The Poor Plight of Pedestrians

Having just recently told of my own near encounter with a 2,000 pound automobile. It is sad this morning to read of two pedestrian fatalities in San Jose. the victims, both female were killed in unrelated accidents in San Jose this weekend.

Lien Tran, 77 died after being struck by a 1999 Honda Civic near the intersection of Oakland Road and Rock Avenue in San Jose. She had been walking north on Oakland road when she had been hit. Only four years ago almost to the day (and eerlily within minutes of each other), another pedestrian was killed just a half mile south on Oakland Rd.

This was the brutal description of the scene described in a Mercury News article at the time.:

A pedestrian was killed Thursday evening in a hit-and-run crash, a block from the site of another fatal crash last week, authorities said. Thursday's crash occurred about 6:20 p.m. in the southbound lanes of Oakland Road at Wayne Avenue near the Rincon de Los Esteros Apartments.

San Jose police were searching for the driver of a white pickup truck that had a ladder. Meanwhile, the woman who was killed lay covered with a tarp on the street and appeared to have been dragged about 40 yards. There was no crosswalk or traffic light in that area, which had a posted speed limit of 45 mph. The closest traffic light and crosswalk is at Fox Lane, about 800 feet from the accident.

In a separate incident another woman was struck about 8:35 p.m. while walking along Meridian Avenue near San Carlos St. These two incidents were the first and second pedestrian fatalities (red markers on the map below) of the year and the third and forth traffic fatalities (blue markers) for 2012.

To view previous maps I had built, click below.
2007 (partial year)
2008
2009


View 2012 Fatal Vehicular Accidents in the Silicon Valley in a larger map