The MoCo PD has identified the driver and pedestrian involved in Friday’s deadly accident on Georgia Avenue.
According to a press statement, 27-year-old Gerardo Enrique Valladares Sauceda, of the 400 block of Rittenhouse Street NW in The District, was crossing Georgia Avenue near Burlington Avenue (East-West Highway) around 5:20 a.m. Friday when he was struck by a car in the northbound lanes.
The driver — Nelford Edward Dallas, 58, of the 600 block of Jefferson Street NW in The District — stayed on the scene and was not injured, the press statement read. However, Valladares Sauceda was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries. The two men lived less than a mile from each other, according to Google Maps.
The PD’s collision-reconstruction unit worked the scene Friday morning to figure out how the accident happened. Police have not disclosed whether driver Dallas or ped Valladares Sauceda were doing anything illegal.
Traffic cameras along Georgia Avenue showed police cruisers blocking all three lanes of northbound traffic near King Street just after 9:00 a.m. But northbound traffic appeared to be on the move again by 10:00 a.m.
Lead image courtesy of Google Maps.
Updated (2) Aug 23, 2008, at 11:10 a.m.
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Dollars to doughnuts this was a result of jaywalking.
I actually saw a cop scold two kids for jaywalking a few weeks back. Of course the fact that they jaywalked directly in front of a cop show that they just don’t give a damn in the first place.
DC cops are doing something about the jaywalking problem. I’d like to see MoCo cops do the same.
As a pedestrian, I gotta say that Georgia Avenue is not the easiest street to cross (and I’m talking about the legal crossings). I can’t count how many times I’ve nearly been hit while legally crossing Georgia at Colesville — one of those times, a MoCo PD squad car almost took me out!
The stretch of Georgia in South SS is particularly bad. There are no legal crossings between Sligo Ave and the mashup that is East-West Hwy and 13th St. (That inconvenient footbridge does not count, in my opinion.) Further south, cars pull on and off Georgia from Eastern Ave, Blair Rd, the car wash and Ramada Inn motel. I hate crossing down there!
I’m sorry the guy lost his life. But maybe it’ll be a wakeup call to pedestrians who cross carelessly, drivers who run Georgia like it’s the Beltway, and planners who haven’t realized that suburban road design doesn’t work in urban neighborhoods.
I’ve nearly hit the same man four times, as he was walking in the middle of the road near that exact stretch of Ga Ave.– twice between 11 PM and midnight, and twice during daylight hours. The gentleman in question may have been inebriated or otherwise altered, because he was weaving his way along (not across) the center of the lanes, against traffic.
I would not be a bit surprised to discover that the pedestrian involved in this morning’s accident was the same man, since he seems to frequent that area. At the time, I wondered if it would be appropriate to call 911 to alert the police, for the safety of the man and for drivers on the road. Would there be anything they could do if they didn’t see him jaywalking? Does anyone know for sure what the police would recommend if you see something like that? If it was the Beltway, you’d call for sure, but what if he turned out to just be a jerk who’s jaywalking down Ga Ave??
But I’d agree with Sligo and Jennifer that that stretch of road is generally pretty bad for jaywalking– I’ve frequently seen construction workers from the Montgomery College site dart across to the 7-11 for their morning jolt when they can’t wait for the light.
Let’s see what the cops have to say before we start playing the blame game here. The pedestrian is dead. There is no reason at this point to assume he was to blame for the accident. I’ve seen more problems with crazy drivers than I do with jaywalkers. This morning, there was a truck driver heading west on E-W highway approaching Colesville Rd. He had manuevered to the right lane and was looking to make a right turn onto Colesville Rd. Before he could make the turn, the light turned red. There was another car in front of him. The truck driver leaned on his horn several times and coerced the driver in front of him to run the red light. The truck driver subsequently ran the red light. Anyone familiar with that intersection knows that there is a huge sign that states, “No right on red”. Luckily, in this instance, no one was hit. Stand at any of the major intersections in downtown Silver Spring and you will see cars running red lights ALL OF THE TIME. In many of those cases, the drivers are yapping away on the cell phone. Unfortunately, there will be more pedestrians that will get hit unless the County acts to do something about the crazy drivers.
They county badly needs to crack down on both drivers and jaywalkers.
Poor guy.
I agree that the crossing at Georgia and Colesville is awful, from any perspective. Driving through there, I have to say that it is terribly marked and unclear, with the sign controlling traffic all over the road, its impossible to read. For a pedestrian, there’s that stupid little island, and everyone gets mad when they need to make a (legal) turn and there are a bunch of peds in the crosswalk, just like running them off the road. It’s a mess just to be there. I would honestly rather walk than drive through there though. I always get confused about where I can make a left turn and its just so terribly marked.
RE: Colesville & GA Ave intersection. I’m a pedestrian here at least four times per week during lunch hour and can say with 100% confidence that the pedestrians here are equally to blame. The bottom line is that the little red walking man in the light means DO NOT WALK, even if the traffic light for vehicles is green. There’s a reason it’s still red–so cars turning can do so without hitting pedestrians. Pedestrians constantly ignore their lights and cross the interesection whent the vehicle light turns green.
Drivers are equally to blame but I can’t help but wonder how pedestrians can continually complain about drivers when they don’t do their part.
Woodsider, the walking man is white for all of like 4 seconds for pedestrians crossing Georgia Ave. on the south side of Colesville. Considering that that period of time is often used up by 5 to 6 cars illegally turning left from Colesville onto Georgia after their left-turn arrow goes, pedestrians don’t really have much choice but to cross when the little red walking man is blinking.
I am an attorney I have been retained by the family of the pedestrian who was killed in this accident. If you witnessed the accident or you know of any witnesses, please contact me ASAP. Thanks.
saw the scene 2 mins after it happened. jaywalking. dude got murked.