Pedestrian Safety: To avoid being hit you need to keep your head on a swivel.

Do you want to see what it looks like when a car strikes a pedestrian? Watch this video of and you won't cross the highway the same way as a pedestrian.

Now you’re on the roadside after breaking down, you pull out your cell phone, call triple A and the tow truck arrives. The operator exits his truck and wham! He’s suddenly struck by an oncoming car. Unbelievable, you say.  Not so.

Santa Clara, California – December 2008 - My friend John Bisnar from California blogs about an instance of a ground crew mechanic working on the ground near a helicopter. A wind gust blows over a helicopter, causing it to spin out of control, and a blade struck the mechanic, killing him.  This helicopter was being used by the power company to string power lines between poles. Interesting to say the least and it explains why the worker would not be so concerned with keeping his eye on the helicopter. This workers attention needed to be focused on whatever his job may have been that day.

Pana, Illinois – January 2009 – Clothe colors can make all the difference.  Reflective tape also helps. In this case the truck driver was unable to see the man walking along Illinois highway 29. The man was struck and killed. The driver explained with the darkness, 7:30 p.m. he was unable to see the pedestrian walking. What this 60-year-old man was doing walking on the side of the highway we don’t know but we do know the driver was unable to see him.

Vancouver, Canada – November 2008 – A garbage truck struck and killed a pedestrian just after noon while he was walking. We’ve had this happen right here in Des Moines, Iowa.

Tama, Iowa – April 2009 – I reported on a young Iowa woman who was struck and killed by a train. This train-pedestrian accident has striking similarities to the story written by James Joyce in Dubliners. A Painful Case is a short story about Mr. Duffy who rebuffs Mrs. Sinico, and then four years later realizes he has condemned her to loneliness by rejection and then death. This realization strikes him while reading her obituary that describes her death being caused by a train as she walked across the tracks at Sidney Park, a train station on Sidney Parade Avenue, in the village of Merion, southeast of Dublin.

Barbara and I sojourned to Dublin for a two-week drive around the southeast and west until we found our way back to the streets of Dublin and more specifically, Fleet Street and the Temple Bar District. Ah yes, sit will you for a pint of Guinness?

Keenan Charged with Two Counts for deaths of Cadena and Rochelle.

The driver of a 2000 Toyota 4 Runner lost control at the 1-35 southbound ramp to the I-80 eastbound ramp and the SUV rolled several times causing the passengers inside to be ejected. The accident occurred on July 25, 2009 at around 5:00 a.m. in Polk County, Iowa.  The driver must have failed the breath test for alcohol because he was charged with OWI 3^rd, driving while his license was barred and homicide by motor vehicle, 2 counts.  The last charge was due to Martina Cadena and Mar’quis Rochelle dying as a result of being ejected during the rollover.  Keenan was 31-years of age and from Iowa City. Rochelle was 26-years of age and also from Iowa City. Martina Cadena was 35 and from Coralville, Iowa.
Is there negligence here? If there is it's probably to be proven in pursing evidence of the driver taking the curve too fast, driving while under the influence and not using due care. A failure to keep a proper lookout should also be pursued.  Passengers and the estates of the two who died would have 2 years to pursue causes of action. They can expect to have to pursue coverage under their own auto policies; because it's not likely the driver had auto insurance since he was barred from driving. Insurance companies insure risk and a person with a barred license shouldn't even be driving; so he's probably not insurable.  UIM, or uninsured motorist policies may have a two-year statute of limitations or it could be from the date of the denial by the insurer. Check the applicable policies.

Des Moines DART Ducks Liability for Hitting Pedestrian