The driver of a Pontiac Grand Prix walked away with minor injuries late Friday after the car hit the center median on Embarcadero Road and rolled over, Palo Alto police said.
The Pontiac and a Hummer H2 were both traveling westbound on Embarcadero at about 5:45 p.m. when “for an unknown reason one driver veered into the other vehicle’s lane,” Agent Sal Madrigal said. The Pontiac then hit the median near the Highway 101 overpass and flipped, he said.
An off-duty paramedic witnessed the crash and assisted the driver of the Pontiac, who was taken to the hospital with abrasions to the hand, Madrigal said. The driver of the Hummer was unhurt, he said.
By Palo Alto Online staff
By Palo Alto Online staff
By Palo Alto Online staff
How fast was the driver going to flip over in the middle of the street? Embarcadero Road has a 25mph speed limit. Who were the drivers? What charges are they facing? They were lucky that they did not kill anyone.
It is not surprising that the driver of the Hummer was not hurt–the bigger your car — the greater chance of your– and your kids— survival.
It will be 20+ years until everyone is driving tiny cars– and trucks are restricted to one lane with lane separation
Until that time comes we will continue transport our family in large body on frame SUVs
Soon they will be powered by CNG–cheap and plentiful for the next 200 years in the US
Glad to hear you have everything figured out Sharon. It must be fun being the smartest chick on the block. I bet you helped steve jobs get started in that little garage of his too.
>>”Soon they will be powered by CNG–cheap and plentiful for the next 200 years in the US “
Possible, yes, but the Greens won’t allow development of our natural gas resources.
We will still be draining our wealth to record profits in the USA oil industry, and to enemy nation oil producers.
The real question one has to ask is this. Have the Greens been duped by the oil industry and enemy nation oil producers, or are they the creation of the oil industry and enemy nations?
And OO goes trolling along.
Wasn’t I just chastized for admitting to driving 25mph on Embarcadero? How terrible of me to drive the speed limit, which was obviously an effort on my part to impede traffic. (I deny that charge, by the way.)
I think I will continue to drive 25mph and let the seedy people flip over me.
> Wasn’t I just chastized for admitting to driving
> 25mph on Embarcadero?
Prevailing speeds for most Palo Alto roads are upwards of 30mph. There is no reason that Palo Alto should not experiment with increasing the speed limits to at least 30 mph. Palo Alto is a bottle neck for traffic flow in this part of the Silicon Valley.
If you want to speed, then use the freeways. Narrow residential roads with driveways, sidewalks, crosswalks require much lower speeds. Throw all the reckless drivers in jail before they kill more people. Wasn’t a woman in a wheelchair killed near this location recently?
“If you want to speed, then use the freeways. Narrow residential roads with driveways, sidewalks, crosswalks require much lower speeds. Throw all the reckless drivers in jail before they kill more people. Wasn’t a woman in a wheelchair killed near this location recently?”
I thought that happened farther down Embarcadero towards El Camino a bit, nearer to Webster. But I am only working from my impressions on the location, I could easily be wrong.
But Embarcadero IS A RESIDENTIAL STREET! It has few businesses, and residential driveways back right out onto it. Children play in their yards along it. It was never intended to be a major thoroughfare, the houses were there before the traffic invaded. The same goes for Middlefield.
A few years ago a kid in an SUV was killed on Middlefield, though it thankfully did not involve others. He never lived long enough to learn that a long, straight road that seems perfectly tame at 25 mph changes its dynamics significantly when you approach 100 mph. He went airborn into a tree.
I don’t care a hoot what the speeders think. They are egocentric and never give a thought about the physical safety of others or the dangers to others they themselves present. They don’t care that adults and children have been killed and injured by their like. They have attitudes about “what should be” based on their emotions rather than on facts that would dictate otherwise.
I would advocate allowing the use of radar-based cameras and stronger enforcement of speed limits on those streets. You can use those streets only on the condition that you agree to abide by the rules and not threaten to kill or injure others.
If you speed on those streets and kill or injure someone, especially a kid, understand this: Your life, as you know it and envision it continuing, is over. If someone does not produce a rope at the scene, the courts will see to it. If you care nothing for others, I promise that there is still a credible threat to you and your future, if you have the brains to see it. Get smart.
> If you speed on those streets and kill or injure someone
The number of people killed in Palo Alto over the years in vehicular traffic is very small. Unfortunately, the City does not keep this kind of information on-line, so that people can remind themselves of just what damages traffic accidents cause in this city.
> They are egocentric and never give a thought about the
> physical safety of others
Now how would anyone know this?
> Throw all the reckless drivers in jail before they
> kill more people.
An emotional statement–yes, but rational? Not really.
> “for an unknown reason one driver veered into the
> other vehicle’s lane,”
So .. just what does this act on the part of the driver whose car overturned have to do with “speed”? It’s unlikely the Weekly will ever follow up on this accident, but shouldn’t this be seen as the primary cause of the accident?
While everyone feigns disgust at the people who drive over the speed limit(aka “Drivers”)I just wanted you all to know that my friends Suburban was flipped over during a very slow speed collision. All were fine, but the driver of the smaller car drove away, the Suburban was totaled according to the insurance company. Just some thought for those all bunged up about speed of the safety of SUVs.
“The number of people killed in Palo Alto over the years in vehicular traffic is very small.”
That means the number is acceptable within your limits? What would you think would be too high a number? How many kids need to be killed before you accept the idea that drivers need to slow down? What is others think that they don’t need to slow down unless the number is even higher, does that rationalization give them the right to continue to speed in residential areas?
My attitude is that the acceptable number of injury due to speeders is zero. I don’t care what your self-serving rationalization is, if you kill or injure a kid, or an adult, through your own depraved indifference or stupidity, you are worthy of any and all penalties that can be levied.
And I will continue to drive 25 mph on those streets, remaining in whatever lane I need to be in to make my turn, and I will maintain my depraved indifference to those who wish to go faster. The life I save may be yours.
Gravity, how fast was the driver of the small car that caused the crash going?
While I will concede that it is possible to flip a vehicle at even 25 mph, I will maintain that as the speed goes up the incidence can also go up. Do you think we should lower the speed limit even lower to take high-water SUVs into account?
Someone was prob sending/recieving something very important on their smart phone…
Oh yes, those terrible “Greens”, who insist on trying to prevent our cities from becoming similar to Chinese cities where you need oxygen masks when you step out of your home.
“The number of people killed in Palo Alto over the years in vehicular traffic is very small”:small compared to what? Isn’t it fascinating how when the victim is your child, parent or friend, the number doesn’t seem small at all, particularly when the fatality shouldn’t have happened at all if the driver kept to the legal speed limit, wasn’t distracted or didn’t drive like a fool?
Thank heavens the injuries were minor! I drove by the scene as paramedics, fire, police had stopped traffic — and saw the overturned car. My first thought was that the driver had been killed.
Please bear in mind that this occurred on the overpass across 101, not on the residential part of Embarcadero. I thought that possibly one of the cars had come from the 101N to Embarcadero merge.
You’ll see that there are now concrete barricades (part of road work) that seem to extend into the slow lane of Embarcadero just at the merging point — and it’s hard to see cars around from the left until you’re practically out in the lane.
Anyway, I’m really happy that the driver of the overturned car is okay.
@JustMe,
If you are that afraid to drive, why don’t you take the bus?
The buses would certainly welcome an additional rider, and perhaps you could set a trend and get others of like mind to take the bus too.
Just think of it. Public transportation that could actually break even, and not be subsidised by taxpayers. That plus much fewer impediments to traffic flow.
OO, you think that I am afraid to drive because I prefer not to drive stupidly, because I prefer not to senselessly risk the health and safety of others?
I am hardly afraid to drive, and I could probably drive circles around you. I just don’t feel the need to prove it every time I get behind the wheel. The days of powersliding around curves on a dirt road through my neighborhood are long behind me. I was stupid then, I have gotten smarter. When will you?
OO’s previous comments have revealed that he is not a safe driver
A bumper sticker was very succinct “Nothing is Dumber than a Hummer”