Elderly pedestrian taken to trauma hospital after bus crash
It's the same intersection where 5-year-old Zachary Cruz was killed when a driver struck him in 2009.
An 83-year-old Berkeley man was taken to a local trauma hospital with serious injuries Tuesday morning after being struck by an AC Transit bus, authorities report.
Officers responded just before 10:55 a.m. to the collision at Warring and Derby streets, Berkeley police said.
It's the same intersection where 5-year-old Zachary Cruz was killed when a driver struck him as he crossed the street in 2009.
On Tuesday, police called in BPD's Fatal Accident Investigation Team due to the severity of the collision. The unit handles crashes with serious injuries as well as those that are fatal.
Police closed the surrounding blocks leading to the intersection during the investigation.
The man was crossing Derby on the east side of the intersection when he was hit. He sustained a head injury as a result of the collision, Berkeley police said.
As of publication time, the intersection had re-opened to normal traffic.
Berkeley police and Alameda County sheriff's deputies at the scene of a serious crash Tuesday morning. Scanner Insider
In the hours after the crash, pedestrian and cycling advocates affiliated with Walk Bike Berkeley expressed concern about the collision, which involved a large police response with laser scanners and drones (likely from the Alameda County sheriff's office).
"That intersection continues to be unsafe by design and I would like to see it improved," one person wrote in an email to City Councilman Mark Humbert. "That is the intersection where Zachary Cruz was killed and yet it still has a slip lane that cars regularly blow through without stopping at the stop sign or looking for pedestrians."
"A few months ago when the state police were enforcing traffic rules for a day, they were pulling cars over faster than they could write tickets at that intersection," the message continued.
Community members raised concerns about drivers failing to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk as well as the high volume of traffic in the area and the many drivers who speed.
One person noted that the crosswalk at Warring and Derby is situated in the driver’s blind spot.
Humbert said he agreed with community members that the intersection is unsafe.
"I’ve lobbied for its redesign for years," he said. "Its current design was intended many years ago to speed auto traffic to Cal, pedestrian safety be damned."
Humbert said there's good news on the horizon, however, in the form of $1 million from a settlement with UC Berkeley.
It will pay for the redesign and reconstruction of the intersection in the coming years.
He said the money will be available this year and next and that improvements are already under review.
"Our new Public Works leadership team is dedicated to getting this done," Humbert said. "The goal is to make it safe — or at least substantially safer — for pedestrians to cross there and cyclists to transit the intersection."
