A pedestrian was killed Friday night in Concord in a collision involving a vehicle.
Officers responded at 9:34 p.m. to the area of Willow Pass Road and Parkside Dive on a report of a collision involving a vehicle and a pedestrian.
Police said the vehicle was traveling east on Willow Pass toward Parkside when it struck a 63-year-old man in a wheelchair, who was crossing the roadway just outside the crosswalk when the collision occurred.
The pedestrian was transported to the hospital but later died, police said.
The driver of the vehicle, a 31-year-old woman from Antioch, remained at the scene following the collision and cooperated with the investigation.
Police said it does not appear drugs or alcohol played a factor in the incident.
The name of the victim had not been released as of early Saturday morning.
I hope it wasn’t Norris This is so sad for whoever it was. I worry about him though
May he rest in peace. So sad.
Last Sunday around 8pm, an older man in a wheelchair was going in the crosswalk when he wasn’t supposed to and our light turned green on Clayton & Denkinger. We had to wait for him to cross and someone didnt see him and he almost got hit. He just flipped everyone off. I wonder if these was the same gentleman…
My dad works at the gas station right next to where it happened and helped the guy. Sadly it was a guy in a wheelchair who got hit 🙁
I work at Sun Valley Mall and live off Willow Pass, because of Holiday hours I worked to 11 last night, and when I saw all the police cars and that the road was closed I was wondering what happened. Almost every night driving home I see someone walking and crossing the road several spots on Willow Pass they don’t use the crosswalk and are often wearing dark clothing. One night when it was raining I saw a bike cyclist, wearing dark clothing and just one small light on the back of his bike and same on front. I would hate to hit anyone, even if it was not my fault it would be traumatizing experience.
I see so many people walking around at night with dark clothing on. I don’t think you have to wear day glow or blinkers but some light color clothing would help for nighttime strolls. Do they make light colored winter cloths?
The black hoodie is the is the cool uniform for people out at night, especially ones who don’t want to be seen.
@MaryD:
OMG….now we’re worried about Norris. Haven’t seen him in forever.
I saw him not too long ago, couple of weeks or so. I also hope this was not him, but sad for whoever it was that lost their life.
To Ricardo, yes there is something called winter white (I work at Macy’s) and ski clothing is know for their color, many warm jackets, especially the ones called puffer jackets come in light colors, and because of the material the almost glow in the dark. However, it is not so much the dark clothing that is a problem, it is more that people who are hard to see in the dark, decide to cross the street where there is no crosswalk and often seem to come out of nowhere. Last year by 7-11 in Martinez (Contra Costa and Center) I almost hit someone as I turned the corner because he just came out of nowhere and decided to cross the street with no regards for cars coming around the corner. Pedestrian’s and cars should be equally vigilant.
I cross this intersection 2 x day. The homeless who hang out at the Civic Center are very arrogant. They J walk in every direction. They expect the cars to yield to them anyway. They stop traffic and create near accidents. I get close, then honk the horn loud and long. They think they are above the law.
And by law, we are supposed to yield to pedestrians even if they’re in the wrong. Bicycles however are required to obey the same motor vehicle laws as cars and motorcycles. Of course most bicycle us do not obey the vehicle code.
Robert,
Spreading that lie is a great way to see a lot more pedestrian fatalities.
Why do people always bring up their hate of bicycle riders? This story is about a guy in a wheelchair, killed by an inattentive driver. How about mentioning that drivers should pay attention?
Give the homeless some slack you guys. They have other things to worry about like getting their next fix of meth/heroin/booze/pretending they are going to buy food to be able to look both ways across the street.
From the 2019 California Driver Handbook
Laws and Rules of the Road
Right-of-Way Rules
“Pedestrians have the right-of-way in marked or unmarked crosswalks.”
“Respecting the right-of-way of others is not limited to situations such as yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks, or watching carefully to ensure the right-of- way of bicyclists and motorcyclists. Yield your right-of-way when it helps to prevent collisions.”
That bears repeating, “Yield your right-of-way when it helps to prevent collisions.” Seems pretty obvious to me. I don’t see anything “lie” about it.
Saying that you don’t have to yield to pedestrians is spreading disinformation and makes it sound like it’s okay to hit them. It isn’t. You are to yield to them whether they are in a crosswalk or not or live with killing or injuring another human being the rest of your life and possibly being sued. It makes sense then to yield to pedestrians … wherever they are are on the roadway. They, of course, are required by law to use crosswalks and, if they value their lives, it would be the smart thing to do.
Cowellian is correct. Pedestrians lose their right of way (by law) if they’re crossing outside of a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
This gentleman wasn’t crossing in a crosswalk. He was just outside the crosswalk.
I yield pedestrians the right of way, whether they’re in a crosswalk or not. I don’t want to hit and kill anyone. I don’t have to yield them the right of way per CA law. It’s common courtesy.
It’s not okay to hit anyone. But some of us understand the difference between CA law, and sparing someone’s life, by choosing not to hit someone because he/she wasn’t crossing legally.
From the California Vehicle Code DIV 11 Rules of the Road
Section 21954
a) Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway so near as to constitute an immediate hazard.
(b) The provisions of this section shall not relieve the driver of a vehicle from the duty to exercise due care for the safety of any pedestrian upon a roadway.
(Amended by Stats. 1971, Ch. 1015.)
Running into a pedestrian, whether they are in a crosswalk, or whether they are jaywalking, will ruin their day, as well as yours, and I do not recommend it. Nevertheless, if you are stupid enough to tell someone that pedestrians always have the right-of-way, and they are stupid enough to believe you, it is a recipe for disaster.
And you would be hard-pressed to document any driver being prosecuted for hitting a jay-walker unless they also hit-and-ran or were under the influence.
@ JoJo
“Why do people always bring up their hate of bicycle riders?”
Why do people have to always add facts that are not mentioned in the story? Nowhere does it say the driver was inattentive! People crossing the road in the dark with dark clothing on can be dififcult to see until it’s too late. I would bet the driver feels terrible. She doesn’t need to read ignorant posts like that! You have no idea what happened that night.
According to the California Vehicle Code 21950, drivers “shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.”
Bottom line……If they’re at an intersection you “shall yield the right of way to a pedestrian” period. It’s not just common courtesy, it’s the law. If you believe otherwise, please cite a reference showing me where I’m mistaken.
“Yield the right of way …” It is right there in black and white … in the California Driver Handbook and the California Vehicle Code. “Yield” … give way … whether they are in a cross walk or not. You want to talk about stupid? If you’re too stupid to understand that you shouldn’t be driving.
@Cowellian ” … you would be hard-pressed to document any driver being prosecuted for hitting a jay-walker unless they also hit-and-ran or were under the influence.” I guess that’s why it’s happening so often.
So sorry to hear about the tragic accident.
My solution to some of these accidents. Have riders of motorcycles, bicycles, wheelchairs, scooters or any other small mobile transportation that use the road via crosswalk, bike lanes etc. is to have the person use orange or yellow reflecting construction vests.
That’s all fine in your head but you can’t stop physics with colors…
That sounds like a good idea and I was thinking the same thing. In fact, you could wear your street clothes, dark colors, as usual, but slip the vest over them when you went outside or onto the roadways. The dayglo colors would certainly be helpful in helping motorists see bicyclists and pedestrians at night.
I wonder if it was ANTIOCH MIKE
@Mary –
You read my mind. I keep coming back to see if the article gets updated. Praying it’s not Norris…
Please post if you see him.
Pedestrians need to take responsibility and not walk in front of anything moving on roadway without making eye contact with operators of equipment. Pedestrians cross street in front of me a lot near Bart without looking up from phone or even if they know you are there they look in opposite direction assuming your 4500 lbs vehicle will stop on a dime . And yes they are arrogant disrespectful and don’t value squat if they don’t value themselves the roadway is shared the experience needs to be consensual between drivers and pedestrians
If the man in the wheelchair was crossing on the NEAR side of the crosswalk, he might very well have just suddenly popped out from behind a parked car. And yes, that is the stupid, wrong thing to do. But PLEASE, drivers, slow down at least to the speed limit (especially on main arterials) so that you have a few more split seconds in which to react!
Many bicyclists and wheelchair-bound used to have tall, flexible sticks (metal?) with fluorescent flags attached to their transport frames, thereby creating a higher profile for themselves. That seems wise! If bicyclists and independent wheelchair patients were required to pass tests and have licenses before being in the streets, then the flag things might be made more available to them at the licensing centers.
Condolences to the driver and to the family/friends of the deceased.
Really! You should have a license to use a wheelchair???. Do you need a license to walk? That is a very discriminatory and not compassionate statement. There may be reasons the victim was outside the crosswalk, such as a pothole or the proximity to curb cutouts. The older ones are very narrow and force the user to navigate at an angle to avoid getting stuck. As to the person who stated wheelchair users should wear an orange vest??? Maybe all persons should be forced to wear an orange vest to cross the street! Finally to those who assume that just because someone is in a wheelchair, they are homeless, you are mistaken. While our society would like to hide the disabled away, many hold jobs, own homes, have responsibilities and use, just like the able bodied.
Wendy Giles,
You make an excellent point that wheelchair folks should not have to have licenses. I was too focused on the “rod and flag” point, which I DO think it would be wise for wheelchairs to have.
However, I will not budge on the license-for-bicyclists issue because the few of them (compared to the numbers of motor vehicles which need to use the streets) are using up entire potential vehicle lanes.
Wheelchairs? No, but if you’ve ever had one roll up on your heels, women with baby strollers should have licenses.
I was driving down Willow Pass Friday night at 1:20 a.m. after coming out of Safeway. Guy on bike weaving all over both lanes on WP road. Only light was a flashlight he was waving back and forth that a driver can’r even see. Guy on bike was obviously impaired. I could hardly see him with the rain. Really bad night on BART too. Puke everywhere from drunks. BART Police and BART employees seriously useless and allow dangerous circumstances to run rampant on BART. Just stay away. That system is on its last leg and just isn’t safe for workers any more. You have to be a transit transient to have rights on BART and they all ride for free. Disband and reorganize BART. Measure RR a waste. Service and everywhere BART goes has ruined every community.
I always wear my yellow neon vest day or night while walking my dogs. There are so many people walking every which way assuming we see them. Sympathy for the family of the man hit and the person who hit him.
Pedestrians and cyclists are way too trusting of vehicle traffic. People drive way too fast and are not careful. It is all about attitudes. In California is full of self centered people. Me first is the on going view. A habit as simple as signaling seems to rarely happen. PLEASE USE YOUR TURN SIGNALS WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING AND HAND SIGNALS IF YOU ARE ON YOUR BIKE.
Who in the hell is this Norris person? Some rando wheelchair guy in the area?