Update: Pedestrian dies after Berkeley car crash
The man who was killed was a 78-year-old Berkeley resident. The driver was a 79-year-old Berkeley woman. It was the fourth traffic fatality this year.
Update, Nov. 15, 3:45 p.m. The name of the pedestrian who died when a driver struck him Thursday night remains unavailable Friday afternoon, the coroner's office said.
Berkeley police identified him as a 78-year-old Berkeley resident.
The driver was a 79-year-old Berkeley woman, police said.
It was BPD's fourth traffic fatality of 2024. A man was also killed in a fatal freeway crash.
Read more about traffic safety in Berkeley.
Update, Nov. 15, 12:15 a.m. A pedestrian who was struck by a driver while crossing a North Berkeley street Thursday night has died, authorities report.
The man's name was not available pending family notification, the coroner's office said. The Scanner will continue to seek updates.
Original story: A pedestrian was taken to Highland Hospital with a serious head injury after a driver struck him in North Berkeley on Thursday night.
The crash took place at Rose and Josephine streets at about 5:30 p.m.
The pedestrian, who appeared to be a man in his 60s, was reported to be unconscious and bleeding from the head after the driver hit him.
The Berkeley Fire Department rushed the man to Highland Hospital "code 3," with lights and sirens, after getting him into the ambulance.
The driver remained at the scene.
Berkeley resident Benjamin Fry was biking home and had stopped on northbound Josephine at Rose when the collision happened right in front of him.
He said the man had been walking south, crossing Rose on the east side of the block, when the driver, who was eastbound, came through the intersection and struck him.
Fry said the area was not well-lit and that the driver did not appear to have seen the man crossing the street.
Fry tried to get her attention but was unsuccessful.
"I just couldn't believe I was watching it happen," he said.
The woman did not seem to be speeding, but she struck the pedestrian with enough force to break her car's windshield, Fry said.
A cyclist who had been coming down the hill on Rose also saw the crash, Fry said.
The man stopped immediately, identified himself as a doctor and began to assess the pedestrian's condition and render aid while Fry called 911.
The Berkeley Fire Department and police arrived within minutes.
BPD called in its Fatal Accident Investigation Team, which handles serious crashes as well as fatal ones, due to the apparent severity of the pedestrian's injuries, police said.
Fry, a Walk Bike Berkeley member, said the intersection has been a source of concern and frustration because it is well-used by school children but lacks painted crosswalks on Rose Street.
Rose Street was proposed as a bike boulevard in the Berkeley Bicycle Plan, but traffic-calming improvements did not happen along the roadway despite recent repaving.
"I think there should be crosswalks there at a minimum," Fry said.
The city has identified the street as a "neighborhood collector" that connects an elementary school and a middle school to Berkeley's bike network.
The Bike Plan notes that the corridor "links the residential and retail areas of the Gilman District with Cedar-Rose Park, Jefferson Elementary, Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, Live Oak Park, and Oxford Elementary. This bikeway connects with the 9th Street, California Street, and Milvia Street Bicycle Boulevards, as well as the Ohlone Greenway."
