I realized that my inability to see these two people was impacted by two factors. First, both people - a father and his young son, I suspect - were wearing dark clothing. That is not their fault, but it didn't help that they were walking in a poorly lit area at night.
The second factor is that as these two pedestrians entered the crosswalk in front of Lu Lu’s, they necessarily walked in front of Northbound cars on the Alameda. Rather than “lighting up” these pedestrians, the headlights of those Northbound cars blinded me as I was traveling South. I did not even see either of them until the young boy was well into my lane and in front of my headlights. To the father’s credit, he pulled his son back as I slowed. I was able to stop well short of the crosswalk but I have to admit I didn’t see either of them until the son appeared in the crosswalk directly in front of me.
As if to further emphasize this problem, the same thing happened to us as we observed pedestrians jaywalking from Nordstrom’s to the main part of Stanford Shopping Center (not using the crosswalk at the traffic light!). As I exited the Stanford Shopping Center parking lot by making a right turn in front of Wilkes Bashford, I changed lanes to make a left on Sand Hill Road only to find a jaywalking man in dark clothes standing frozen in the MIDDLE of the left lane I was entering... in the absolute darkness. Brilliant!
I bring this problem to everyone’s attention because my daughter has eyes like a hawk and she didn’t see either of them either. If this can happen to us – driving slowly and obeying all laws – it can happen to anyone. Pedestrians have a responsibility to act safely and do what they can to be seen.
