PG County: Two Children Killed While Walking to Riverdale Elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read that it was a van driver who was dropping off kids and that they hit the gas instead of the break.

This is such a BS excuse. Who in the actual eff hits the gas instead of the brake?

16,000 a year, in the US.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/frequency-of-car-crashes-where-drivers-hit-the-gas-instead-of-the-brake/

It's a type of car crash that is reported on quite a bit, where the driver smashes into a building because they hit the gas instead of the brake.

There are 44 crashes every day in the county, and they are the result of what police call "braking bad". This is in reference to drivers punching the gas, instead of tapping the brake. In most cases, the drivers are usually either very young or elderly.

The most recent one in the area happened at a bakery in Davis, where there were only minor injuries.

However, close calls like this happen more often than one might think.

The Answers Desk discovered that an estimated 16,000 car accidents are caused by pedal errors every year.

Out of over 220 BILLION driving trips per year in the U.S.

https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/AAAFTS_Research-Brief_2022-American-Driving-Survey2020-2021.pdf

[Anonymous]

Oh my gosh, just reading this makes me want to throw up. Those poor babies and their families. Right before the holidays too. I wonder if the van driver didn’t have a good view of the kids because of how tall the vehicle is, then tried to brake too late (hitting the gas instead). I always worry about large vehicles being unable to see my small children. Also, I’ve drilled into my kids to not expect vehicles to stop. It’s just so scary what can happen in the blink of an eye. I hope these children didn’t have time to grasp what was happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read that it was a van driver who was dropping off kids and that they hit the gas instead of the break.

This is such a BS excuse. Who in the actual eff hits the gas instead of the brake?

16,000 a year, in the US.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/frequency-of-car-crashes-where-drivers-hit-the-gas-instead-of-the-brake/

It's a type of car crash that is reported on quite a bit, where the driver smashes into a building because they hit the gas instead of the brake.

There are 44 crashes every day in the county, and they are the result of what police call "braking bad". This is in reference to drivers punching the gas, instead of tapping the brake. In most cases, the drivers are usually either very young or elderly.

The most recent one in the area happened at a bakery in Davis, where there were only minor injuries.

However, close calls like this happen more often than one might think.

The Answers Desk discovered that an estimated 16,000 car accidents are caused by pedal errors every year.

It happened here recently, with 2 killed at the sidewalk seating for the Parthenon in DC. When I googled sidewalk cafe gas pedal, hits from crashes all over the country popped up. It happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We walk to/from school and people will NOT stop to let us cross. Drivers 100% see us, start to slow and then change their minds because apparently, 45 seconds is too insurmountable for their day. Its a T-intersection and only the one road has a stop sign but all directions should have a stop sign with flashing pedestrian lights and cameras for when people dont stop. I wish they would make pedestrian signs that flashed and when hit by a pedestrian turned all lights to STOP signs.

PG county has even more of a burden to increase pedestrian safety BECAUSE they wont provide busing for students that live close. I think its 1.5 mile radius for our local elementary. We have no crossing guard at the intersection we cross but the annex 1/2mile up the same street has one for HS students.

Isn't it dangerous for both cars and pedestrians if cars are stopping in the middle of a road? Seems like the car would get rear ended and the pedestrians still hit.

We have a road like this near our house where people are just jaywalking to school daily and it's dangerous for everyone. IMO the pedestrians should either walk to the light and cross or wait until cars go past to cross.

I agree that a 3 way stop would be best. Or a crossing guard. Without a crossing guard, cars don't always know to stop (we're in a multicultural area and barely anyone knows specific state rules on driving. They just automatically give people drivers licenses.)

Yes, it's dangerous for cars. No, it's not dangerous for the people in the cars.

I don't know where you live, but probably many of the "jaywalking" people are crossing at intersections, which means they are crossing in a crosswalk and have the right of way, and drivers are supposed to stop.

No, this is not correct, and it makes me so mad that so many people don't understand this. If the cars do not have a stop light/sign or flashing pedestrian crossing lights, THEY DO NOT HAVE TO STOP for pedestrians *waiting* to cross (yes, even at a marked crosswalk!). They have to stop for people *already* in the crosswalk, but as a PP mentioned, it is actually dangerous to stop in the middle of the road otherwise. Pedestrians are supposed to wait until the road is clear before they *start* crossing. It sucks when a busy intersection is never clear, but that's cause to request a pedestrian crossing light or stop sign or some other traffic flow alteration. Drivers still have a duty of care to avoid accidents whenever possible, even if they technically have right of way - but in this case, they do in fact still have right of way.

Pedestrians are not allowed to step into the crosswalk unless drivers can stop. And drivers don't have to stop unless the pedestrians are in the crosswalk. It's a Catch-22 for pedestrians, don't you think?

Alternatively: when you're driving, stop for pedestrians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speed + a moron looking at their phone

Driving today is like a death match

Irresponsible for you to speculate like that.

e
DP. WTF?

What person who is paying attention to the road, blows through children in a crosswalk? I would strongly bet the person was on their phone.

It is utterly irresponsible for you to speculate and jump to conclusions. Two children are dead. Have some goddamn respect.

You are either a troll, or someone truly committed to supporting texting while driving.

NO one is making light of the fact that two children were senselessly killed by an irresponsible and distracted driver. And cell phones are a BIG contributor to distracted driving.

And you know the kids didn't just walk into the street how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speed + a moron looking at their phone

Driving today is like a death match

Irresponsible for you to speculate like that.

e
DP. WTF?

What person who is paying attention to the road, blows through children in a crosswalk? I would strongly bet the person was on their phone.

It is utterly irresponsible for you to speculate and jump to conclusions. Two children are dead. Have some goddamn respect.

You are either a troll, or someone truly committed to supporting texting while driving.

NO one is making light of the fact that two children were senselessly killed by an irresponsible and distracted driver. And cell phones are a BIG contributor to distracted driving.

It’s amazing how you have no actual knowledge of the case but have already convicted the driver of distracted driving. Wow.

Maybe you should sit the rest of this thread out.

Either the driver was distracted or… what? They were paying attention? Are you saying they hit the kids intentionally?

You could wait to hear the facts. You don’t sound like someone who is patient enough to gather all the info in order to make a correct assessment.

In DC, two pedestrians walked into the crosswalk on my green light. I stopped at the green and prayed no one would hit me from behind. If I had been hit from behind and then hit these two people, I would have people like you say I was looking at my phone.

Calm down and wait for actual details.

Stop hyperbolizing.

Why are you so intent on blaming innocent people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am always amazed that parents do not walk their ES and MS children to school in this country. Mainly because the traffic here is so insane and there are so many rash and distracted drivers on the road.

I am sure that many others will call me a helicopter parent etc, but I was vigilant to prevent my kids against accidents and crime because of such kinds of tragic news. Was it convenient for me to do so? Of course not!

Well bully for you! Not all parents have the ability to do this. Way to blame the families.

Huh? Really? This should be the cautionary tale to make people muster the ability to not become free range parents.

Coordinate with other responsible adults to make sure that the children are safe. Why become parents if you cannot do the bare minimum?

It's a cautionary tale to make people muster the ability of basic empathy, one would think, but it apparently didn't succeed with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speed + a moron looking at their phone

Driving today is like a death match

Irresponsible for you to speculate like that.

e
DP. WTF?

What person who is paying attention to the road, blows through children in a crosswalk? I would strongly bet the person was on their phone.

It is utterly irresponsible for you to speculate and jump to conclusions. Two children are dead. Have some goddamn respect.

You are either a troll, or someone truly committed to supporting texting while driving.

NO one is making light of the fact that two children were senselessly killed by an irresponsible and distracted driver. And cell phones are a BIG contributor to distracted driving.

And you know the kids didn't just walk into the street how?

So what if they did? If you're an adult, driving a motor vehicle on a street next to an elementary school at arrival time, you need to be prepared for children who are behaving like children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We walk to/from school and people will NOT stop to let us cross. Drivers 100% see us, start to slow and then change their minds because apparently, 45 seconds is too insurmountable for their day. Its a T-intersection and only the one road has a stop sign but all directions should have a stop sign with flashing pedestrian lights and cameras for when people dont stop. I wish they would make pedestrian signs that flashed and when hit by a pedestrian turned all lights to STOP signs.

PG county has even more of a burden to increase pedestrian safety BECAUSE they wont provide busing for students that live close. I think its 1.5 mile radius for our local elementary. We have no crossing guard at the intersection we cross but the annex 1/2mile up the same street has one for HS students.

Isn't it dangerous for both cars and pedestrians if cars are stopping in the middle of a road? Seems like the car would get rear ended and the pedestrians still hit.

We have a road like this near our house where people are just jaywalking to school daily and it's dangerous for everyone. IMO the pedestrians should either walk to the light and cross or wait until cars go past to cross.

I agree that a 3 way stop would be best. Or a crossing guard. Without a crossing guard, cars don't always know to stop (we're in a multicultural area and barely anyone knows specific state rules on driving. They just automatically give people drivers licenses.)

Yes, it's dangerous for cars. No, it's not dangerous for the people in the cars.

I don't know where you live, but probably many of the "jaywalking" people are crossing at intersections, which means they are crossing in a crosswalk and have the right of way, and drivers are supposed to stop.

No, this is not correct, and it makes me so mad that so many people don't understand this. If the cars do not have a stop light/sign or flashing pedestrian crossing lights, THEY DO NOT HAVE TO STOP for pedestrians *waiting* to cross (yes, even at a marked crosswalk!). They have to stop for people *already* in the crosswalk, but as a PP mentioned, it is actually dangerous to stop in the middle of the road otherwise. Pedestrians are supposed to wait until the road is clear before they *start* crossing. It sucks when a busy intersection is never clear, but that's cause to request a pedestrian crossing light or stop sign or some other traffic flow alteration. Drivers still have a duty of care to avoid accidents whenever possible, even if they technically have right of way - but in this case, they do in fact still have right of way.

Pedestrians are not allowed to step into the crosswalk unless drivers can stop. And drivers don't have to stop unless the pedestrians are in the crosswalk. It's a Catch-22 for pedestrians, don't you think?

Alternatively: when you're driving, stop for pedestrians.

This exactly. And I have requested the city to add stop signs in my case but they just say we will get back to you. The problem is that the driver to pedestrian ratio is too high. You dont see pedestrian safety made a priority in suburban areas because there are more drivers than walkers. Thats what I meant before about the county having the burden of increasing pedestrian safety in the radius around the school that doesnt get bussing because there are more walkers than in normal surburban neighborhoods. Ill also add that the need for increased pedestrian safety measures should increase as you get closer to schools because of the dropping off/pickup mayhem. There are more cars in the area during that 30-40 min timeframe compared to the rest of the day.

[Anonymous]

Prediction that there will be policy changes around this incident a lot more quickly than actions taken to prevent gunning down children in schools.

[Anonymous]

I did this once- thankfully no incident occurred. Mary have been driving for 40+ years without an accident. It was just a reflexive move.

Sorry for all involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prediction that there will be policy changes around this incident a lot more quickly than actions taken to prevent gunning down children in schools.

POLICY changes? No. The city or the county might make some changes in the immediate area of the school.

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/26/1184034017/us-pedestrian-deaths-high-traffic-car

As you probably know, firearms and car crashes are the 2 leading causes of death for children in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read that it was a van driver who was dropping off kids and that they hit the gas instead of the break.

This is such a BS excuse. Who in the actual eff hits the gas instead of the brake?

16,000 a year, in the US.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/frequency-of-car-crashes-where-drivers-hit-the-gas-instead-of-the-brake/

It's a type of car crash that is reported on quite a bit, where the driver smashes into a building because they hit the gas instead of the brake.

There are 44 crashes every day in the county, and they are the result of what police call "braking bad". This is in reference to drivers punching the gas, instead of tapping the brake. In most cases, the drivers are usually either very young or elderly.

The most recent one in the area happened at a bakery in Davis, where there were only minor injuries.

However, close calls like this happen more often than one might think.

The Answers Desk discovered that an estimated 16,000 car accidents are caused by pedal errors every year.

This has to stop. Why do we tolerate this in our society? Motorized vehicles have no place in cities! No other modern city in the world has this many car deaths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speed + a moron looking at their phone

Driving today is like a death match

Irresponsible for you to speculate like that.

e
DP. WTF?

What person who is paying attention to the road, blows through children in a crosswalk? I would strongly bet the person was on their phone.

It is utterly irresponsible for you to speculate and jump to conclusions. Two children are dead. Have some goddamn respect.

You are either a troll, or someone truly committed to supporting texting while driving.

NO one is making light of the fact that two children were senselessly killed by an irresponsible and distracted driver. And cell phones are a BIG contributor to distracted driving.

It’s amazing how you have no actual knowledge of the case but have already convicted the driver of distracted driving. Wow.

Maybe you should sit the rest of this thread out.

Either the driver was distracted or… what? They were paying attention? Are you saying they hit the kids intentionally?

Or lots of things? Certainly possible the driver was distracted (you seem extremely eager to push that). Maybe the driver was drunk. Maybe the driver had a seizure. Maybe the driver was going 100 mph. Maybe the driver was going 10 mph. Maybe it wasn't even the driver's fault. It could be anything. That's why we have the police investigate.

All the speculation in this thread is gross and disrespectful. Not a single one of you knows what happened.

Of course no one knows anything but that isn’t going to stop them from gossiping…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We walk to/from school and people will NOT stop to let us cross. Drivers 100% see us, start to slow and then change their minds because apparently, 45 seconds is too insurmountable for their day. Its a T-intersection and only the one road has a stop sign but all directions should have a stop sign with flashing pedestrian lights and cameras for when people dont stop. I wish they would make pedestrian signs that flashed and when hit by a pedestrian turned all lights to STOP signs.

PG county has even more of a burden to increase pedestrian safety BECAUSE they wont provide busing for students that live close. I think its 1.5 mile radius for our local elementary. We have no crossing guard at the intersection we cross but the annex 1/2mile up the same street has one for HS students.

Isn't it dangerous for both cars and pedestrians if cars are stopping in the middle of a road? Seems like the car would get rear ended and the pedestrians still hit.

We have a road like this near our house where people are just jaywalking to school daily and it's dangerous for everyone. IMO the pedestrians should either walk to the light and cross or wait until cars go past to cross.

I agree that a 3 way stop would be best. Or a crossing guard. Without a crossing guard, cars don't always know to stop (we're in a multicultural area and barely anyone knows specific state rules on driving. They just automatically give people drivers licenses.)

Yes, it's dangerous for cars. No, it's not dangerous for the people in the cars.

I don't know where you live, but probably many of the "jaywalking" people are crossing at intersections, which means they are crossing in a crosswalk and have the right of way, and drivers are supposed to stop.

No, this is not correct, and it makes me so mad that so many people don't understand this. If the cars do not have a stop light/sign or flashing pedestrian crossing lights, THEY DO NOT HAVE TO STOP for pedestrians *waiting* to cross (yes, even at a marked crosswalk!). They have to stop for people *already* in the crosswalk, but as a PP mentioned, it is actually dangerous to stop in the middle of the road otherwise. Pedestrians are supposed to wait until the road is clear before they *start* crossing. It sucks when a busy intersection is never clear, but that's cause to request a pedestrian crossing light or stop sign or some other traffic flow alteration. Drivers still have a duty of care to avoid accidents whenever possible, even if they technically have right of way - but in this case, they do in fact still have right of way.

This is just flat wrong, and it makes me mad that not only can people not understand simple signs, but then they spread misinformation like this.

Drivers do not have the right of way at crosswalks, period. The giant freaking yield to pedestrians signs are a good clue.

The second the pedestrian puts a toe in the crosswalk, they have right of way, unless they deliberately cross when the driver cannot stop, or they cross where they can’t be seen. There is absolutely nothing that says they have to yield to traffic first then cross.

At every crosswalk I come to, I put one foot off the curb (assuming the cars are decently far away). As soon as I do that, if you don’t stop, you’ll get a ticket.

More pedestrians need to demand right of way at crosswalks.