| Page 2 of 3 < > |
A Deadly Turn At Intersection With History of Pedestrian Peril
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Between 2001 and 2006, the intersection was among the top four for crashes involving pedestrians, with between 14 and 20 accidents, she said. Pennsylvania Avenue's "excessive width" encourages vehicles to travel at high speeds, Mitchell said, and its lack of medians adds to the peril.
Nonetheless, she said, no amount of traffic engineering can affect the most critical factor in crashes: driver behavior. "In this case, you had pedestrians in the crosswalk, they had the 'go' sign and they were hit by a left-turning bus," she said.
Catoe said the driver had a "very good" safety record and had more than the required eight hours of rest before his shift began at 4:30 p.m. The operator's records also show that he did not work many overtime hours, Catoe said.
"It does not appear to be an issue of fatigue," he said.
Kolako is due back in court March 7 and was ordered by the judge not to drive any motor vehicles until permitted to do so by the court.
Two drivers who said they saw the accident said the bus driver did not appear to see the women in the crosswalk.
"I had the right of way. The pedestrians had the right of way. He was just going too fast," said Shahzad Cheema, a cabdriver.
Cheema said he yielded the right of way to the women as he waited to turn right from southbound Seventh Street and saw the Metrobus turn ahead of him. Moments later, the women lay in front of his taxi.
McGhee, 54, loved gardening and playing the piano, said her younger sister Molly Blasko, reached by phone yesterday in Atlantic Beach, Fla. She never married and lived alone. Greg Schoenborn, a contractor and musician, had recently remodeled McGhee's kitchen.
"I'm sick inside," Blasko said. "I'm in shock."
Martha Schoenborn, 59, had helped McGhee get a job as an administrative assistant at the FTC, and the two commuted together each day. Schoenborn's signal to pick them up at the Pentagon City station was his wife's second phone call.
On the night of the accident -- Valentine's Day -- Greg Schoenborn left home early, worried that he'd need extra time because of icy roads. When he arrived at Pentagon City, the women weren't there. His phone remained quiet. He waited. He dialed. An hour passed.
