Update on Last Week’s DASH Crash and Pedestrian Fatality

News and opinion continues to come in on last week’s horrific crash between a DASH bus and 58 year old pedestrian Gwendolyn Coleman.  The most important of which came yesterday when Steve Hymon reported at LA Now that the police have determined that Coleman had the right away and a green light when the DASH bus slammed into her.

Gwendolyn Coleman, 58, of Burbank was hit by a city of Los Angeles
DASH bus at 5th and Flower streets about 6:35 a.m. Coleman had the
green light to cross and the driver of the bus did not see her because
of a blind spot, said Richard French, a spokesman for the Los Angeles
Police Department.

The DASH bus was turning from 5th onto Flower when the accident
happened. First Transit, the company that operates the buses for the
city, said Thursday that the driver of the bus had been put on
suspension pending an investigation.

Putting aside my dislike of the word “accident,” there is one other problem with this statement from the LAPD.  If Coleman was crossing the intersection legally, the “blind spot” is either such a severe flaw that the intersection should be closed immediately or is a result of a driver that wasn’t paying close attention.  Either way, we’re a long way away from a resolution to this issue.

In other news, last week LAist reported that an impromptu memorial to Coleman was erected at the crash site and today City Watch wonders how with pedestrians getting struck down the City Council can possibly be considering raising speed limits.

Photo: Tom Andrews/LAist