Personal Injury Law

Pedestrian Safety News Roundup Continues ... Cell phones and alcohol as a distraction

By Steve Lombardi

Today we continue with the pedestrian-car-truck-bus-train collision news items that have been sitting around in my box for months on end. There are so many of them just since the first of the year. You can tell its spring. Today we'll look at three news items that each provides a theme or reason (cause) as to why pedestrians get struck so much.

Toronto, Canada, April 2009 – In this car-pedestrian collision we see that the safety dance between pedestrians and cars is a two-way tango. This pedestrian walked into the cross walk when she was supposed to, but her attention directed to talking on a cell phone rather than looking to see if the crosswalk was clear, allowed her to walk right out in front of a car and be killed. The driver remains at fault but pedestrians have an obligation to avoid walking out in front of vehicles. Be safe, not sorry.

Los Angeles, California, April 2009 – According to this blog two pedestrian elderly women were killed after two cars collided and one losing control was knocked into them.

Joplin, Missouri, March 2009 – A 74-year-old woman was struck and killed as she stepped into the path of a pickup truck being driven by a 21-year-old. Another example of pedestrian's not paying enough attention to their surroundings.

Westway, Texas, March 2009 – In this case a pickup truck driver struck a pedestrian walking along the side of the road. After striking the pedestrian witnesses reported the truck stopped, backed up, and then drove away. Witnesses gave chase and stopped the man. Of course a hit-n-run is always an indication of something else going on. In this case police arrested the man for driving while intoxicated. Seeing and avoiding pedestrians is made so much harder when you're highly intoxicated.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on June 07, 2009 (boomark / email).