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Woman Killed in Ventura Pedestrian Accident

A Casitas Springs resident was killed earlier this week in a pedestrian accident in Ventura on Monday.

60-year-old Susan Herman was walking to the beach near Surface Point with her dog, when she was struck by a car. Herman was taken to the hospital where she died from her injuries. The driver of the car that struck Herman, a 16-year-old male, has told police that he didn’t see her before the accident. Ventura police are trying to determine who was at fault here. As of now, investigators don’t believe that the driver was driving under the influence at the time of the accident. But they have not yet determined if Herman was in a crosswalk at the time. No arrests have been made. Herman is being remembered by her family and friends as a free sprit.

It’s too early to understand the causes of the accident, but pedestrian accidents are very often the result of negligence on the part of the motorist. We don’t know yet why the teen driver here was not able to see Herman in the moments before the accident, but very often, as California pedestrian lawyers see, these accidents are a result of motorists either driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or distracted behind the wheel. Driving intoxicated can cause blurred vision. It also affects your powers of perception, causing a driver to not realize that the pedestrian is in their path until it’s too late. Besides, motorists who are distracted at the wheel may not be able to spot a pedestrian, even if they are walking in a designated or marked crosswalk.

Distracted driving, in fact, is one of the major causes of auto accidents in the country. There are a number of ways that a driver can be distracted. These accidents are often the result of motorists snacking at the wheel, fiddling with radio stations or, the issue that’s very much in the news right now, use of a cell phone while driving. Every year, 30 percent of accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, occur because drivers were distracted at the wheel.

Cell phone use behind the wheel is pointed out as a major factor in an increasing number of accidents. Drivers may be distracted by passengers in the car, by billboards etc. Last month, a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute revealed that cell phone use behind the wheel can increase the risk of an accident by as much as 23 percent. There has been plenty of discussion and debate about that number, but whether you agree with that figure or not, it’s a fact that drivers who are busy text messaging on their phones are much more likely to take their eyes off the road with disastrous results. In fact, the study shows that text messaging behind the wheel could cause a driver to take their eyes off the road for more than 4 seconds. That may not seem like much, but when you consider the fact that a car going 55mph can cross the length of a football field in that period of time, you can understand why it is dangerous for a driver to keep there eyes off the road for that duration.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of pedestrian accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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