Reply to The death of Allie Hart and the need for safer streets

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "The death of Allie Hart and the need for safer streets"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

As clearly stated in DC’s pedestrian traffic regulations, “Pedestrians may cross the roadway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk. However, no pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb, safety platform, safety zone, loading platform or other designated place of safety and walk or turn into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to yield.”

So if Allie did indeed dart out in front of the car, then yes, there is more we need to know. It’s just not as simple as you want it to be. [/quote]

There is more you want to know, if you're trying to figure out whether you can blame a five-year-old for being killed by an adult licensed driver in a crosswalk at an intersection in her neighborhood.

If you're trying to figure out how to prevent this from happening, then no, there is not more "we" "need" to know. "Parents should hold on to their children at all times" and "Parents should not allow five-year-olds to ride bikes" are not effective prevention strategies, they're expressions of your opinions.[/quote]

A child darting out in front of a car that cannot safely stop in time is 100% relevant. It’s not an opinion - it’s fact. [/quote]

It couldn’t safely stop in time because it blew through the stop sign and was going too fast through the intersection. [/quote]

Do we know that that’s what happened?[/quote]

If the vehicle had come to a full stop and then proceeded safely through the intersection, it would not have killed her. [/quote]

My understanding is that the vehicle had already stopped and started moving again. The child, on a bike, proceeded onto the crosswalk after the vehicle had begun moving.  I think it was a truck, and the driver claims he did not see child because she was below his line of sight (which makes sense if she entered the crosswalk on a bike at the last second). In my experience, there is usually a downward dip in the sidewalk before you enter a crosswalk, which can led to someone on a small bike not only being lower than the site line of a vehicle, but also entering a crosswalk at a higher rate of speed.

Your insistence that there is nothing to be learned from this tragedy is odd. We can learn things and change behavior without assigning blame to one person. I think the issue is you do not believe accidents exist, so any attempted to discuss what went wrong entails assigning blame.

I almost hit a child when I was 16. I still remember the moment clear as day.  I was at a stop sign and a large SUV was parked right before the stop sign to my right. I stopped at the sign and started forward when I heard a scream and hit my breaks. It turns out a small child lost control of their ball and was running full speed into the crosswalk. I didn’t see the ball (it was too close to my car) or the kid (who was about to break into my view from behind the SUV). Only thing that alerted me was the scream, which I am so thankful for. I still think of that situation rather frequently even though nothing happened. [/quote]

Did you choose a car with better visibility over the front hood after that?  Or is that not what you mean by something to learn from it.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics