A boy was struck and killed earlier this month after colliding with a flatbed truck, according to Palo Alto police.
The boy and the truck were both headed east on California avenue around 7:45pm, the boy riding his bike on the sideway, when the truck made a right turn onto El Camino Real, colliding with the boy who was then crossing the road.
The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the truck, a man in his 60’s, stayed at the scene and has been cooperating with police. He was not arrested or cited, and the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone who may have witnessed the collision and who has not already spoken with police about it is encouraged to call the police department’s 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voicemail to (650) 383-8984.
Anytime a life is taken from us it is a tragedy, especially when it could have been prevented – but how? Although we don’t know all of the details of this case, or whether all of the rules of the road were being followed, it does highlight the larger problem across the bay area: of dangerous, if not fatal, road conditions for cars, bikes, and pedestrians alike. We must always be looking to do more, raise awareness, build friendly streets for alternative modes of transit, and stop these kind of tragic events in any way possible.
The bicycle vs truck fatality above is a grim reminder of how dangerous intersections are for bicycle riders. I am sure that the truck driver involved in the above tragic collision will say that he just did not see the boy riding the bicycle in the intersection. I personally feel that the truck driver should have maintained a better lookout and should have been aware of the boy on the bicycle. Too often, driver distraction, speed or just plain failure to properly look and to see in all directions can lead to horrible consequences. I try not to judge without all of the facts, however we have handled so many of these right hook cases that I see a pattern in the conduct of the truck drivers, and it saddens me to report another bicycle death.
Hello, I’m Claude Wyle, a San Francisco personal injury and bicycle attorney. Have an idea for a topic you’d like to see covered here? Feel free to contact me or visit www.ccwlawyers.com
