Little Old Lady Crossing Ludington Avenue Blamed for Getting Hit

[XLFD]

In an article in our local paper without any author mentioned, we are alerted to a tragic story:

"A 66-year-old Ludington woman is in critical condition after being struck by a car Wednesday night at the intersection of Ludington Avenue and Jackson Boulevard [sic], according to Ludington Police Chief Mark Barnett.  The Ludington Police Department received the call at 9:27 p.m. Wednesday where a Subaru car was in the lefthand [sic] westbound lane of Ludington Avenue along with the victim lying in the street..."

It continued with details of the incident (emphasis added):

"Barnett said that based on the evidence at the scene, and a number of witness statements, it was determined that the driver of the Subaru entered the intersection on a green light. The victim was struck on the west side of the intersection as she was crossing to the north side of Ludington Avenue."

The TV reporters at channel 7&4 news also were told:  "According to investigators, the driver of the Subaru was on Ludington Avenue when they hit the woman crossing the street."

There is a pedestrian traffic signal at the Rite Aid corner where the woman crossed (highlighted yellow in picture, according to these two trusted news sources relying on a trusted police chief, she crossed going towards the hospital (red line), when she was hit by a westbound car on Ludington Avenue with a green light (blue arrow) in the leftmost lane.  If the Subaru had a green light, the lady was not obeying her pedestrian crosswalk signal while crossing, and caused the accident which happened after dark.

Right?

Wrong.

My sources, the Mason County Press and the full statement of Chief Barnett say otherwise (emphasis added):

“Based on evidence at the scene and a number of witness statements it was determined that the driver of the Subaru was westbound in the inside lane of Ludington Avenue and entered the intersection at Jackson Road on a green light,” Barnett said. “The victim was struck on the west side of the intersection as she was crossing Ludington Avenue northbound.”  Preliminary investigation did not indicate that speed, alcohol or drug use by the driver played a part in the crash. Further testing is being conducted to confirm that, Barnett said. 

This presents a whole new scenario, since the first article by the City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) and TV 7&4 implicate that the green light the Subaru went through was on Ludington Avenue.  The green light this driver went through was on Jackson, meaning that Ludington Avenue traffic had a red light, and that the pedestrian signal had flashed the "walk" sign to the pedestrian.

The little old lady crossing the street was hit from her flank by a motorist who had the duty to yield to her (see MCL 257.612(1)(a) and other laws) and should have easily seen her with all the lights in that area.  Witnesses sure did.  

All pedestrians should be aware of the fact that even when you cross a street with a pedestrian signal telling you to cross, that there may be cars not looking out for you who may come from behind and turn into you, especially if it's dark.  Always glance behind you when you cross to make sure you're safe.  It could also save you the embarrassment of news media misreporting the facts of the accident and putting the blame squarely on you, as they did here.  Wouldn't be too surprising if the at-fault driver worked for the COLDNews.

Even if the driver of the Subaru was stone-cold sober, they still deserve a ticket for the infraction noted, if not for careless driving.  We wish the defamed victim a full recovery.

[XLFD]

A reader in the Ludington Pitchfork wondered whether the Subaru's 'A' post (the opaque structure between the windshield and driver's side window, see picture) may have obscured the driver's vision.  My answer would be "yes, but only for a brief period."  But I feel I need to qualify that with some supplemental research I conducted tonight.

I have crossed where she did many times at night without incident, and this is the corner where I sat for eight hours about a year ago doing a traffic study for MDOT, so I have some knowledge of how foot and vehicle traffic act there.  But this evening, I went out to this corner before 10 PM and checked a couple of things I wasn't sure of.  

I found that to stridently cross three and a half lanes of traffic on foot that it took me about 12 seconds, it would have likely took this 66 year old woman longer, but let's say she was athletic and rushing and was 12 seconds into the crosswalk.  Timing those who stopped at Jackson and turned left on green, the quickest was 3 seconds, the slowest was less than 5 seconds to hit the Ludington Avenue crosswalk line.  This car did not start from a stop to do their left turn; as the reports suggest, they went through a green light on the move.  They wouldn't have collided otherwise.  

Retrogressing 12 seconds before the accident and assuming the driver was driving at the speed limit, the driver was well up S Jackson, beyond the laundromat.  As we count down each of those 12 seconds, the driver could have seen the woman crossing the street, there is nothing obstructing sight lines, although the 'A' post would have obstructed vision for less than a second as the car nearly starts his turn and the vision of the woman moved from the windshield to the side window, then less than a second when they nearly complete the turn, where the woman would be seen in the windshield again. 

Depending on the visual acuity of the driver, they should have seen the movement of the pedestrian in the crosswalk for 10 seconds or more coming up to the brightly lit intersection with no weather factors.  Responsible drivers would have noticed the woman and yielded.  This wasn't a responsible driver, and I hope they forensically look at the cars crash data, because I think it will show that.

[AQUAMAN]

You also hit that on the nail again X, a responsible driver would have seen her, and yielded for safety. I'd like to know where the driver is from, age, and also physical condition at the time. Those are materially important questions that also will show what kind of person runs over a 66 year old female. There is LOTS OF THEM HERE right now imho. Driving carelessly and without regard to surroundings is a usual incident of what traffic conditions exist during our recent summers nowadays, and it's getting worse. Their shameful act should be punished, with extreme prejudice, and their license suspended.

[XLFD]

And now they have revealed the name of the victim, Gail Brittain, but each and every news source goes out of their way to indicate that it was her fault rather than the driver's, and not a mention of the driver turning onto Ludington Avenue from Jackson.  The only news agency to report the fact [based on my own investigations] that the driver turned off from Jackson is the Mason County Press:  

Witnesses say the driver of a westbound Subaru entered the intersection on a green light from US-10. Brittain was hit as she was crossing the street.
http://www.minews26.com/content/woman-hit-by-car-in-ludington-has-p...

Just before 9:30 Wednesday night, Brittain was walking across Ludington Avenue at the Jackson Street intersection when a car hit her, officers said. According to officers, the car that hit her had a green light.
https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/pedestrian-dies-after-being-hit-...

Police says Gail Brittain was hit by a car at the intersection of Ludington Avenue and Jackson Boulevard Wednesday night.
Police say the car had a green light when it hit Brittain in the Road.
https://www.9and10news.com/2018/08/31/ludington-woman-dies-after-be...

Ludington police say that the crash happened about 9:30 p.m. Thursday night at the intersection of Ludington Avenue (U.S. 10) and Jackson Boulevard. Witnesses told police that the woman was heading north crossing Ludington Avenue when she was hit by a vehicle heading west. Police say that the vehicle did have the green light.
https://fox17online.com/2018/08/31/woman-dies-after-being-hit-by-ve...

She was struck by a Subaru that was traveling west on Ludington... Witnesses indicated the Subaru had a green light as it moved through the intersection, he said.
https://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2018/08/pedestrian_wh...

These reports actually seem to contradict the quote of Chief Barnett at the MCP, and secondhand reports I have heard.  The proximity of the accident to the hospital entrance, Rite-Aid and the Marathon Gas Station makes me believe that a video record may exist.  I will be getting the accident report from the LPD.

[AQUAMAN]

Well now, the poor woman has died from her critical injuries at Hackley in Muskegon on Friday morning. Sad, and needless death imho. At the least a careless or wreckless driving should have been issued, and at the most an involuntary manslaughter charge if long skid marks were found. RIP Gail Britton, condolences to family.

[Freedom Seeker]

I watched the traffic signal at the Jackson/Ludington Ave. Intersection. While the traffic light changed on Ludington Avenue five or six signals for traffic to stop and go, the pedestrian signal (the little white man) never changed to cross from the south side of Ludington. Ave. To the north side. It was always a red hand, never giving a pedestrian a safe signal to cross. So maybe Gail Brittain waited for a long time on a red hand, never getting the go ahead to cross with a white man signal, and decided to take a chance. So sad. Condolences to her family.

[XLFD]

Thanks for not only seeking freedom, but also for seeking truth, even when you respect the source of information.  One reason we have so many misguided people, is that they fully accept facts from people and organizations without personal validation and verification.  The LT fully appreciates those who check out our facts and civilly critiques our presentation of same.

That being said, I welcome you to revisit the intersection and notice that there are manual controls for the pedestrian lights on both sides of the avenue.  If those are pressed the white walk sign goes on about a second after the lights on Ludington Avenue turn red (and green on Jackson).  Ms. Brittain lived one block north from Ludington Avenue and has likely crossed the avenue downtown where the controls are the same.

Even if she was unaware of the controls, she was old enough to know when to cross the avenue, which might not be the case for the driver.  It has been rumored that the driver was a sixteen year old, which fits the disclosure of information.  Almost always the driver's age and gender are given, if not the name.  When those are not disclosed, the driver is either extremely young or being otherwise protected by the police due to their identity/relatives/status.  In this case, it may be both-- I have a FOIA request out to find out.

[Freedom Seeker]

Thank you again, X, for more detailed information about the pedestrian crossing signal controls at Jackson/ludington Ave. Intersection. I sat in my car and observed (without timing equipment) what seemed a short time for for a pedestrian to cross with no left turn signals. Keep on the investigation! And thank you ... If I ever need to use the crosswalk in the dark, now I'll know to activate the pedestrian signals.

[Freedom Seeker]

So I went back to observe the Jackson St/Ludington Ave. Intersection which I have never walked. I see that there is no sidewalk on the east side of Rite Aid, but there is an sidewalk apron (with a jutting curb convenient for tripping over) at the corner where one might venture over in order to push a manual pedestrian signal. This proves that we need sidewalks now more than ever. Imagine this older lady, Gail, trying to make her way through the uneven grass and over a curb to get to the sidewalk apron and over that apron curb to get to where she could push the pedestrian walkway signal, in the dark, in a storm.. Maybe she didn't go there because there is no sidewalk and took a more direct route from rite aid (if that's where she was coming from?) Across Ludington. Ave .

[XLFD]

I have addressed this problem in the past, most notably at a city council meeting in February 2015, where the City Manager of that time proposed an unworkable and silly sidewalk policy, and I said in part during my comment period:

"As you may know, the current Ludington sidewalk policy already mandates that sidewalks are to be constructed within a year of when a new principal structure is built on a city lot... In 2009, I pointed out the reality that many of the new buildings that have went up since the 1980s lacked the required sidewalks installed. A short list of notable properties that went up without installing sidewalks include: The Ludington Pediatrics building, the Duna USA building, the Rite-Aid building, the UPS Building, Washington Woods, Western Land Services Buildings, Safe Harbor Credit Union, Councilor Holman's Sherman Oaks Apts., and the City of Ludington DPW building.
What was it that hindered these businesses and apartment buildings from putting in sidewalks when there was a local law that said they must absolutely do so? What prevented them from making pedestrian facilities was that the city didn't enforce the law, even though through most of that time they had a full time building inspector and assessor."

Depending on what the facts turn out to be about this accident, Rite-Aid and the COL have exposed themselves to potential liability by not following the law, and the City has only themselves to blame for failing to enforce their own policy.  

[Freedom Seeker]

Thanks again, X, for your proactive and thoughtful insight. It seems the city of Ludington council has a bad habit of not listening, not being proactive in sidewalk construction, and rather waste our time ridiculing you for speaking what is right and go above and beyond in justifying their errors. I'm glad the vindictive, self-righteous one is gone.

[AQUAMAN]

Well said FS, it's sickening that this is our Ludington nowadays, but some positive changes will come this fall with new candidates, true locals that care. The vindictive one has resigned, but is not completely gone. He may influence the interim mgr. for a while, or maybe longer. And a new outstate/downstate mgr. is certainly going to be in the race, not a local that should be promoted from within. That's just WRONG, esp. now after all the travesties of the last 15 years. That is exactly why MORE real LOCALS need to run, and take this small town back, thanks.