The parents should be very proud they raised responsible adults. Good for the kids for not drinking. People speed everyday. My hats off to them.

I seriously don't understand "Proud's" comments. Of course it is great that the accident wasn't caused by drunk driving, but I don't think that warrants us collectively patting those parents on the back for a job well-done. Lots of kids didn't drive drunk that night, and also didn't get in a massive speeding accident at 3:30 on the morning.

Proud? An 80 year old widow lives in the house where this happened and owns the tree that was hit. She was traumatized. Proud? I lost power, my husband was out of town, and my 12 year old was terrified when the neighborhood was plunged into pitch black in the middle of the night. Proud? These two were reckless and anything but responsible. I hope they are charged.

Regina:

The only thing I've seen reported was that alcohol and drugs were not involved. Atherton Police Sgt. Jeff Rickel said "it looks like it was speed related". I've driven by the scene and didn't see any visible skid marks. While the accident may have been 'speed related' as Sgt. Rickel said no one knows for sure if it was and no one knows how fast they may have been driving at the time of the accident. You wrote " I hope they are charged " Charged with what?

I didn't know that:

it takes quite a bit of speed to shear a power pole, so it's a pretty safe bet if alcohol wasn't involved, speed was. Not rocket science.

Menlo Voter:

Agree that it takes some force to shear a power pole. I don't know how much force that is and without skid marks the speed of the car is just a guess. And you are correct - I'm no rocket scientist and couldn't guess how fast they were going. If you were the prosecutor what would you charge them with?

"If you were the prosecutor what would you charge them with?"

Speeding and reckless driving.

Menlo Voter:

" Speeding and reckless driving "

And you would lose your case because you have no evidence to prove either charge.

I'm ex law enforcement and a certified accident investigator and I can tell you for a fact a car traveling 25 mph, the speed limit on that street, would NOT shear off a power pole. Which means the car had to be travelling at a speed higher than the speed limit. Not to mention, that even if he was theoretically traveling 25, he was travelling at a speed that was unsafe for conditions as evidenced by his leaving the roadway and crashing into a power pole. A conviction would be a slam dunk.

CVC 22350. No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.

I assure you that vehicle had an event data recorder. All modern vehicles do. That "black box" will have recorded the speed, airbag deployment, seatbelt use, and other metrics. Presumably, the insurance company will want that information to find a way out of the hundreds of thousands of dollars PG&E will charge for their emergency pole(s) replacements. The cops will probably find it useful too for building their reckless driving case.

Web Link

Menlo Voter and Reckless Driving:

Will be interesting to follow this and see what happens. If you both are correct then I'm assuming the Atherton Police Department will come to the same conclusions that you two have and file charges accordingly. Particularly if Reckless Drivings assurance that there was an event data recorder in the vehicle is accurate.

I didn't know that:

The DA charges people not the police. The police investigate, write their reports and can make a recommendation or a finding of primary collision factor. The DA then charges or doesn't based on that. And given our corrupt DA's office when it comes to the wealthy and well connected, I'm not holding my breath for charges to be filed.