A driver who was lost in south Palo Alto struck a tree and flipped her vehicle near Peers Park Wednesday morning, Oct. 17, Palo Alto police said.
The woman was traveling south around a curve when her white Toyota sedan struck a large tree and flipped onto the driver’s side at about 10:15 a.m., Sgt. Kara Apple said. The driver was able to extricate herself and climbed out of the passenger side before paramedics arrived. She was not injured.
Alcohol and drugs do not appear to be involved, and the driver’s cell phone was in a holster on the car’s dashboard, Apple said.
The article says the vehicle was a Toyota sedan, but from the photos this sure looks like an SUV… based on both the rear hatch with spare tire, and the roof rack. It’s unlikely a sedan would roll over, but SUVs are very prone to roll-overs in situations like this.
If driver was lost in south Palo Alto, then how did she endu up on Park Avenue driving south? Peers Park is north of Oregon so it’s in the North.
What! how does someone do that? Flip a car in a residential street. Must have been going pretty fast.
Article says Alcohol and drugs do not appear to be involved. Something must have been in her system. Or maybe lack of something??
Eyes on the GPS instead of the road. Photo shows the road threw her a curve.
How do you lose control of your truck on a 25mph road in broad daylight. I hope there were no kids playing in that part of the park when she jumped the curb.
Its called DWIPA: Driving While In Palo Alto.
There has always been an understanding about the abhorrent behavior of drivers in PA, but now they’re just getting silly!
Don’t blow all you jokes on this story because if Palo Altans can be trusted, we’ll see another like this in a bout a week.
Frustration may have a lot to do with it. Having been caught in this area myself and not able to get out, even with the help of a GPS, I can sympathise. This may be the result of traffic calming measures!
Look at the second pic. She came down the road, was obviously distracted(GPS or Cell probably) and missed the turn. She panic turned too late and hit the tree. Between the too quick maneuver, the tree and an SUV’s propensity to want to roll over anyways, we have this.
Check the cell phone records to see if there was activity.
There are MANY drivers like this out there each day. Be careful!
According to the article, her phone was in its holster on the dashboard after the accident. The question is: Was is there before and during the accident?
@Resident: Frustration caused a solo flip over?!If someone cannot control their frustration and it leads to that, they do not have the mental capacities to be allowed on the road.
Nice stretch though…take a deep breath next time you feel frustrated.
Obviously driving too fast and/or not paying attention to the road. I know that area of town well, and it is confusing with all the roadblocks, not to mention annoying.
If she thought she was in South Palo Alto, she really was lost. The division is at Oregon Expressway. Peers Park is north of it.
Looks like the tree was damaged. This accident is slightly similar to one a couple of years ago that was directly across the street. A car (with a drunk driver) traveling north on Park at high speed was not able to navigate the curve in the road, and hit a tree in Peers Park. That driver did not make it out alive. Fortunately, this driver is safe and nobody else was injured.
At least three fires truck and a police car and a bunch of public employees standing around. And this is AFTER the driver got herslef out of the car? It makes you wonder how much overtime will be charged. I’m sure the city arborist will show up as well.
That area has ridiculous blocked off streets. It’s like a f’ing maze. Of course you will have distracted drivers. Not to mention a great deal of wasted gas.
Recalulating!!!
If people cannot negotiate the roads and flip their cars due to frustration or distractions, they do not belong on the road. This isn’t lost on anyone is it?
Obviously people negotiate the roads every single day for years and years without this sort of nonsense. Again, if its all too much for you, please turn in your keys before you end up upside down.
Time for a little personal responsibility here.
Clearly trees are dangerous and Palo Alto should cut down all the ones near the street.
“ridiculous blocked off streets. It’s like a f’ing maze”
That’s the point. I don’t live there and I agree with the calming measures. Palo Alto is determined to develop to full gridlock, so let’s at least minimize cut-through traffic around the major choked intersections. At least it leaves some walking and biking routes where we can avoid heavy traffic and dangerous drivers, er, or at least heavy traffic.
Let me get it straight:if drivers act stupidly it’s the road calming measures fault? This driver seems like she shouldn’t be allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle, as it takes special talent to flip your car in that area. When I get lost in an unfamiliar area, as happens to all of us, I actually slow down and drive ultra carefully. Traffic calming measures, of which we don’t have nearly enough because traffic in Palo Alto has become absurdly unruly and dangerous, are designed to save us from drivers like this particular one.
This doesn’t make any sense.. period. It was not a dark and stormy night, where the lanes were hard to see and/or maneouver. Just call it like it is… Horrible driving. Plain and simple.
I am glad they are okay, but take personal responsibility.. stop “looking” for excuses to blame the “road” or anything else, and thank GOD the tree was there, as the car would’ve more than likely ended up in the yard or hitting the house. Things happen.. sometimes crazy, stupid things, and this was definitely one of them for the books.
~ Wow.. LOL. Glad everyone’s OK.
Typo, sorry! *Maneuver! haha… see.. even typing accidents happen.. but I’m not blaming the site! Too funny..
The direction this lady was going is not blocked in any way. You can drive along Park Blvd from El Camino to Cal Ave, which is what she was doing, whether she meant to or not. This road is heavily traveled by bikes, including commuters going to Caltrain, Stanford employees and PALY students. We are very lucky she didn’t squish someone. Very stupid.
I thought it was a van when I looked at it (near my house). May have been an SUV, but was not a sedan.
I was also happy to see the police and fire trucks. They didn’t stay long.
This is across the street from where a van full of kids ran into a tree and died a few years ago because they were speeding and drunk.
This is also about 2 blocks from my house and there is no way someone could flip a car unless they were absolutely reckless.
Driving penalties and liability need to be ramped up.