Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,465

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CA woman speeds through crosswalk, kills 2 kids, gets 15 to life

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ca … rcna156458

TIME reports that she was doing 81 mph.  I couldn't find any reporting that said what the speed limit was.

I'm reminded that recently CA floated the idea of requiring cars to audibly notify the driver if they were driving X miles over te speed limit.  100% of the reader comments about that article were negative, how it would be an imposition on their supposed "freedom".  Like I always say, things won't get safer until we change drivers' hearts and minds, and clearly that's not gonna happen any time soon.

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 629

Re: CA woman speeds through crosswalk, kills 2 kids, gets 15 to life

I couldn't find any reporting that said what the speed limit was.

Less than 81 mph, I hope.

Digging into a bit, it happened somewhere on Truinfo Canyon Road, and the speed limit signs I found there say 45 mph -- and even that seems high from what I can see of the road on google street view.

I'm reminded that recently CA floated the idea of requiring cars to audibly notify the driver if they were driving X miles over te speed limit.

My 2023 car has a visual warning for this.  It's a nice feature -- the camera catches speed limit signs and displays it on the dash for me, and flashes if I exceed it by an amount that I can configure.

Not that I need it to remind me that maybe 81 mph is too fast for any road with a crosswalk.

In any event, what I find more amazing is that she was charged and convicted of murder ... and without DWI charges, though an earlier article mentions that she had a single margarita.  Progress?

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,465

Website

Re: CA woman speeds through crosswalk, kills 2 kids, gets 15 to life

Hard to count this one as progress.  Until the end she was protesting her innocence merely because she "didn't see them".  In fact, she likely did see them, because evidence says she decelerated like 10mph before hitting them, but that's beside the point:  She never saw speeding as a problem.  Likewise, it seems that most people are furious that their vehicle might gently remind them that they're breaking the law by putting others' lives at risk.  Today I got road raged at from a driver temporarily stuck behind me while I was driving the speed limit, because they thought that was too slow.

So, before we had minimal prosecution, and little belief from drivers that speeding is a bad thing.  Now, we have a little more prosecution, and still little belief from drivers that speeding is a bad thing.  Yay?