Mother and Child in Stroller Struck by Car

[Anonymous]

Last year I was walking across Georgia (between downtown Silver Spring and the DC line) in a crosswalk with a green pedestrian signal, and I was nearly run down by a man in an SUV who turned right into the crosswalk, then just swerved around us. I glared at him, he caught my eye and yelled, "Bitch!" Oh yeah, and I was pregnant and pushing a stroller (pushing a kid large enough to hear and wonder what "bitch" meant.

I can only hope he gets his someday...

My heart goes out to this little girl, regardless of the circumstances. It's damn hard to walk across Georgia Ave and lots of other big streets around here, and it shouldn't be.

[Anonymous]

I was crossing a major intersection with DH who was holding DS. We had the signal to cross and did. A crazy woman made a right turn and almost hit us. Wait.....it gets better. She had the nerve to HONK at us because we were in HER way!! I was shaking after that incident.

Now, I will not cross until I have made eye contact with the person who is waiting to turn right. Additionally, thanks to other DCUM horror stories, I will also wait to make sure some jack@ss doesn't try to go around the car stopped for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this country pedestrians always have the right of way and we are supposed to be in control of our vehicles at al times. This isn't true of all countries, Belgium, for example.

I think cell phones, texting, and even blue tooth should be banned because I have seen too many drivers who aren't paying attention to the road and driving is secondary to talking on cell.

Um no. If the driver had the green light to go straight and the woman was crossing than the pedestrian does not have the right away. Cars do have to yeild when turning left and right but not when going straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Horribly sad.

My 2 year old, 5 year old and I were almost nailed on Wilson Blvd (whole foods corner) when some idiot tried to go around the car in front of him to make the left hand turn. We had the "WALK" sign. The guy couldn't see us because the car in front of him was big...but WTH is he swerving around the car in front of him anyways?! The following week on corner of Clarendon&Fillmore I was crossing the street by myself (again on "WALK") and some idiot came rushing to make the right hand turn and almost touched me...I literally felt the breeze from the car (and was close enough to kick it!).

People need to get off their phones, their text messaging,,,,and pay attention to the task at hand. It only takes a matter of seconds to change somebody elses life forever.

The SAME thing happened to me. I still shake in anger when I think about it. There was one left hand turn lane and the guy who could see me with stroller waved us to go-- the piece of shit human being behind him didn't even honk, just veered around so fast thank goodness I was aware or else I would have been hit.

It's too bad if this happened on a green light, because I've almost been hit by so many drivers who simply don't check the crosswalk before making a turn-- luckily I'm paranoid and always assume people don't see us. It's like they won't pay attention until they do kill someone.

My husband came home shaking once, after walking our dog, saying he'd had a near death experience exactly like this. Someone stopped at a stop sign, saw him near the cross walk, and indicated that he could cross. So he started out and some car pulled up, didn't see my husband and gunned it to go around the person stopped. My husband heard the car, but had he been a few feet further out in the intersection, he would have been killed. Scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Horribly sad.

My 2 year old, 5 year old and I were almost nailed on Wilson Blvd (whole foods corner) when some idiot tried to go around the car in front of him to make the left hand turn. We had the "WALK" sign. The guy couldn't see us because the car in front of him was big...but WTH is he swerving around the car in front of him anyways?! The following week on corner of Clarendon&Fillmore I was crossing the street by myself (again on "WALK") and some idiot came rushing to make the right hand turn and almost touched me...I literally felt the breeze from the car (and was close enough to kick it!).

People need to get off their phones, their text messaging,,,,and pay attention to the task at hand. It only takes a matter of seconds to change somebody elses life forever.

Ugh, had something like this happen last month in DC, only I was driving. I waved a pedestrian across and the asshat in back of me not only came swerving around me but really honked at her. And she did have the WALK sign.

Had another happen today actually. I got honked at and flipped the bird because I didn't pull up and block an intersection while waiting for the light to change because A) there was a car waiting to make that right when traffic cleared, and B) you're not supposed to block the intersection! If that two extra minutes you had to wait to move 10 feet made such a difference, maybe you should have left the house earlier.

[Anonymous]

My uncle was hit by a car when crossing the street. It was 2 lanes one way with a stop sign and a crosswalk. One car stopped the other didn't. He had 36 broken bones in his body! He still hurts from this accident. He could not go back to work and unfortunately nobody wrote down the plate number of the coward that hit him and ran.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In this country pedestrians always have the right of way and we are supposed to be in control of our vehicles at al times. This isn't true of all countries, Belgium, for example.

I think cell phones, texting, and even blue tooth should be banned because I have seen too many drivers who aren't paying attention to the road and driving is secondary to talking on cell.

Um no. If the driver had the green light to go straight and the woman was crossing than the pedestrian does not have the right away. Cars do have to yeild when turning left and right but not when going straight.

Yes. But if you are the driver you should make every attempt to stop your vehicle EVEN if the pedestrian is at fault. Jesus Christ---you make it sound like anyone in the street should be nailed. You never know what is going on in anyone's life at any one time. We have all been unfortunately distracted and done stupid things. We can only hope another person has presence of mind at that moment.

I am sure the driver feels horrible and if he/she honestly didn't see them or couldn't stop in time it is very unfortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was crossing a major intersection with DH who was holding DS. We had the signal to cross and did. A crazy woman made a right turn and almost hit us. Wait.....it gets better. She had the nerve to HONK at us because we were in HER way!! I was shaking after that incident.

Now, I will not cross until I have made eye contact with the person who is waiting to turn right. Additionally, thanks to other DCUM horror stories, I will also wait to make sure some jack@ss doesn't try to go around the car stopped for us.

I do the same thing (check and make eye contact) especially when crossing where there are stop or yield signs. But, even then there have been times where people have gone anyway. For example, there's a yield sign with a crosswalk by an intersection. I'll approach the crosswalk, and try to make eye contact. There have been times where they have looked right at me and made eye contact, checked their left to see if there were cars coming, and sped through the yield sign without looking again. One time when they did this I was already in the crosswalk and had to pull the stroller back, they were literally 2 inches from me.

Another time a car stopped at a stop sign and waved me to go so I did. I was walking with two kids, one in a carrier on my back and the other was walking. We didn't make it even to the halfway mark before he tried to go through the stop sign while we were still in his way. The 3 year old I was walking with was right by his left headlight when I pulled him out of the way.

So now I not only make eye contact, but I check for traffic as well to see if a car will try to go or try to turn while I'm in the crosswalk. Geesh. Talk about defensive walking.

[Anonymous]

Ugh all of the stories of other posters nearly getting killed while walking/crossing the street is distressing. I thought it was just my dh and I; we live in dupont. We have both almost run over while attempting ti cross the street with a signal. 50% of the time it is a Maryland driver, but that is another thread.

[Anonymous]

Cars are often not careful enough - even in pedestrian-friendly areas.

I find what is especially dangerous is when a car is going to be turning right into oncoming traffic -- they often only look left at the traffic and don't look right in front of them (where there could be a pedestrian crossing). When I'm walking, especially with a stroller, I now ever enter a crosswalk if there is a car waiting unless I make eye contact with the driver and I know for a fact he/she has seen me. Too many close calls (including my nanny getting hit by a car while pushing a double stroller).

[Anonymous]

Again, unlike recent cases, there is no indication that the driver of the vehicle did anything wrong. Of course my heart goes out to the mother and the baby but I also feel for the poor woman who stayed on the scene and probably is feeling incredibly awful about this whole thing. Safety occurs in context-we need to be safe drivers and safe pedestrians. This is not a good case for pointing fingers at irresponsible drivers but just a tragic accident and again, let's all just pray that the child regains his health.

[Anonymous]

I was nearly run over yesterday, with my son in the stroller. We were crossing at a crosswalk, up 14th street, when a woman in a car came driving up to the intersection. She had a stop sign and DID NOT STOP, but kept going through the intersection that we were in. She was talking on her cell phone and looking in the rear view mirror, which was tilted so that she could see herself (checking her lipstick?)>

I jumped back and whirled the stroller around--waking the baby--she was close enough that I hit the front of her car to get her attention. Her response "oh, sorry, didn't see you."

[Anonymous]

I agree w/ the poster who suggests that both drivers & pedestrians need to clean up their acts. My least favorite pedestrians are the i-pod/cell phone glued ones who don't look up before entering the street, and saunter across once in the street, or those who pick up their pace to hurry in front of your car when, if they hadn't run in front of you, you could have gone & they'd still have had plenty of time. I think a good chunk of peds mistakenly believe they always have the right of way & this worsens an already problematic situation.

I hope the little girl's ok & will not comment on mom 'til I know y she was out there.