Elderly man on motorized scooter killed in San Jose collision
SAN JOSE, Calif. - In the early hours of Monday, tragedy struck again as San Jose recorded another traffic fatality.
The crash occurred around 4:20 a.m. on the dimly lit and mostly deserted intersection of Camden Avenue and Branham Lane, near Highway 85, according to police. The victim, identified as an elderly man, was riding a motorized scooter and attempting to cross Camden Avenue when a Chevy Trailblazer driven by a woman collided with him. The driver had the green light as she passed through the intersection.
"The adult female driver struck an adult male who was outside a crosswalk on an electric scooter. Unfortunately, the male was pronounced deceased on scene," said San Jose Police Department spokesperson Stacie Shih.
The intersection has three crosswalks and shares similarities in design with another site where a deadly collision occurred just last Wednesday. In that incident, an infant died, and the child's mother and sibling sustained injuries after being struck by a Chevy Tahoe at King Road and Havana Avenue.
Addressing concerns about the lack of a fourth crosswalk, the city's transportation department explained that the design standard from the 1970s called for only one signalized crosswalk. Adding another crosswalk would require increasing the cycle length of the traffic lights, leading to delays.
City transportation officials pointed out that Branham Lane is comparable, but the street transforms into a one-way Highway 85 on-ramp. Installing a crosswalk there might direct pedestrians toward the on-ramp, potentially putting them in harm's way.
Despite these challenges, calls for the legislation of more vehicle safety measures are growing among some residents.
"They have features that’ll stop cars and prevent them from hitting people. And so really, have the government legislate to the automotive industry and say you must have these features," urged one resident named Joe.
The elderly victim was the 29th person killed in a crash in San Jose this year, police said.