A bus carrying Google employees struck and killed a 51-year-old woman who was walking on the West Valley College campus in Saratoga January 3rd. The accident happened on a rainy night with low visibility, when the woman appeared to be walking home from her job. After the accident, the woman was rushed to a nearby medical center, where she died from her injuries.
The bus which hit the woman was owned by Storer Coachways, and was contracted by Google to drive its workers between the college and Google’s Mountain View campus 12 miles away.. The college allows Google’s employees to park on campus and take the Google-paid buses to work.
Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause of the accident. They say it is not clear if the woman was in a crosswalk when she was struck. After the accident, the bus driver stopped and was cooperative. No one else on the bus was injured.
In San Francisco, there are a number of similar buses that locals have complained about for years.. These buses are either owned by tech companies, or are contracted out by tech companies to transport workers to their jobs. Local drivers complain that the tech buses often commit traffic violations, and have caused more traffic because there are now a large number of them on narrow San Francisco roads. Locals have said tech buses should be more strictly regulated by the city.
Although pedestrians in most cases have the right-of-way in traffic, thousands of people die each year in the Bay Area due to careless drivers. On average, between 4,000 and 5,000 pedestrians are fatally injured every year in the United States. The Bay Area can be particularly dangerous to pedestrians, with its large numbers of vehicles and pedestrians on the road.
Pedestrians are the most vulnerable people on the streets, lacking a vehicle to shield them or move them quickly away from a dangerous situation. Despite laws protecting pedestrians from drivers, motorists frequently fail to see pedestrians until it is too late.
The elderly and the very young are most at risk of being in a pedestrian accident. An average of 20 percent of pedestrian deaths involve victims age 65 or older. Children 15 and younger make up about a quarter of pedestrian injuries, but less than 10 percent of pedestrian deaths.
In many cases, when a pedestrian fatality occurs, surviving family members can bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver. The victim’s family can sue for their losses if the accident occurred because of the driver’s negligence. The lawsuit can include compensation for medical bills, funeral expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.
If you have lost a loved one in a tragic pedestrian accident, you are probably in shock and uncertain what to do next. However, in any accident it’s important to start an investigation as soon as possible. If your spouse or family member has been killed in a pedestrian accident in the Oakland-San Francisco area, call Micha Star Liberty, San Francisco pedestrian accident attorney at 510-645-1000 for a free consultation.
At Liberty Law, Micha Star Liberty believes that negligent drivers who harm pedestrians should be held legally responsible for their wrongful actions. She works with clients throughout the area, including Tracy, Fairfield, San Jose, Berkeley, Sacramento, and the surrounding areas.
