Pedestrian Struck Dead On Whalley

I have no idea if this is relevant to this particular sad incident -- please do not read this as a "blame the victim." But it prompts me to raise this concern.

Many is the time I have only just barely spotted pedestrians in the roadway as I passed them while driving. Mostly, they are safe because they are watching for cars; a pedestrian can see a car at night (assuming the driver has turned on the headlights) far more easily than the driver can see the pedestrian.

And this is especially true when the pedestrian is wearing dark-colored clothing head to toe, as so many people do.

I once pulled over to roll down my window and speak to a couple of young guys, dressed all in black, who were walking nonchalantly in the roadway at night despite there being a sidewalk available for them to use. "Do you realize you are almost completely invisible?" I said. They were taken aback, in part because they had assumed I had stopped in order to chew them out about something. "You telling us you want us to be safe?" one of them asked incredulously. "Yes!" I replied. (And also, I'd rather not be guilty of involuntary manslaughter.)

Years ago when I was in elementary school, the cops in my area ran a campaign "WEAR WHITE AT NIGHT AND LIVE." I wish somebody would revive that message.

Yes, we want people to be safe when they are walking at night and Ms. Pritchard is right that people are hard to see when they are wear dark clothing.
Just as bicycle riders now wear safety gear, perhaps pedestrians should wear those removable neon bands for hands and ankles. And maybe neon stripes on jackets could be made fashionable.
Yes. We want you to be safe!!!

Whalley is notorious for pedestrians crossing not the in crosswalk. I have to avoid them frequently. Last night it was rainy, icy and snowing adding to visibility issues. We do have speeding issues but we also have pedestrian crossing issues.

I am finding in recent years that too many people are driving with high beams (or are newer cars just made with super bright headlights now?) and this can cause a distraction and make it harder to see pedestrians or other objects on the road. This is even worse when it is raining and the fading white and yellow lines in the road are tougher to see.

My god, what the pedestrian was wearing is irrelevant. This is borderline downtown at rush hour. This is a chaotic urban street, and actually has okay lighting in this section, the burden is on the driver. Unless the pedestrian literally jumped in front of the car.

MC

Not really. there are several general statutes which require reasonable pedestrian caution when in streets.

Excerpts…

Sec. 14-300c. Pedestrian use of roads and sidewalks

No pedestrian shall walk along and upon a roadway where a sidewalk adjacent to such roadway is provided and the use thereof is practicable.

No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb, sidewalk, crosswalk or any other place of safety adjacent to or upon a roadway and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close to such pedestrian as to constitute an immediate hazard to such pedestrian.

1) Regardless of what Ms. Williams was wearing, Whalley is well-lit and its speed limit is 25 mph. If the driver didn't see her until literally after the moment if impact, then they were either not watching the road at all, going much too fast, or both. (Most likely both.) No question in my mind.

2) Regardless of the particulars of this specific case, Whalley has consistently been a deadly and dangerous road for pedestrians. If there's an issue with frequent jaywalking, that's an issue of design. If people are driving too fast too often, that's an issue of design. Whalley Ave. is a busy commercial corridor flanked on both sides by dense residential neighborhoods. It's a terrible place for a five-land road without any traffic calming measures. Until the state and local government do something about this, people are going to continue to be injured and worse.

My condolences to the loved ones of the deceased.
Whalley Ave is terrible for drivers to see pedestrians at night, especially when they cross not in the crosswalks, and they are wearing all dark clothing. All of which happens all the time on Whalley. Add rain, sleet, snow, a moonless night, lots of trees in some sections, with terrible street lighting in some sections, it’s all a recipe for tragedies to occur.
If pedestrians and bike riders could wear reflective or bright colored hats or tops and use the crosswalks it would help.
But the city could help by putting in better pedestrian focused dark skies streetlights at crosswalks, raised crosswalks at the intersections closest to the restaurants and grocery stores and other major pedestrian destinations, and adding bike lanes, bike left turn boxes, bus stop pullout spots, narrowing the road by having one travel lane in each direction with a shared center left turn lane for vehicles with emergency vehicle lane priority, and coordinated traffic lights that would ensure vehicles traveling at the posted speed limits would catch all the green lights.
All of which would make Whalley Ave more safe and more pleasant to use for drivers, bike riders, pedestrians and bus riders alike.

Gretchen - victim blaming.
Patricia - victim blaming.
NewHavenRaven - victim blaming.

Whalley has a posted speed limit of 25 mph. It is highly unlikely that the driver was adhering to this legal limit if the collision resulted in death.

Very disgusted to see the commenters here advocating for people to wear specialized clothing to appease car drivers. Cars have headlights for a reason, roads have streetlights for a reason. Drivers have hit crossing guards wearing neon vests or have driven straight into buildings. In fact I was almost killed by a driver while biking with a neon vest on during the daytime because they turned across a bike lane without checking their mirrors while I was in it. Would also wearing a reflective armband in addition to my vest have prevented that brush with death? Should the buildings have been wearing neon vests and flashing lights too to avoid being hit? It does not matter what people are wearing if the drivers are speeding and/or checking their facebook feed. The people controlling multi-ton machines have an obligation not to kill people. Additionally, every intersection is technically a crosswalk, per state statute, whether marked or unmarked.