Rest in Peace.

R.I.P.

When stuff like this happens, does it raise the car insurance rates for the area?

This is crazy. Rest in peace. I'm scared to cross the street in Mountain View.People are not paying attention. I saw that the other day when this guy on a bike was hit by a car. He was not hurt, but he was lucky.

I am not afraid to cross the street so much. I am afraid to stand on the sidewalk!

terrible news indeed. RIP. It is too early since we don't know what the reason behind the accident. If it was because the driver didn't pay attention and was on the phone yapping with someone, the driver needs to get a serious penalty. We don't know who the driver is. Knowing how out justice system works, if the driver was a woman, she will get a veyr light sentence, colored men would get a serious and long term prison,etc..you know the drivel..Look at all the past incidents of similar kind and research what happened to the defendants.

The problem is these intersection are dangerous period. While no excuse for someone not abiding rode rules (this should rise to a homicide (maybe the driver is an illegal immigrant and they don't want to report it because they want the Dream Act to pass; I do not support it!)there needs to be something done at Rengstorff and Castro to mitigate rail issues and make crossing safer. Put the street under the rail sections and create raised bed sidewalks where people can walk and ride without fear some idiot talking on their cellphone plows into them.

I walk to work daily. About every other day, I would encounter a car not yielding to me (or trying to beat me there) or doing that "impatient, inching the car toward me so to get me to walk faster). I never leave the crosswalks. I wait for the walk signal, and I still get harrassed by a few idiotic drivers. Hate to say this, but they tend to be middle-age women. The nicer the car, the worse they are. The most patient drivers are the folks in their work trucks. These are my personal experiences.

The article doesn't even mention the death of the man crossing California near Shoreline and the death of the person near Shoreline and Wright.

Poor woman! She was NEAR the intersection. On the sidewalk. Did the car hop the curb? Pedestrians and bicycles do make this intersection dicey. Please do not use youe cell phone while driving.

I'm really not sure how the recent push for residential density will make the goal of road safety any easier or cheaper.

More people means more need for fast roadways. And fast roadways that are not separated from foot and bike traffic means more accidents and fatalities. And better separation of foot and bike traffic means road development and eyesores that no NIMBY would like.

To say nothing about affordability and quality of life for fixed income elderly, or schooling and kids in the streets.

Good heavens, are we thinking these things through? It doesn't seem like it.

Unless the reporting in the Voice is incorrect, we know two things:
- the Honda Odyssey....veered off the road and onto the sidewalk
- Early police reports indicated that the driver of the car was "distracted" at the time of the accident

Since only a driver can indicate that they were distracted, I have to assume the driver told the police she was distracted. A good follow up question was likely "Distracted by what?" I hope we learn the what and take appropriate action.

Here is a solution outlaw cars with fancy electronics stuff that distracts drivers and make the car makers, make a car that will not allow cell phone use while in it. Too many distractions for car drivers, when they need to be paying attention to their surroundings.

And while we are at it, outlaw walking and using a cell phone as well.

"If you don't like my driving, then stay off the sidewalk!"

That used to be a joke. Now it's a news report. What happened?

Why do you assume it is a woman?

This sidewalk is used heavily by those who live at the senior living facility. If you look at the crime scene photo, you will see she was at least a football field away from Rengstorff, so this is not a crosswalk issue. Maybe a curb here would have woken the driver up, though. It is a straight shot off the road onto the walking path.

The driver should be remanded into custody and executed after found guilty.

The problem is that the roads are TOO safe. Mountain View should permanently turn off all traffic control signals, remove all stop signs, and fire all of the cops.

Within a month, all of the people who don't pay attention will be killed. Those who are still alive will drive and walk very carefully and will always be paying attention to their surroundings. No one will ever forget that the road is a dangerous place.

Government's job is not to keep us SAFE. It is to keep us FREE. It is time for us to wake up from the illusion that government is there to watch out for us and restore an earlier perspective that places all responsibility on ourselves, individually.

This post is partly sarcasm and partly in earnest.

@ Ideafar: your idea is not a strange one - check out this article about doing away with over regulated traffic:
Web Link

What a tragic accident... quite sad.

According to an article about this woman's death, the driver of the Honda Odyssey was a male.

I'm glad to see that the Mountain View police department has set up some pedestrian decoys around the city and has handed out some tickets. It probably wouldn't have helped in this case, but even if it gets drivers thinking about pedestrian safety then it's worthwhile. On my way home from work tonight I had to make a detour because there was a downed bicyclist on Central Ave. @ Moffett Blvd. I believe he (?) got hit by a car and looked pretty badly hurt. The authorities had not yet arrived. I hope this person is okay.

A general comment regarding pedestrian safety: pedestrians should look both ways before entering a cross-walk, even if they have a green light. I think particularly of the little girl killed in east Palo Alto last year by a car apparently attempting to beat a red light.

The guy on a bike hit by a car, mentioned by Liz, might have been my husband. He was hit by a woman who was kn her cel phone while driving; she ran a red light. He was very lucky. I see every day drivers on their cel phones, I wish there was more police around on busy intersections to be able to stop irresponsible drivers.

I am just about to put a big sign on the back of my car that reads "I am not going to complete this right turn until the pedestrian is out of the cross walk and on the curb, so back off and stop honking at me!"

I am so sick of other drivers trying to bully me in to breaking the law!

> According to an article about this woman's death, the driver of the Honda Odyssey was a male.

Whoops, I meant to say an article on the SJMN website. Web Link

Rest in peace.

What a sad story

Here is another solution, at least for crosswalks, ban cars from parking 50 feet from a crosswalk. Lot of times it's the cars that are parked that limit the visibility of seeing someone in the crosswalks.

When I was getting on 101 from the Old Middlefield Road access there was a man in an SUV in front of me who was going 40-50 then slowed down to 20 almost causing me to rear end him. He continued at 20 as he entered the freeway and he was waving a cell phone or GPS device on a cord in front of his face oblivious to all. As I passed him traffic was backing up behind him.

It's crazy with these folks still using hand held devices and driving.

Hard to know if this death was caused by that particular distraction, but lots of folks are using devices and driving without looking at the road.

Time to have a rethink on intersection, crosswalk and sidewalk redesign.

@experimental: Thanks for that great link! I didn't get around to clicking it until just now. Sorry I waited. Do you think that it could work here?

The best thing about doing it here is that it would put MVPD officers out of the business of lording it over the citizens and thinking that it is their job to protect us.

I don't know how many MVPD officers have told me that they are "safety officers". I always tell them, "Your job is not to keep us safe. Your job is to enforce the Peoples' Law. It is the job of the Peoples' Law to keep us safe. If you want to be a safety officer, you'll have to go find a safety officer job in a grade school."

Anyone who thinks that it is the job of government to keep him or her safe should read the preamble to the California Constitution, at Web Link .

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