Crime & Safety
Elderly Pedestrian Hit by Two Cars and Killed While Trying to Cross Hwy. 101
CHP officers say the man tried to cross the highway despite the presence of an underpass in the immediate vicinity. A rash of Marin accidents has resulted in three deaths in four days.
UPDATE: CHP Investigating if Pedestrian Killed on Highway 101 Came From Jail
“I can’t remember there ever being three fatal accidents in four days,” said California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Andrew Barclay.
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Until now, that is.
At around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Marin Area CHP officers received a call of a vehicle versus pedestrian collision on Highway 101 northbound at North San Pedro Road in San Rafael.
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Once on scene, officers located an unidentified elderly man in the traffic lanes who was pronounced deceased on scene by medical personnel.
Barclay said that freeway deaths involving pedestrians do occur, but more often when pedestrians have no other way to cross the roadway. In this instance, there was a pedestrian underpass in the immediate vicinity, prompting an inquiry of the pedestrian’s intentions.
Initial reports indicate that the man ran from the right shoulder of the highway, in the area of the North San Pedro on ramp, into the lanes of traffic. Witnesses stated the male was in the #2 lane (second lane from the left) before being struck by a vehicle. The driver of that vehicle immediately stopped and remained on the scene until emergency personnel arrived.
It appears that the impact from the first collision threw the man into another traffic lane where he was struck by another vehicle, described only as a silver or grey sedan. The driver of that car did not stop and continued northbound on US-101.
Barclay said there didn’t seem proof that the second vehicle’s driver acted maliciously, but it’s still illegal to leave the scene of a collision.
The CHP is asking that anybody who witnessed this collision and may have information on the second vehicle please call (707) 551-4100 to provide that information to investigators. The vehicle would have damage to the lower front area of the bumper and grill area.
The left three lanes of Hwy. 101 northbound were closed until approximately 10:10 p.m. to investigate the collision.
The Marin County Coroner will be handling identification of the body. Identification will be withheld until next of kin is notified.
There have been two other fatal accidents recently, including a fiery collision near on Hwy. 101 at the Hwy. 37 interchange.
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