Pedestrian in Power Chair Hit By Car This Morning on Commerce Dr.
Decatur Metro | August 2, 2013
UPDATE: Gwyneth sent in this photo of the accident scene.
After receiving a tip about a pedestrian hit on West Ponce this morning, we followed up with DPD. Here’s what they reported, courtesy of Sgt. Ross….
On 08/02/13 at approximately 9:08 am, Decatur Police responded to the 1200 block of Commerce Drive regarding a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. A pedestrian on a motorized scooter was traveling in the crosswalk with the walk signal when a vehicle failed to yield and struck the pedestrian. The pedestrian was transported to a local hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. The driver was cited for failure to obey a traffic control device.
We clarified, and the scooter described in the report above was, in fact, a power chair or “jazzy” scooter.
SLOW DOWN COMMERCE! There is no reason to have people playing NASCAR ion the middle of Decatur.
Dollars to donuts says a cell phone was involved. Anybody want to take my bet?
I would love to see talking on a cell phone while driving made illegal. If the call is crucial, you can pull off the road to make it. If not, it can wait.
On the bright side, at least Georgia bans texting while driving.
Yeah, they should offer a blue tooth option with those jazzy chairs.
I sure hope the person hit isn’t in for a long recovery. It’s a shame that happened.
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Anyone know if Decatur has the same law/fine for causing an accident while on a cell phone as DeKalb does? I didn’t know until googling it that DeKalb’s only applies in unincorporated areas. If not, it should go on the City’s to do list.
I can’t help but think this thread would have 100 posts by now if the person hit had been on a bicycle.
Probably because there’s no controversy about pedestrians in crosswalks like there is about how cars and bicycles should the road. I’m assuming that this was a disabled person using assistive technology.
This is terrible. There are so many careless drivers in the Atlanta area.
Can we please not generalize based on one incident? There are thousands of occurrences of disabled persons crossing sidewalks who do *not* get hit by a car. One incident is certainly significant for the person injured, but it does mean we have a social problem.
And yes, I agree about making it illegal to talk on a cell and drive.
I think what Ted is speaking from is the recurring discussion about drivers respecting the crosswalks. So there is a tendency to feel like we ‘saw this one comming… .’
This tragedy is proof that drivers not observing the crosswalk law has reached crisis proportions!
My observations are that 80 or 90% of drivers are using their cell phones while driving. I personally have almost been hit many many times in the past 3 years while crossing with the walk light. I have been flipped off, cursed at, and yelled at while trying to cross the street in a crosswalk WITH the walk light. Something has to be done to stop this infraction of the State law.
More police monitoring and MORE tickets woud help stem the tide. After a few thousand tickets the message will get out. There should be a law prohibitinng talking/texting while driving for starters.
Clay C.
Thanks to everyone who helped and was on the scene and to the great police and fire department of Decatur. This is my dad Guillermo. He has a broken leg and had surgery to put pins in his leg. He has fractures in his back and will have spinal surgery in the next day or so. But he is okay and in the best of care. Thanks so much. Gabby.
Very glad to hear it Gabby! We hope he recovers quickly. All the best.
Hope the victim has a speedy recovery. That is just terrible. I almost saw a pedestrian get creamed today on the way to work when a car stopped to let them cross on crosswalk between Marta stations on 10th street in Midtown and the car behind him whipped around and passed him as the person was still in the crosswalk. The driver leaned on the horn and shook their fist, and yes, they were on their cellphone.
I happened to be walking through this very crosswalk about ten minues before it happened. Think of how vulnerable Guillermo must have felt in the chair unable to dodge a danger he probably saw comming at him…
Gabby’s grateful attitude should be an example to the rest of us. In the meantime, let’s not forget how awful and avoidable this was.