Posted by hard to believe, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on Sep 17, 2012 at 2:13 pm

Hard to believe that "neither excessive speed nor alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the crash" since the majority of cars speed on that street. Unfortunately, an out-of-town visitor may not know about that.

Posted by mtmg, a resident of Mountain View, on Sep 18, 2012 at 10:50 am

"The majority of cars"? Have you sat there clocking them? I drive down that street to work every day and do not often see people speeding. I also was walking down the street right after this happened and saw the scene. Very sad, we really hoped the guy was going to be ok. But, also sad that you can't feel sorry that an ACCIDENT happened without blaming someone for something you didn't even see and have no information about. There was no crosswalk and it is not a blind corner. It was nighttime and dark. Sometimes things just happen, and it is very unfortunate.

Posted by Donald, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Sep 18, 2012 at 1:19 pm

Sometimes when pedestrians wear dark clothing they can be hard to spot. As a ped, you can never assume that a driver sees you and will stop. Also visitors from small towns aren't used to the dangers of ped-ing in large cities.

Posted by Anon., a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Sep 18, 2012 at 6:24 pm

This is not some dark swampy bayou or a thick jungle forest ... it's Mountain View for God's sake ... I have driven for decades some of it in dark or low visibility areas and have never come close to even touching a pedestrian let along hitting them, let alone hitting them hard enough to cause any damage.

Web Link

Here is the Google maps visual of the intersection .... anyone hitting someone that was not trying to jump in front of their car to me seems like a criminally incompetent driver to me. It may be so that the pedestrian was trying to get hit, in which case I withdraw my complaint, but in our community to know there are people out there who run into pedestrians and then we never hear about what happens or have to assume it was just an "accident" seems absurd to me.

Posted by Jason, a resident of Mountain View, on Sep 19, 2012 at 8:38 am

Hi folks, my name is Jason. I worked with josh in Springfield IL. He was a out going self proclaimed tech geek, an avid classic motorcycle restorer and rider. He will be missed greatly.

Posted by ndnorth, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Sep 19, 2012 at 5:45 pm

Donald's comment that "Also visitors from small towns aren't used to the dangers of ped-ing in large cities." is puzzling. Mountain View ,Ca is not a large city-it's a suburban community

quite smaller than Springfield, Ill. where the unfortunate pedestrian lived. I have observed a

lot of speeding where he was hit, but I have no first hand knowledge of this tragedy.

Posted by Sam, a resident of Mountain View, on Sep 19, 2012 at 6:02 pm

Car was speeding, not paying attention to road, and did not brake or slow before slamming into pedestrian.

Posted by Sam, a resident of Mountain View, on Sep 19, 2012 at 6:09 pm

It is somewhat difficult to see far ahead on that stretch, due to parked cars and it's quite dark on that corner. But drivers need to drive slow enough and look clearly so as not to hit anyone or anything. If you can't do that everytime you drive on a neighborhood street, then clearly you should not be licensed to drive.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Sep 19, 2012 at 6:14 pm

I find it interesting that posters here either blame the driver or blame the pedestrian without having been witnesses to the accident, because presumably accident it was as I doubt if there was any intention on behalf of either.

Yes, cars do drive fast sometimes, yes pedestrians do jaywalk foolishly and often wear dark clothing and/or listen to ipods or talk on the phone.

Unless someone actually witnessed the collision, speculation is foolhardy.

RIP to the victim and my sympathies to his family. Also my sympathies to the driver as that memory will remain forever.

Posted by Sam, a resident of Mountain View, on Sep 19, 2012 at 7:04 pm

I find it interesting that "Resident" assumes accident was not witnessed. Condolances to family and friends of Joshua.

Posted by Anon, a resident of Stanford, on Sep 19, 2012 at 7:59 pm

I'm surprised a member of the peanut gallery is bringing up intention. Was the thread discussing this tradgic event as a planned murder? Did I miss something? Is it really appropriate to slander pedestrians in this thread? I find that in very poor taste.

Posted by bizworldusa, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Sep 21, 2012 at 6:42 am

This is a sad news heard to hear that "neither excessive speed nor alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the crash" since the majority of cars speed on that street. Unfortunately, an out-of-town visitor may not know about that.So the car drivers should becarefull when driving.Because his careless another peoples suffered.

Thank you

Bizworldusa. com

Posted by Anna, a resident of Mountain View, on Oct 5, 2012 at 12:15 am

I live two blocks away from this incident, and drove right past this situation probably right when it just happened (did not witness the action), right before help came.I even had to drive around his body and almost missed it! I instantly started praying and thankfully there were people taking action. I just found out today that he passed when I read signs around the city of Mountain View pertaining to pedestrian concerns. So devastating that he didn't pull through. My prayers are with all his loved ones.