In the last there days, Monday through Wednesday, at least four people died when struck by car drivers, and two others were injured. I know that the Sacramento Bee does not report all pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and injuries, so there may have been more in the region, but this is an incredible level of slaughter.
The SacBee articles so far are:
- Midtown Sacramento cyclist seriously injured in collision with city garbage truck (SacBee 2013-10-23)
- Sacramento cyclist killed after swerving in front of SUV (SacBee 2013-10-22); Cyclist killed in Monday accident in south Sacramento identified (SacBee 2013-10-22)
- 3 dead, 1 injured in separate pedestrian accidents in Sacramento area (SacBee 2013-10-22)
- Girl struck by car while walking to school in south Sacramento (SacBee 2013-10-22)
- Man killed in auto-pedestrian accident in north Sacramento (SacBee 2013-10-22);Man killed in auto-pedestrian accident in north Sacramento identified (SacBee 2013-10-23)
- Elderly Sacramento woman killed in auto-pedestrian accident (SacBee 2013-10-22)
- Woman killed in hit and run accident in Elk Grove (SacBee 2013-10-22); Woman killed in Elk Grove hit and run accident identified (SacBee 2013-10-23)
The better of these articles describe the outcome and location in a factual manner. The poorer ones place the blame on the victim. This victim blaming is aided and abetted by the law enforcement officers who make the assumption that either a) it was a “tragic accident” that could not have been prevented or b) the driver was not drunk and remained at the scene, so clearly it is the pedestrian or bicyclist’s fault. Both are nonsensical statements and ideas.
Getting Around Sacramento 