A pedestrian crossing a street at 17th Street and Lakeside Drive near Lake Merritt was hit and killed by a speeding driver early Saturday morning in a hit-and-run that Oakland police said is now under investigation.
Just before 6 a.m., in the dark pre-dawn hours, a man carrying a bag of plastic bottles had entered the crosswalk when a driver, traveling northbound on Lakeside Drive “at a high rate of speed,” struck the pedestrian, throwing him into the air, the Oakland Police Department said. OPD said the suspect fled the scene in a white Nissan and has not been located. When the cops arrived, they attempted to revive the man who was hit, but he had died.
Police told The Oaklandside they don’t know whether drugs or alcohol were involved in the collision. The department is not yet releasing the name of the victim as they work to notify his next of kin. The Alameda County Coroner’s Office confirmed that the victim’s identification is being withheld.
Police have asked anyone with information to contact the Traffic Investigation Unit at 510-777-8570 and to send any photos or videos of the crash, if available, to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.
According to a report by KTVU, one of its anchors, Andre Senior, witnessed the crash as it happened. He told the TV outlet that he was walking his dog when the event unfolded. He said he saw a white Nissan barreling downhill on Lakeside Drive as the man was crossing in the crosswalk with his head down. Senior said the pedestrian attempted to run away from the vehicle just before being hit.
“At some point he looks up and realizes he’s not stopping, so he starts to run,” the anchor said. “The car thinks he’s gonna outrun him by going this way, but he doesn’t. Smashes right into him.” He told the station that he immediately called 911, but when he turned the man over to try to help him, it appeared that he had already died. A few other bystanders also tried to help, Senior said.
In the aftermath of the killing, safe streets advocates pointed out the collision happened at a location that was set to receive an infrastructure redesign that would have slowed down car traffic.
Rob Prinz, the advocacy director of Bike East Bay, a local nonprofit group, posted a statement noting that the Oakland Department of Transportation had developed a project for the area that included a protected two-way bicycle track. Prinz said the Oakland Fire Department took issue with the amount of roadway clearance, forcing a redesign that resulted in a two-year delay. Originally, the project was slated to start at the same time as the 14th Street redesign, which is now nearly complete. That original plan might have been completed by now, Prinz said, but the new plan, with a buffered, non-protected bike lane, he said, is not set to start construction until next year.
“I can’t definitely say what could have prevented this crash, but the more significant traffic calming from the cycletrack version would make speeding much harder,” Prinz wrote. “These delays are resulting in actual lives lost.”
The street safety advocate told us that he’s been in contact with OakDOT to see if they can make some changes to the revised road design, such as adding hardened structures that — even without a cycle track — could maybe make a difference in pedestrian and cyclist safety.
“The Oakland Department of Transportation extends its empathy and support to everyone touched by traffic violence in Oakland,” Josh Rowan, the agency’s director, told The Oaklandside. “Through the City’s Safe Oakland Streets initiative, we are committed to preventing serious and fatal traffic crashes by working across departments and building partnerships with the community to implement the most effective and equitable strategies.”
“OakDOT and Oakland’s emergency response departments routinely collaborate to identify solutions that allow for advancing traffic safety goals while supporting and ensuring emergency vehicle response,” he said, calling it a “standard element of the street project design process.”
Academic research on road design and its effects on speeding has found that adding protected lanes, which usually involve taking away a driving lane, narrowing roadways, tends to reduce speeding and crash rates.
Prinz called on Mayor Barbara Lee and the transportation department to speed up projects that can save lives.
The Oaklandside has reached out to the Fire Department and OakDOT about Prinz’s claims about the design feedback process. We will update this story if we receive responses.
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