One man died and another was seriously injured in a rollover crash reported at Taylor Boulevard and Withers Avenue – near Dinosaur Hill – in the city of Pleasant Hill Saturday. Taylor Boulevard remains closed as this is written (12:28 p.m.) as officers investigate the cause of the crash.
Pleasant Hill police and the California Highway Patrol were advised of a two vehicle traffic collision on southbound Taylor Blvd, just north of Withers Avenue at about 10:14 a.m. Saturday. Officers determined that a Toyota minivan collided with a Lexus sedan, which caused the Lexus to overturn. A male passenger in the front right seat of the Lexus was partially ejected and pronounced deceased at the scene. He was later identified as Donald Brown, 83, of Pleasant Hill.
In the initial investigation, it appears that the solo female driver of the Toyota minivan was traveling southbound on Taylor Blvd and for unknown reasons, the driver veered from her lane to the left and her Toyota collided with the Lexus sedan, subsequently causing the Lexus to overturn. Brown was partially ejected from the Lexus. The driver and another passenger of the Lexus both sustain non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to John Muir Walnut Creek Hospital. The driver of the Toyota minivan was uninjured.
Alcohol or drugs are not a factor in this collision. This collision is still under investigation and if anyone witnessed it or the events leading up to it, please contact Contra Costa CHP in Martinez, (925) 646-4980.
Taylor Boulevard remained closed in both directions while investigators went over the crash site, local residents using Reliez Valley Rd. and Pleasant Hill Rd. to skirt the closure.
Hope she wasn’t texting.
Texting, talking on your cell, taking pictures while driving, etc. As dangerous as alcohol or drugs. Practice what you preach.
Horrible. I hope pamela isn’t right.
@Danielle I was not even in my car when I took that photo.
Thanks for the flash alert. We were supposed to go that way but put it off. So sorry to hear someone lost their life in this.
this breaks my heart to hear. prayers and supportive thoughts to his family at this time.
RIP. Is that the spot on Taylor where it pinches in and traffic merges??
@Tim it’s north of the spot you mentioned where Pleasant Hill Rd merges with Taylor Blvd.
It does get speedy in there but this was what? Distraction? Unsafe lane change?
Seems like we have had other crashes there or in that general area. Right?
Thinking of that family tonight.
50 bucks says she was texting. Seen many people try to do it and nearly cause accidents on taylor.
Remember when they came out with a law against texting and driving and police subsequently stopped ticketing people for it because its too much inconvience for us rich lamorindians to be stopped for such a petty offense.
Knowing that distracted driving is highly proven to be even more dangerous than dui i’d be a little embarassed to be a copper and this policy.
@Dawn, yes I believe there are regular accidents there and also a little further into Lafayette where Taylor Merges with Pleasant Hill Rd.
https://news24-680.com/2015/07/30/fatal-crash-on-taylor-blvd-at-withers-ave-in-lafayette-thursday/
Horrible news. So sorry for all
I used to love to drive. Not so much any more.
Waiting to see if those autonomous cars do any better than we are.
I’m still leery of autonomous self-driving cars, after the one down in Silicon Valley tried to avoid a paper bag in the road, and hit a bus instead. Any human would have known it would better to hit the paper bag.
Autonomous cars will never be better or safer than a well trained, healthy driver. Never. You cannot replicate the human body and specifically the brain. But, they are better than an old person that can’t see or react well anymore. They are better than a drunk driver, and they are better than an aggressive teen racing around recklessly. And they will be sold to us on that cherry-picked argument, and forced down our throats. Because some powerful people are making profits from it – NOT because it is better for us, although it is POSSIBLE after many years that the OVERALL accident rates could, in theory, actually drop. But even if they don’t, the genie will not go back in the bottle.
The problem is that we cannot cherry pick THOSE drivers and replace THEM with autonomous cars. The teen still wants to drive. The drunk still thinks he’s fine. The octogenarian MAY switch to an autonomous option, but how often are older people reluctant to make any changes, let alone to a new technology they don’t know or trust?
So autonomous cars will be forced onto the roadways even though there are many problems with them that will never be solved. A few early adopters will jump on board; some handicapped will jump on board (the blind, for example), and those benefits will be publicized to the high heavens. Incidents like the paper bag crash, where a completely innocent GOOD driver is maybe killed by an autonomous car making a terrible “decision”, will only be on the back page, if publicized at all. And it will not be propagated, like all the “feel good” stories of helping the handicapped, etc.
Our best bet is to make autonomous cars easily identifiable like taxis with their sign on top, AND restrict them to their own lanes whenever possible. Then avoid them to the maximum extent possible.
@Tom – Just wanted to say we really enjoyed reading this thoughtful, well-written post. Thanks for posting!
Local man? Have they identified him?
Thanks for posting this information. The whole neighborhood was wondering what was going on.
Condolences to his family. What terrible and tragic news to have to get.
Autonomous cars…
Back in the day, Cruise Control had it’s own problems. As with anything that is supposed make it easier to be distracted, we as humans need to expect the unexpected. My father had a saying that I remember to this day. I used it when in conversation with a passenger of mine about an accident that happened when someone in a car was driving on the wrong side of the freeway. The outcome was a head-on collision resulting in fatalities. My passenger was very opinionated about anyone that wouldn’t be able to see the signs when on the wrong side of the road. I said most people have the expectation that others will be driving on the correct side. Kind of like when you come to a stop and don’t look at the traffic with the red light more than once before proceding with the green light for someone going too fast to stop at the red, or distracted. Dad used to say, “Do you want to be right. …or dead right?”
It seems that what might have prevented this accident would have been a collision prevention assistant.
” Mercedes recently developed a new safety feature called Collision Prevention Assist, a sensor that monitors your ride’s distance from vehicles in front of you. If you accidentally get too close to the car ahead, you’ll be warned by several noisy beeps and a flashing light so you can apply the brakes.”
Autonomous cars are not the answer and I hope Tom is wrong about them being forced on us despite their many flaws.
Autonomous cars aren’t the answer, and not all accidents are preventable. Just because someone hears several noisy beeps doesn’t mean they’ll apply their breaks. This situation wasn’t a car in front of her, but veering into the other lane.
We don’t know that texting, etc. had anything to do with this. Cars have always veered into the other lane… before cell phones.
Prayers…
@Danielle not sure if it was the front or rear bumper that she hit but if it was the rear then, as I stated earlier, it might have helped. Maybe you know more about the accident than I do. I would suggest limiting your snide comments to one per person, per post, lest it appear that you have a
personal issue with the person you are responding to.
Pamela… I would suggest letting others speak their minds, and not taking things so personally. My above comments was my opinion… which I’m entitled to. Learn to agree to disagree.
My only concern is the accident victims. For anyone who travels this road, and I have family and friends who do… this can be dangerous.
This isn’t about you or me. Keep the focus where it belongs.
@Pamela and Danielle – The NEWS24/680 Referee stepping in a bit here in an effort to make your posts, which are valued and valid, less personal in nature, please. Thank you both.
I arrived on the scene of this accident soon after it happened. It was clearly very bad and the passenger in the SUV did not look to be moving. I was there after the fire department but before the ambulance and police. Several motorists stopped to help as the wreck was around a blind curve and so not visible to people coming down Taylor towards Lafayette. There are still black marks on the pavement where brakes must have locked. To the people who are using this post to debate policy, please consider the loss of life, and the fact that none of you knows what caused the collision. It was a disturbing and upsetting scene. Let the families of those involved deal with their loss.
@Scott – Nice post, Scott. Thanks for stopping out there…
I’ve taken at least a half dozen accident photos in this area for news 24/680 but this will be my last. While I am sad for the loss of life I am also concerned for future loss of life, including my own, as I drive this stretch daily. I am sorry if that has upset people and I will refrain from posting my thoughts here in the future.