Pedestrian struck
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Update 3:01pm: City spokesperson Ric Barrick confirms the female struck by a vehicle at Fifth and Market streets this morning was not seriously injured. The driver of the vehicle was cited with failure to yield to a pedestrian.
Original:
A pedestrian was struck at the Fifth and Market street crossing this morning at approximately 8:30am, according to a dispatch from the Emergency Communications Center. Police on the scene told a passersby that the female victim was not seriously injured. At posting time, City spokesperson Ric Barrick had not responded to the Hook’s request for information regarding any citations issued.
Struck with a lacrosse stick?
That’s not funny. But this town does seem to suffer from a pedestrian respect problem.
Robert that’s not cool or funny or even sensible.
This town also suffers from pedestrian head-in-ace syndrome
Old Timer, there’s two sides to this coin. In many cases pedestrians have no respect for motorists that can’t stop on a dime. I’m talking about those who get to a crosswalk and step into it when a car is 15 feet from entering the crosswalk. Even worse, those who jog into a crosswalk, I see this happening more and more each passing day. And I am talking about those who pay no attention to the pedestrian signals in intersections where they are installed.
§46.2-924 of the Virginia State Code says No pedestrian shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic.
But Gasbag, they have really important phone calls to make, and they can’t really be expected to look before crossing.
There should be a little box on accident forms to fill in whether or not a driver or pedestrian was using a cell phone, using an iPod, or chewing bubble gum when crashing.
The report is ambigious and doesnt say what the person was struck with
If only we had more cameras on the street. Then we could really know what happened.
I have to drive down Market St all the time & I can’t believe the way pedestrians just casually dart out into traffic. I’m always cautious when I drive down that street, but if the person is emerging from behind a tree or an SUV, I can’t see them til they’re right in front of me. Or take yesterday evening, for example. The sun was setting right in my eyes, the glare of my windshield making it even harder to see anything but what was immediately in front of me. Pedestrians need to realize that just because they exist, and that they know where they are, we don’t and can’t always see them. There has to be caution all around.
But Incredulous, the city has preached so long and so often that the pedestrian always has the right of way, it’s etched into their minds now. And this is combined with no enforcement of the actual pedestrian laws as well. I have never seen a pedestrian stopped for total disregard to traffic, or for violating the pedestrian signals where installed. This lack of enforcement gets worse in the summer months. What cop with an IQ over 56 wants to get out of a nice air conditioned car and abandon their FM radio playing “My Humps”? :)
Make you scream, make you scream.
Cos of my hump (ha), my hump, my hump, my hump (what).
My hump, my hump, my hump (ha), my lovely lady lumps
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump.
My lovely lady lumps (lumps)
My lovely lady lumps (lumps)
My lovely lady lumps (lumps)
In the back and in the front (lumps)
My lovin’ got you,
It’s a lot easier for pedestrians to see and hear vehicles than vehicles to see the pedestrians. And pedestrians are much more manueverable.
For what it’s worth: if an altercation between a pedestrian and a car ensue…the car is gonna win - it’s bigger, heavier, faster, harder and just doesn’t give like the human body…so use your common marbles to take care of yourselves instead of whining about laws cause they aren’t gonna help you either in this altercation other than the aftermath and I think we all would rather NOT be the guy in the hospital.
Gasbag’s lovely lady lumps. Check ‘em out.
From what I saw…. Right behind them when it happened. The UVA student hit the small grey SUV. He was riding his bike with his ears buds in, so I doubt he was paying attention. The female driver jumped out right away to aid the student who was stunned. He hit the passenger side of her vehicle in the cross walk as she turned the corner to make a right, not a foot from the curb. This one is not the driver’s fault.
Sorry, that was the one that happened this afternoon on the corner. I think the pedestrians should open their eyes pay attention.
Deleted by moderator.
Lets think a minute on this. Would you pull out in front of a train?
just because your late for work or talking on a cell phone. trains to cars the train has right of weight, cars to the human body the car has right of weight so the next time your out walking,jogging, or whatever think about the right of weight and stop and check for oncoming traffic. i know you all have something between your ears i suggest anyone thats uses feet or a bicycle as transportation think a second and stop for that car or truck
I reckon there are as many bad pedestrians out there as there are bad drivers. But as justbeingobjective says, the car will always win in a vehicle v pedestrian situation. Hate the peds all you want, but at the end of the day if you ran one down and killed or paralyzed one, could you sleep at night? Would you be fine knowing that you were doing everything right, driving the speed limit, etc. and they just walked out in front of you?
Whether you like it or not, we vehicle drivers are in control and the burden of responsibility is on us. Drive like you do during “deer season” on 29 South. Just expect them to come charging for you all Kamakazi-style. That way when you avoid one, you can pat yourself on the back and go your merry way knowing you saved a life.
Whether you like it or not, we vehicle drivers are in control and the burden of responsibility is on us.
Totally not true. Virginia law covers a driver as well as the pedestrian. As I quoted the law above, “No pedestrian shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic.”
This means a pedestrian who jogs into a crosswalk and plants themselves on the front of my vehicle like a bug is at fault if I am 12 feet from the crosswalk and traveling 20 to 25 mph. And to make matters worse, if a pedestrian has totally ignored a “Don’t Walk” pedestrian signal and steps in front of a car that has a green light, well, that thar is much better than contributory negligence.
Nobody has any intentions of running over a pedestrian just to test the law, but drivers have rights too. While the pedetrians have this magical “responsibilty” you speak of as well.
I find myself driving more slowly and carefully down Market and Water streets all the time. Still there are times when I’ve not seen a pedestrian until almost too late, especially at night. We ALL have to take extra care here.
OKAY!!! So my hubby and I were taken via my GPS down past the “corner” this afternoon and THREE crosswalks in a row a UVa student walked directly in front of our truck and did not even look up…one on a cell phone, one with some sort of MP3 player and one just didn’t care…halfway thru the crosswalk she looked up as if to say “What? You are supposed to stop for me”…no wonder there are so many pedestrians getting hit….
You can guess which way we did NOT go back to get back where we came from….
justbeinobjective, that is exactly the reason the wording “No pedestrian shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic” had to be added to the state code. :)
Gasbag: It seems you didn’t read my post very carefully. I am not talking about legal responsibility. Legally we can kill pedestrians that throw themselves in front of our car. My point was could one live with the fact that they killed someone accidentally while following all of the rules?
I am the pedestrian who was struck Friday morning. Just to clear things up, I was struck by a car, the driver of the car was on his cell phone, and I was in the middle of the crosswalk.
Pedestrians have the right of way in general. Walking and biking are the Earth friendly transportation methods anyways, so I am thankful there are many who choose to/ can walk to work. Also, the cross walk is also the legal way to cross a street. This pedestrian was in the right. I think we are all guilty of being distracted drivers. It is a wake up call. Thank goodness she was not seriously hurt.
I witnessed the accident. It was awful and luckily the girl was ok, just shaken up. The driver was on his cell phone and not paying attention. So stop blaming the pedestrian! Hopefully he will never drive and talk on the phone again. So irresponsible.
KCY, glad to hear you are doing ok. Did you try any evasive actions? Jump the car? Side step? Two step?? Lean wit’ it rock wit’ it???
Just think of all the poor UVA grads who leave Cville and expect drivers in other cities to stop whenever they meander into traffic. Has anyone done a study? I’ll bet that dozens or even hunnerds of these trusting and eager youths end up injured or even worse every year all over the country! Sad really…
KCY, I am so glad that you were okay. Where the drive was at fault in this case, there are so many others in Cville that the driver was not. It’s sad you got caught up in this. I can believe that he was on a cell phone and not paying attention…it’s rampant these days that either they are talking or texting. My 18 month old car was just demolished on a rural road just outside of Louisa, on a strait stretch, sunny clear day where my husband had to stop for another driver doing something dumb (backing back up the highway) and the driver behind him hit the car doing 55….didn’t even apply the brakes. She had plenty of time to stop so you can guess what she was doing. Thankfully, no one was hurt in this incident either. So for KCY let’s get this straight, HANG UP AND DRIVE!!! And for the other people that think “I am a pedestrian and you should stop for me”…go ahead and tangle with that car and let me know how that works out for ya…in a nutshell…we all need to be more attentive and careful!
@justbeinobjective,
I am an assertive and attentive pedestrian. I walk(and drive)in Charlottesville every day and I expect vehicles to stop…and they do! In many years of walking I’ve never been struck by a vehicle. Twice though, I have been nudged and pushed by vehicles driven by belligerant indivuduals who chose to assault me with their cars. Other than a shouting match though, nothing came of those incidents. Drivers have also threatened to hit me with their vehicles by accelerating towards me while I have been crossing the street. Twice when that happened a city police officer witnessed the incidents and wrote tickets. The roar of a Harley Davidson never sounded so sweet!
As a pedestrian I never disregard traffic. There are drivers who will disregard the following State Law:
§ 46.2-924.
A. The driver of any vehicle on a highway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian crossing such highway:
1. At any clearly marked crosswalk, whether at mid-block or at the end of any block;
2. At any regular pedestrian crossing included in the prolongation of the lateral boundary lines of the adjacent sidewalk at the end of a block;
3. At any intersection when the driver is approaching on a highway or street where the legal maximum speed does not exceed 35 miles per hour.
Many drivers, pedestrians and cyclists are attentive, obey the laws and use common sense. If they weren’t, there would be many more accidents.
There are laws and commonly accepted methods for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists to safely use the streets that we all have a right to use. With tolerance and logic we can all get where we are going safely without a lot of stress.
Cordially,
Kevin Cox
Kevin,
I agree with you on all counts. HOWEVER, “No pedestrian shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic” - Quoting from Gasbag’s post, go down by the “corner” and see how many UVa students step right out in front of a LINE of oncoming traffic leaving the driver almost no room to stop. I, too am surprised that there are not more accidents. As for the beligerent drivers that nudged you, I am glad there was an officer present. BUT, for the times they are not there, I stick to my original statement…go ahead and tangle with that car and let me know how that works out for ya…you’re in a postion to loose that one.
The loose epidemic claims another victim.
justbeinobjective,
There wasn’t an officer at the incidents when I was nudged and I came out just fine. The officers witnessed incidents when people drove towards me but did not touch me.
There are reckless people that walk and drive like mindless zombies. I’m glad you and your husband look out for them.
By the way, Did your hubby’s tires squeal and leave skid marks when he stopped at The Corner? Was it a panic stop or was it just inconvenient? Traffic normally moves very slowly there anyway. How fast do you think he was going? People get angry at pedestrians even when they have the time and distance to safely meet their obligation to yield to the pedestrians. I cross at The Corner all the time and I don’t always look directly at the cars. I don’t have to look directly at them because I know they are there and that they have time and space to safely stop. I hear them and I see them with my peripheral vision. They usually stop. When they choose to keep coming, I can tell and so I stop and I don’t get hit.
You wrote “…almost no room to stop” Well, that still means there was in fact, room to stop. Is it possible that what was missing wasn’t time and space but a willingness to yield?
I am glad your hubby was able to stop. Some people drive as though they believe that they have a right to hit people if the vehicle has the legal right of way. If a driver has the time and space to safely stop they have a legal obligation to yield to the pedestrians. Also, even if they are so close that they must panic stop for an inattentive pedestrian they have a moral obligation to avoid running into the pedestrian. Some people don’t seem to realize that the law never gives drivers the right to strike people.
The crosswalks at The Corner are some of the safest in Charlottesville for pedestrians because drivers know they must be attentive. Still, even there I witness drivers with plenty of time and space to stop, blithely ignoring pedestrians and forcing them to stop in the middle of the street. Typically the drivers gain nothing by their rude and reckless behavior because they inevitably get stopped by the light at 14th and University Ave.or by stopped traffic.
Cordially,
Kevin Cox
“I have never seen a pedestrian stopped for total disregard to traffic, or for violating the pedestrian signals where installed. This lack of enforcement gets ”
I remember last year a cop stopped a guy in a wheel chair:)
Kevin, tires squeal? not at 15 to 25 mph….I warned him before he went down that way to watch out for students because THEY don’t watch out for themselves and he was pully a tow dolly for a car. It was not an inconvient stop though, all three times he had to brake hard to keep from striking the person stepping out. Traffic was moving at a snail’s pace (as it should in that area), cars were close together and ALL three times these students just stepped right out in front of the vehicle. There was a LINE of cars in front of us and behind us. It happpend to cars in front of us and behind us as students blatently walked from where ever they were coming from directly into the crosswalk and never even looked up with the exception of the third which looked up after she had walked halfway across in front of the truck and had the “tude” that most attribute to good ol’ George Huguley (I am ENTITLED for you to stop for me as I disregard every law or care for my own safety). Now, as to the crosswalks on The Corner being the safest, I guess they are! Everyone within any distance of the University knows that the students are completely oblivious to whether or not they get hit when crossing and take care to go slow enough to stop. My point is simple, if you don’t take care when walking across a street and tangle with a car, YOU are going to loose. Sure we have laws in place and everyone SHOULD heed them, but your own experiences tell you that they aren’t going to. Soooooo, if we all just take a few more seconds to be a little more careful, we won’t have to worry about the aftermath of hitting anyone and the pedestrian won’t have to worry about being the hospital or worse. KCY was an example of doing everything right, the driver of the car was obviously in complete oblivian with his phone call and just went through the crosswalk with blatant disregard.
There is no way on God’s Green earth that I would step into any crosswalk in Charlottesville without stopping, looking both ways and making sure traffic has or will come to a stop for me. My parents taught me this when I was just 3 years old.
If every pedestrian adopted this same policy there would be no crosswalk mishaps and the resulting debates.
Amen brother
Locals know…