A young man in his 20s was hit by a car while crossing Santa Monica Boulevard at its intersection with San Vicente around 5 p.m. today.
According to Lt. Dave Smith of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station, the man was in the pedestrian crosswalk when he was hit by a driver making a left turn. The collision threw the pedestrian onto the hood of the driver’s car. He was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment.
Smith said investigators will determine whether the driver or pedestrian was violating the law. There is no further information as of publication about the pedestrian’s condition.
The accident is the latest in a series of pedestrian accidents that have sparked public protests and pleas for action by city government from West Hollywood residents.
Another accident occurred in the early hours of Monday when a man was hit by a car when he apparently attempted to cross Santa Monica Boulevard near Larrabee without using a pedestrian crosswalk. He suffered minor injuries.
But the accident that caused the biggest outpouring of public comment occurred on Aug. 22 when Clinton Bounds, a well-known figure in West Hollywood’s gay bar community, was killed while trying to cross Santa Monica Boulevard near Hancock Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Bounds apparently was jaywalking when he was hit.
Cross Safe WeHo, a citizens group organized to press the city to take more action to protect pedestrians, and others are expected to turn out for the City Council’s Sept. 8 meeting, where the issue is likely to be on the Council agenda. Pedestrian safety advocates have launched a petition on Change.org to urge West Hollywood city leaders to do something to improve the situation. As of this writing, the petition has 459 signatures.
Typically, the rear car is following too closely. But there are occasions where the middle care is pushed forward. In that case, it is handled under California’s pure, comparative negligence. So liability is apportioned.
If you step into a crosswalk AFTER the sign begins flashing “Do Not Walk” you are breaking the law. Everyone one does it not that doesn’t make it legal.
Chris, no one has stepped forward to say that he wasn’t in the crosswalk, either. And is the driver confirmed? Was he questioned? I don’t know – sounds like s/he was based on your comment, but is that confirmed? All I’m saying is that people seem to want to discredit the tragedy and the call to action because, in this account, some say he was jaywalking. That doesn’t seem right, especially since, as you say, the allegation is based on circumstances that have other potential and exculpating explanations. Bottom line – the street seems to attract a disproportionate amount of… Read more »
Kayaytche – The guess that the pedestrian death was jaywalking related comes from pretty strong circumstantial evidence: 1) The driver wasn’t charged; inconceivable for a vehicular homicide for someone in the crosswalk 2) With all the interest in this, and it taking place on a busy street on a weekend night, to my knowledge no witness has stepped forward to say, he was in the crosswalk, I saw him. I’m open to alternate theories, and have asked people to explain how with these two known elements to the case how it could possibly not have been a case of jaywalking.… Read more »
We it’s a busy street, with a but of places that people go to to get intoxicated. And I do it too, but if you are drunk and going to J walk on a HWY / busy street like SMB then of course accidents are going to happen with wild drivers in LA. The fact is, WEHO has some of the pedestrian friendliest roads I have ever seen in the USA and definitely for California! There is only so much more the city can do, and if you wanna have ‘hall monitors’ on all the corners that’s just costly, only… Read more »
This has nothing to do with the important issue of crosswalk safety. Trying to conflate it with it and act like somehow the city council has anything to do with this without citing a specific reason reinforces the notion that some people are grasping at straws. This is a heavily traveled intersection. It will always be a heavily traveled intersection. I cross it regularly (usually with two dogs). Over the course of a year one or more injury accidents is likely to happen here irrespective of whose favorites are on the city council. The heightened interest because of the two… Read more »
PLEASE EXPLAIN just exactly how a pedestrian walking in a marked crosswalk COULD be breaking the law.
FURTHER…for anybody curious as to how/why this keeps happening…just take a drive going west along Santa Monica Blvd between La Cienega & San Vicente. Cars routinely
totally ignore pedestrians even when they are in the marked crosswalks. Also, to be fair, I’m astonished every time I see a pedestrian enter a crosswalk without even looking up to check
oncoming traffic. Just plain stupid.
Has there been an official report released stating that Bounds was jaywalking? I’m not aware of that – but I could just be ignorant to it. If that is the official word, then ok, but I think it’s pretty irresponsible to be reporting that as fact without substantiation. As we’ve seen in these and other comments sections, people use that notion to deflect the seriousness of this issue – as if Bounds’ death should not spur us into action because he was not in a crosswalk.
Based upon the facts provided, the driver is most likely at fault in this incident. California Vehicle Code 21950 requires all drivers to yield the right of way to pedestrians who are lawfully within a crosswalk. Moreover, drivers intending to turn left are also required to yield the right of way until safe to make the left. Unless the pedestrian ran into the crosswalk without looking, this is another tragic incident that could have been avoided with a little patience by the driver. We all need to slow down and look twice if we want to make West Hollywood the… Read more »
As far as the investigation into the accident and fault, DO Those Cameras work still at that intersection? I’m all for adding cameras along the blvd not to “spy” on people but could be handy in traffic, for accidents, timing lights for rush hour, etc.
Used to be available to the public where you could log in via weho city hall and see the traffic, also at La Cienega, via real time live stream.
Something needs to be done more for public safety, and not just crosswalks but its dark to say the least walking at night.
Info:
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets/
I’ll repeat my post from THIS MORNING because while sitting on Trunks’ patio with friends again TODAY around 5 pm ANOTHER person was hit by a car and we were all dumbfounded as we bore witness to YET ANOTHER PEDESTRIAN RUN DOWN: NYC has traffic lights at EVERY intersection and has MUCH MORE traffic than what comes through WeHo. I sit on the patio at Trunks every afternoon and the number of close calls I witness is ASTOUNDING. I find it APPALLING that the city can lay out millions for a new library and to redo two parks but can’t… Read more »