There has been a bad rash of stupid punnks street racing in urban areas with lots of traffic and pedestrian flow (in Richmond and Vancouver) in cars mommy and daddy paid for. Some are killing themselves, or their passengers, or the people they hit. I street race occassionaly (like once every few months) but never in an area with lots of traffic, etc. These kids just don't know how to drive and the fact that their friends are dying doesn't phase them.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. Anyway, the protege in that story is actually a yellow P5!!
It was named as that on the news this morning but I've copied the whole story for viewing below.
WHEN WILL THESE PUNKS GET THE MESSAGE?????
Jeremy Sandler
Vancouver Sun
Thursday, March 07, 2002
Vancouver police are investigating whether street racing played a role in an accident in which a pedestrian was struck near 41st Avenue and Dunbar late Wednesday morning.
The woman, in her mid-70s, was hit after two cars that witnesses said were speeding westbound along 41st were involved in a collision.
Constable Wes Fung of the collision investigation unit told BCTV News on Global that the victim was attempting to jaywalk across 41st, east of Dunbar, when a yellow Mazda Protege and a silver Nissan Altima came speeding along. The Mazda braked because of the woman crossing the road, but the Nissan, which had changed into the centre lane behind the Mazda, did not have time to stop.
"He brakes, but it's too late," said Fung of the Nissan's driver, a man in his 20s. "[He] rear-ends the yellow Protege, knocking it into the pedestrian."
Fung said the drivers did not know each other, but police will investigate whether they were racing at the time of the collision.
"That's something that we're looking at."
University of B.C. student Watson Ng, the driver of the Mazda, spoke briefly with BCTV before talking to police.
"I was trying to stop, like stopping, and I come to a stop and then the car from the back banged into me," he said.
Avinesh Chand, a clerk at Stationery 2000 in the 3500-block of West 41st, saw much of the action that occurred outside the store.
"We heard this screeching sound and as I looked out, I saw this lady flying about 15-20 feet, falling from the air," he said. "Then I realized that she was hit by these cars."
The impact spun the Mazda around backwards and the woman ended up under a vehicle parked nearby.
"She was under a van, a white van that was parked over there," Chand said. "A half-dozen people tried to attend to that lady. We thought she was dead because of the way she was lying."
Emergency personnel arrived within minutes and the victim was taken to Vancouver Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Chand said the city needs to do something to make the street safer for pedestrians to cross, a point echoed by Dr. Brian Harris.
He works in a medical building next to the scene of the crash and said he's been after the city for two years to get a crosswalk or light installed in the area.
He said the large supermarket on the north side of the street and the doctors' offices and residences on the south side mean people want to cross, but it's several hundred metres to the traffic lights east and west of the collision site.
"There's so many elderly people coming across to the doctors' offices or having done so, to skip across and pick up a bottle of milk or something," Harris said.
"Now you can say they shouldn't be jaywalking, but who's going to go to the corner to cross the road either at Dunbar or Blenheim?"
The 70-year-old psychiatrist, who has worked in the area for 27 years, said a city official came to see him about his complaints, but went away saying a crossing would not be a high priority.
"The city refused to accept the fact that jaywalking is illegal but it's going to happen right here for sure," he said.
"It's just accidents waiting to happen and because this has been like a throughway to UBC, the cars don't even slow down, they treat it like a highway. You really have to have your wits about you to cross the road and elderly people don't have that capacity, that's the problem.
"It doesn't cost a lot of money to paint some white lines on a corner," he added. "It's just a tragedy. I feel so angry that this was a preventable accident."
Speeding has been cited as a factor in the deaths of two Lower Mainland youths within the past week.
Whitney Nghiem died and five passengers in her car were injured when Nghiem lost control while driving at more than 100 km/h at about 4 a.m. Sunday on Kingsway.
Early Monday morning, 18-year-old James Garratt of West Vancouver died in another accident police blamed on high speed.
Fung said charges are being considered in Wednesday's accident, but he expressed concern that the recent spate of high-profile traffic fatalities has not altered driving habits.
"Three days ago a young girl was killed and it was in the papers," he said.
"You'd think they would learn, but obviously they haven't, so something's going to be done and hopefully we'll come up with some strategies to deal with it."
Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. Anyway, the protege in that story is actually a yellow P5!!
It was named as that on the news this morning but I've copied the whole story for viewing below. WHEN WILL THESE PUNKS GET THE MESSAGE?????
Jeremy Sandler
Vancouver Sun
Thursday, March 07, 2002
Vancouver police are investigating whether street racing played a role in an accident in which a pedestrian was struck near 41st Avenue and Dunbar late Wednesday morning.
The woman, in her mid-70s, was hit after two cars that witnesses said were speeding westbound along 41st were involved in a collision.
Constable Wes Fung of the collision investigation unit told BCTV News on Global that the victim was attempting to jaywalk across 41st, east of Dunbar, when a yellow Mazda Protege and a silver Nissan Altima came speeding along. The Mazda braked because of the woman crossing the road, but the Nissan, which had changed into the centre lane behind the Mazda, did not have time to stop.
"He brakes, but it's too late," said Fung of the Nissan's driver, a man in his 20s. "[He] rear-ends the yellow Protege, knocking it into the pedestrian."
Fung said the drivers did not know each other, but police will investigate whether they were racing at the time of the collision.
"That's something that we're looking at."
University of B.C. student Watson Ng, the driver of the Mazda, spoke briefly with BCTV before talking to police.
"I was trying to stop, like stopping, and I come to a stop and then the car from the back banged into me," he said.
Avinesh Chand, a clerk at Stationery 2000 in the 3500-block of West 41st, saw much of the action that occurred outside the store.
"We heard this screeching sound and as I looked out, I saw this lady flying about 15-20 feet, falling from the air," he said. "Then I realized that she was hit by these cars."
The impact spun the Mazda around backwards and the woman ended up under a vehicle parked nearby.
"She was under a van, a white van that was parked over there," Chand said. "A half-dozen people tried to attend to that lady. We thought she was dead because of the way she was lying."
Emergency personnel arrived within minutes and the victim was taken to Vancouver Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Chand said the city needs to do something to make the street safer for pedestrians to cross, a point echoed by Dr. Brian Harris.
He works in a medical building next to the scene of the crash and said he's been after the city for two years to get a crosswalk or light installed in the area.
He said the large supermarket on the north side of the street and the doctors' offices and residences on the south side mean people want to cross, but it's several hundred metres to the traffic lights east and west of the collision site.
"There's so many elderly people coming across to the doctors' offices or having done so, to skip across and pick up a bottle of milk or something," Harris said.
"Now you can say they shouldn't be jaywalking, but who's going to go to the corner to cross the road either at Dunbar or Blenheim?"
The 70-year-old psychiatrist, who has worked in the area for 27 years, said a city official came to see him about his complaints, but went away saying a crossing would not be a high priority.
"The city refused to accept the fact that jaywalking is illegal but it's going to happen right here for sure," he said.
"It's just accidents waiting to happen and because this has been like a throughway to UBC, the cars don't even slow down, they treat it like a highway. You really have to have your wits about you to cross the road and elderly people don't have that capacity, that's the problem.
"It doesn't cost a lot of money to paint some white lines on a corner," he added. "It's just a tragedy. I feel so angry that this was a preventable accident."
Speeding has been cited as a factor in the deaths of two Lower Mainland youths within the past week.
Whitney Nghiem died and five passengers in her car were injured when Nghiem lost control while driving at more than 100 km/h at about 4 a.m. Sunday on Kingsway.
Early Monday morning, 18-year-old James Garratt of West Vancouver died in another accident police blamed on high speed.
Fung said charges are being considered in Wednesday's accident, but he expressed concern that the recent spate of high-profile traffic fatalities has not altered driving habits.
"Three days ago a young girl was killed and it was in the papers," he said.
"You'd think they would learn, but obviously they haven't, so something's going to be done and hopefully we'll come up with some strategies to deal with it."
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, glad to see ppl actually care about this matter instead of being satisfied with those stupid stereotypes.