a sad day in LA today
 

i was at the farmer's market with my kid when it happened.
luckily i was out of harms' way and got to the car before santa monica was basically shut down.

i thought about the band later today and realized that they were still in town. I wondered if they would mention it at all at the show tonight at the Pond.


I hope that no fans or band crew members were hurt today....

Um, could you enlighten the rest of us please? I'm curious to know what you are talking about...

I just left Santa Monica at 8 this morning to come back to Toronto. I'd also like to know what happened???

Ithink this is what dontlookdown is talking about...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...arket_accident

John

You can read about it here:

http://www.cnn.com/

Glad you're alright dontlookdown.

First Celia Cruz, and now this.........:(

I'm so sorry to hear about this.
 

This was clearly just a terrible accident. It's hard to know who is worse off between that poor driver and the victims and their families. I guess there's no scoreboard for grief anyway.
Just as well that intelligent man was there to ward off the crowd that wanted to beat the old driver up.
Also makes me wonder what would have happened if it had been an old man but of Middle Eastern (read: terrorist) appearance??

Oh my god! How awful!

Pip

Re: a sad day in LA today
 

Glad to hear you and your child are ok

Pip

God be with those families...
 

What a horrific tragedy. :(

My theory, the man was driving down the street, and it didn't occur to him that the market was there, he just drove normally and then, when he saw the people/market, it hit him but it was too late, he panicked and got confused, hit the gas pedal and it just happened. When people get to be in their 80's, their minds don't react as quickly as a younger person would....it's just a terrible accident. I think people were enraged and when you are enraged, you don't think before you do something, that's why they wanted to beat the old man up.

Re: God be with those families...
 

My father in law had to stop driving in his late 70's as his reactions weren't as sharp and he caused a few accidents. It was sad for him to lose his independence but he had to be off the roads

Pip

sad day
 

GOD BE WITH all the Victims and their
Families!!! What a shame...did he have
a heart attack perhaps? Very sad news!
Hope all band and crew are safe and very
glad you and your child are safe! Cammie

That's why I'm all about mandatory re-testing every few years once you hit 65/70. It's just not safe. And, making the driving age 18 in the states. I'm 23 and I know I was ready to drive at 16 but some of my friends were not. Kids fool around.

AMEN!!!
 

I don't drive...(insert laugh here) because frankly, I HATE it, I DESPISE it, plus, I work at home now, and don't like people and don't like to get out in the heat, and really and truly, I think I'm a 60 year old woman and not a 27 year old. LOL

Anywho....I agree, letting kids get licenses at 14-15-16 years old is a VERY bad idea...even if they ARE good drivers, it's too young, IMO. My cousins (all of them on my dad's side of the family) had accidents when they were 16 years old. :rolleyes:

The issue of raising the driving age has come up before. The main argument against it is that many kids 15-18 work on farms and, therefore, have to be able to drive to do the work. Similarly, alot of other kids 15-18 need a car to get to work; remember public transportation is pretty much a big city thing. So, while I agree something should be done (perhaps more education ?) I think they will never raise the driving age to 18 for these reasons.

I think farm kids should/could get special permission to drive younger, but only if it's farm equipment and on and around the farm. If I saw a farm kid driving his mom's station wagon around a Friday night with his/her buddies, then that's a different story!, The way I'm thinking about the farm kids, is like the way you can work for a family business if you're under age 15. My brother and I worked for our family business and got paid for it and it was okay with the government because it was family owned. We weren't taken advantage of or anything, we were just helping on our school vacations.

My heart goes out to everyone ~ dontlookdown, Im glad you were OK.

It is very tragic - and further supports my argument that elderly folks should have to be re-tested to keep their driver's license...Glad you're okay...

Ironically I was at the DMV yesterday, one which was in a town where there is a large populus of elderly people. I saw quite a few people, I felt, looked too physically out of shape to drive (osteoporosis, etc.). While they may be sharp as a tack mentally, their physical self is just aging. I also saw cases vice/versa, where they seemed fit but mentally "off". I was once hit when I was PG with my daughter, the man was very old. His son later asked me if he seemed "confused" due to medicines. I was all "uh coulda killed me and my unborn! Get him off the road!". IMHO they need to toughen regulations to at least provide more frequent testing (and road testing) upon your older years. I myself would agree for public safety.

I'm almost afraid the fact that he was 80-something is going to take away from some other theories. Not all elderly people are bad drivers. My 90 yr old great-grandmother still drives (albeit short distances) with no problems, though she did get hit a few years ago by a younger...Idiot.

One of the theories is that the man probably didn't realize the market was going on and went to press the brake and accidently pressed the gas. On the news they quoted him as saying that he couldn't stop the car. There are only a few inches separating the brake and gas and I had an accident myself where that was the case. Thus, his age wouldn't necessarily be the issue.

Unfortunately there are few options for the senior population who no longer drive. Many don't have family to take them anywhere, and services for seniors are lacking. Who wants to wait 2 hours for a van to pick you up at the grocery store or doctor's office? This is the first suburban generation who have had cars for most of their lives. It is difficult to give up that independence.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for retesting and quite honestly I am frequently infuriated by elderly drivers, but they really have no other options. I should know, I work with them. You would be surprised how many children or grandchildren have no time to take their family member to church or to get some basic food items.

I think it was a horrible accident and that poor man has to live with that guilt.

If everyone took a good look at their own family, cleared up a couple of hours a week to drive elderly relatives on errands and such it would be a step in the right direction. I used to take my Grandmother to the beauty parlor and shopping and I loved it. Yes it was a pain sometimes, but overall I cherish what I was able to do for her.

I know this isn't the forum for this, but with a MS in Gerontology sometimes I can go overboard.....

Sarahw--MS in Gerontology? Where'd you get yours from? My friend has her BA or BS in gero. from Quinnipiac...too funny since you don't hear about too many gero. majors, lol. She's a Mac fan too :)

unfortunately at the college of new rochelle......not a very challenging program....