
In order to be safe:
1. Act like your are totally invisible if walking our biking.
2. Assume the driver/cyclist/ped near you has the mentality of a 4 year old.
3. NEVER step or ride into traffic expecting the driver to stop or slow down.
4. Never expect the “right of way” law will protect you.
5. If you can’t cross safely mid block or at a corner without stop lights, find a safer way to cross.
The victim was walking on the SIDEWALK. You folks are still blaming the victim for this crash?
Excellent points Wo’O Ideafarm.
Maybe the article should be retitled,
A “distracted” elderly woman on a sidewalk was hit by a “distracted” car driver Wednesday.
Everyday people are involved in accidents. To me the Voice is just trying to hype a political agenda with out offering any context. More people drive cars, so why doesnt the Voice just fill its paper up with exciting fender benders.
Driving on the sidewalk is now a political right? As if an 81-year-old woman is going to be able to get out of the way of a 50mph car driving on the sidewalk.
The fact that the newspaper continues to call reckless driving an “accident” shows that their political agenda is biased in favor of the distract drivers and against pedestrians. Most newspapers and police departments do not use the term “accident” when it is possible that the driver committed a traffic violation or criminal violation.
Best wishes to the victim in this case. Hopefully the lengthy police investigation does not indicate that the victim’s injuries are life-threatening.
Forget the cell phone right now, you have so many other things that can distract you. Speeding car from behind, wrong turn, sense of being lost, car changing lane, car problem, kids, and pets in the car.
I have witnessed some really off the wall drivers and non drivers.
I am driver, one of things I have to deal with. Simple major issue is passengers, drunk and unruly passengers.
People today just don’t know how to drive and even worse, don’t care.
Example. I was coming from Shoreline Park/Google heading on Rengstorff crossing over 101.
A car exiting the freeway and merging into my lane doesn’t yield and just cuts right in front of me. No slowing down. No hand gesture. Nothing.
I couldn’t believe the driver didn’t even acknowledge what he did was wrong. Unbelievable. Pissed me off.
@ Jose
Here is one that will show you how bad.
Witnessed this one, so follow along. Car A in front of Car B. Car A stops for Pedestrian in crosswalk, Car B hits Car A which hits person in crosswalk.
Car B. was going to make right turn.
Conditions can change quickly. Car B. might have been to close to Car A. Car A might have not been paying attention to the rear. Pedestrian did walk out in traffic didn’t even look.
No amount of ‘traffic calming’, reduced speed limits, stepped up enforcement, or phoney-baloney MVPD sting operations will keep an irresponsible driver off the sidewalk. This incident and the death of Mr. Ware appear to both be in the same category: random acts of stupidity. Don’t penalize the bulk of society for the recklessness of two individuals.
One would think that driving should be regarded as a “privilege” rather than a “right”. But that’s not how it works anymore (if it ever did).
I don’t know ANYONE who wants to drive, but can’t. Sure, some people fail the test the 1st time…maybe even the 2nd. But eventually, everyone gets the license. Despite the responsibility required, everyone is allowed to drive. And those that don’t pass the test? They probably drive anyway. People who become elderly and can no longer react/see well? A lot of them still drive too.
Probably for economic and political reasons, our society doesn’t want to have a higher threshhold and make driving a “privilege”. Enough people in our society don’t want bigger penalties for cell phone us. People would probably never agree to jail terms for unlicensed drivers. So, we have what we have.
We have what we have is pedestrians (including elderly women and school children) getting nailed by cars all over town? Come on. A civilized society can do much better.
Better road design and better enforcement may not prevent every reckless driver, but these techniques are proven to reduce the pedestrian injury rate.
Witnessed today @ Church street (eastbound) crossing Castro. My light turned green, but the driver coming towards me didn’t want to wait for his right of way. He turned left into a crosswalk with pedestrians in it. Close call. Sickening and so common.
Here’s one from 7:20 am this morning. Bicyclist barrels through a red light westbound on Grant Road at Cuesta. Driver turning left from Grant eastbound onto Cuesta has to swerve to avoid hitting the cyclist and the cyclist swerves into the fast lane and keeps going. A MVPD cruiser is right there and takes off after the cyclist.
I ride and guys like this tick me off as we all get lumped into the same category as this idiot. You would think that with the recent spate of “accidents”, people would learn.
From driver to walkers we all need to slow down, pay more attention a little more.
Nixle just sent out a press release that the pedestrian died on Saturday. The man who hit her was driving a gray 2012 odyssey and is cooperating with police. Both victim and driver are MV residents.
So sorry to hear about the passing of the pedestrian walking on the sidewalk. I hope that she lead a full and happy life up to this point. Any witness who has not yet talked to the police, please call the detectives (650-903-6344). This woman’s family deserves some peace and justice for here unfortunate death.
MVPD press release about the fatality: http://local.nixle.com/alert/4984467/
Terrible news, my heart and prayers go out to her family. Remember take it east, Drive safety, be kind to one another and keep others safe.
Sad, but not at all surprising.
Walking the dogs on the sidewalk this am and someone almost hit me backing out of his driveway. Never looked, stopped when I yelled, and couldn’t be bothered to apologize. Makes you wonder if he would have stopped had he run over me or my pets.
Two hours later, on the motorcycle, getting on 85 by Fremont. Driver behind me gets points for slowing down and letting me on 85. Then she switched lanes because traffic wasn’t moving quickly enough. Twenty seconds later she is along side of me when she signals, starts moving over, and comes very close to hitting me. Fortunately I saw it coming, blew the horn, and she moved back over. I get it that you don’t always see motorcycles, but she had just gone from behind me to alongside of me – did she think I evaporated?
Bottom line is we have way to many preoccupied drivers in this area. They are not evil like they are in Boston and NY, but they’re “alone in the world” and you need to be alert or you’ll be featured in the next Voice article…
It seems that some people have a problem with reading comprehension.
First, the article stated that the elderly woman was walking on the sidewalk, and that the “distracted driver” had veered up onto the sidewalk where the elderly woman was walking and hit her.
Second, there is a picture next to the article above, taken at the scene of the accident, of a 25 mph sign posted on the sidewalk, where I assume the elderly woman was walking. I don’t think she was anywhere near any of the Central Expressway offramps. There are no offramps near the intersection of Rengstorff and Central, which is where the accident took place. There is a sidewalk on Rengstorff. I’m guessing she was walking on Rengstorff in a 25 mph zone, since Central is 45 mph, and there are no sidewalks there. The article doesn’t give a lot of detail.
The article says the driver was “distracted” which could mean that they were texting, or eating, or putting on makeup, or taking their shoes off, or doing anything that could have been preventing them from devoting their full attention to driving.
Drivers in this area are getting incredibly aggressive and careless and the levels of road rage I see now are unbelievable. I’ve lived in this area my entire life, and I’m not liking the kind of place it’s been turning into over the last 20 years or more.
FACTS
Some details that I got from a man that I know named Ralph. Ralph is the one who got to the woman first, borrowed a cell phone from someone who spoke only Italian (?) and didn’t know how to place a call to 911, and called 911. From Ralph’s telling of the story, the woman flew 80 feet and was bleeding and pretty messed up. He checked her pulse. He thinks that he might have saved her life. Ralph might have seen the accident; I can’t remember him saying that but seemed to imply it when he stated how far she flew in the air.
Here’s a detail that will never be included in the police report. The first MVPD officer to arrive was a “heavyset” female officer. According to Ralph, she told him not to touch the victim. (He was checking pulse when she arrived.) Then that MVPD officer roughly rolled the victim over like she was a sack of potatoes.
That’s all I remember from hearing Ralph telling the story this morning. If the above contains inaccuracies, those are more likely due to errors in my recollection of the story’s telling.
ADVICE FOR PEDESTRIANS:
Because of my sign activities on the street, I spend lots of time observing traffic safety conditions and the behaviors of motorists, bicyclist, and pedestrians. IMO, pedestrians are the most insane and clueless users of the roadway. I have observed countless pedestrians relying solely on the green or white pedestrian Walk signal and, when it lights up, step immediately off of the curb, into the roadway, without bothering to turn their head to verify that a car isn’t racing to make the right turn. I’ve seen it over and over and over and over and over. It is totally insane. Once, on Castro at California, a young mother and her infant in a stroller did this and a car turned left around the small traffic circle right at her. I yelled and she jumped back with her child. The car went through less than a second after she jumped back. This whole thing happened right in front of me, about six feet from me. I saw it and was able to warn her because I, unlike her, was looking around me to make sure that it was safe to cross.
IMO, if you are paying attention to what is going on around you, it is safer to be a pedestrian than to be a motorist or a bicyclist. If you don’t pay attention and just rely on traffic control lights, then you will become a statistic, and that is probably a good thing in the big picture. In nature, culling eliminates the weak, the stupid, and the unlucky.
When a peace officer makes an arrest, the officer can, without a warrant and with no particular probable cause, seize, inspect, and take custody of anything in the arrestee’s pockets or on his person. A recent California case affirmed this specifically for cell phones. If the cell phone is secured with a password, the officer can demand the password or that the arrestee unlock the phone. Refusal of that demand is an Penal Code 148 delaying or obstructing an officer offense.
This exception to the warrant requirement imposed by the Fourth Amendment only applies to the cell phone itself. If the cell phone records of the phone service provider are needed, a subpoena ducas tecum is needed.
(Notice: I am not a licensed attorney.)
Yes. There is absolutely no difference in danger between standing on the curb and standing on the roadway in the curb. Pedestrians should think of the street, including the sidewalk, as a place that is filled with heavy equipment operated recklessly and incompetently. Be aware at all times of what is happening around you.
When you see a pedestrian standing on the curb waiting for the “Walk sign” and not watching oncoming right turn traffic, say something. I do this whenever I see it, and I see it often. Tell them to step back and to keep an eye on approaching motorists.
Don’t be afraid to talk to people like this. Part of making Mountain View a real community is to overcome the fears that keep us from connecting with each other. It is never inappropriate to tell someone that you think that they are in danger unnecessarily.
Yes. If she had been paying attention to what was going on around her, she would have seen the vehicle coming at her.
A pedestrian on a sidewalk that gets slaughtered by a motorist is not legally liable for the damages. But for all practical purposes, she is. Once you are dead, it doesn’t matter who was at fault; you are just as dead either way.
Consider the man who got slaughtered on California while waiting at a bus stop. Same situation. Same “right of way”. Same result.
If you are on a street, including the sidewalk, assume that you are in danger and pay attention to what is happening around you. When you see someone on the sidewalk who is not doing that, admonish them. Be a real community, a community of people who care about each other.
No, I don’t think that a civilized society can do any better. In fact, civilization is the problem. Think of it in Darwinian terms. In a dangerous environment, intelligence, wariness, foresight, and quick reflexes are rewarded, the weak are culled, and the strong reproduce. An equilibrium is reached in which the average survival skill is “in balance” with the danger of the environment.
Now snap your fingers to make the environment 10x safer. Will fewer individuals fall victim to the now less dangerous environment? Maybe but maybe not. Without the danger, the weak are no longer culled, and they begin to reproduce as much as the strong do. Average intelligence and other strength attributes decline. Individuals become more and more careless until deaths have become perhaps as frequent as they were before. Depending upon the particular model that you use to work out the equations, the casualty rate can actually increase!
What we are seeing in Mountain View is one facet of “The Dumbing of America”. My favorite illustration of how dumbing is promoted right here is a plaque that was affixed to some play equipment in Eagle Park by a well meaning city worker. The plaque reads, approximately, “Warning: Slide can become hot in sunny weather.”
Well, duh-uhhh. I maintain that learning that lesson the hard way is a critically necessary part of the childhood experience. If you want to know why drivers and pedestrians are so STUPID, take a walk over to Eagle Park and read that little plaque. Reflect upon how we might need to rethink how we raise our children, how absurdly far we have gone into overprotecting them.
Voice: My friend Ralph was the one who called 911 and, as far as he knows, was the only one at the scene who was able to do so. Ralph, like many other war veterans, will carry a heavy burden for the rest of his life for serving our country as a soldier. Please interview Ralph and give him recognition in the community for what he did to attempt to save the woman’s life.
If the police report does not contain his full name and contact information, I can put a reporter into contact with him. My email is at the top of http://ideafarm.com.