(WSB photo)
Thanks for the tips – we just checked out an incident that drew fire, police, and a private ambulance to Westwood Village, outside Marshall’s. SFD spokesperson Lt. Sue Stangl tells us the initial report was that two people were hit by a driver. We were told at the scene that one was being taken to the hospital by AMR, a woman who apparently had just been shopping at the store; her injuries were not major – she was talking with emergency personnel as they took care of her.
Hmm, pretty sure I saw two women on the ground but there were so many firemen surrounding the area it was difficult to see and I didn’t want to be too nosy. Maybe only one needed to go to the hospital? Looked like some nasty scrapes and cuts that were bleeding. Hopefully that is the extent of it and there are no broken bones or worse. There was a woman filming all the activity on her cellphone….
This does not surprise me at all. The Westwood Village parking lot is the most poorly designed parking lot I have ever encountered. I can’t count the times I’ve had near misses while driving or walking there. I pray that she will be OK.
I agree- D DelRio. That area of the lot is particularly bad, too. As soon as I read the headline knew where the incident had taken place. Speedy recovery to the person involved.
I don’t think it’s the design as much as it is the drivers. The stop signs are treated as vague suggestions and the idea of turning your head to look behind you for pedestrians before you pull out of your spot at 20 MPH seems to be foreign to most people and since hybrids don’t even make a noise, you can *really* get a surprise since the interval between shifting into reverse (when the backup lights might give the more agile time to leap out of the way) and gunning it takes a split second stopwatch to measure for far too many drivers.
Then there’s the folk who treat the parking space lines as nuisances and just zoom across the lot popping out from between parked cars with no warning and less concern (and I mean both car *and* foot traffic).
I used to live in L.A. and thought people there drive crazy. They are Old Order Amish compared to around here. Just sit by the school crosswalk on Trenton (let alone at 25th where people regard turn signals as demeaning) and watch the more macho drivers of both genders play “chicken” with people crossing the street.
I’ve seen cars cross into oncoming traffic lanes rather than stop. 25th & Trenton could use a light since so many buses turn there.
I agree Jim. I’m at Westwood a lot and the lot itself is not that bad, it’s all the drivers driving badly. Stop signs become sorta kinda yield signs. Blinkers seem to be too much of a hassle to use. People don’t seem to understand what right of way means, pulling into the main roadway cutting cars off. Etc, etc etc
Agree with all the comments above. For example, I have always thought the very narrow, congested roadway between Westwood QFC and Starbucks is dangerous and aggravating to navigate on wheels or on foot. Add that to the bad drivers, truly unsafe combo.
Sad trend across our city. Carefully crossing Govt Way West in Magnolia on foot, countless times I’ve been nearly flattened by cars racing right through marked crosswalks – when I am clearly already in the middle of the crosswalk with daughter and dog!
Sorry, comment time is over.
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