Which government entity do you want to "fix" the issue and what do you want them to do? Driving while using a cell phone using a handset is already illegal. Was the driver charged with that? Was the driver speeding? Was the dog on a leash?

is the hope that you want a police car dedicated to sit on a cul-de-sac street watching for cell phone wielding drivers?

Tghe Dog was on a leash being walked by the owner on their street. The Owner heard a car coming and moved completly over on the right side of the road. They were hit from behind and the dog took most of the hit. The young man was on the phone, hit them drive about 150 ft down the road turned around and then came back. He was give a ticket for distracted driving and failure to drive right and that was it. He never said he was sorry for what he did. The family dog passed away about 3 hours later from the injuries.
I do not want the police to sit on a cul-de-sac and wait, I want the DERBY Police dept to ensure that they take proper action with issues such as this. The on site officers never really questioned the young man that hit them about being on his phone. They let it go by saying that he was playing witht he "visor" in the car due to sun the sun being in his eyes. I have lived on that street for 36 years and at 10:30 am the sun is behind the trees and would not have been in his eyes. The negligence that had taken place caused a family to lose their beloved dog in a very tramdic way. I am upset up the PD since the report looked like a 3 year old had written it up. Things were left blank were information should have been provided and NO ONE from the PD questioned the owner of the dog due to her being so upset. I think it could have been handled much better then it was.

I was taught in school to walk on the left side of the street facing traffic so cars would not surprise me coming from behind

Would you support the city requiring sidewalks on the street?

It figures that some one like yourself would say something like that. It should not matter which side the owner and the dog are walking on and I NEVER stated that side walks should be put on the street.

Basically here is MY POINT! The issue could have been avoided if the young man was paying attention. Regardless of which side the owner was on with the dog is really irrelevant. Do you think you would have the same opinion if the owner was on the left side and they still got hit? The point is this, SIR. He should have had charges against him for hitting the owner too, which BTW was in the report and he did not. DERBY handled this like it was just a car hitting a dog and ignored the fact that the owner was hit also.
EVERYONE talks on cell phones all the time with or with out a blue tooth device. You can get a ticket for talking on a cell phone, go to court, prove to them you bought a blue tooth and the ticket is dismissed. That doesn't stop the person from still talkingon the cell phone - knowing that they are not going to use the blue tooth they bought to avoid paying the ticket. There are too many distractions as it is and NO ONE is paying attention.

I was offering a suggestion of something the city could do to actually fix this problem so it wouldn't happen in the future.

Shingles, I know it must hurt that family very much that their dog is gone. I know I would go crazy if someone so much as grazed one of my pit bulls. They are so much a part of my family, that one of them can tell if you're not feeling well and will try to comfort you. My wife and I call her the nurse dog.

I think Art's question about you supporting the installation of sidewalks was very straightforward and offered as a suggestion on how to "fix" this problem, so as he said, it would not happen again in the future. But I understand the emotions of the family that lost their dog would come into play, and perhaps you saw that more as a sarcastic statement, than a question of fixing the issue. Remember, this is a see-click-"FIX" site. I think Art was trying to help you fix it.

As far as the Police report is concerned, it won't 'Fix' the problem that the family dog is gone. But if the police report is as messed up as you say it is, and if the family has substantial proof to show that the report was wrong, well you have brought up a separate issue that needs fixing. If it were up to me, I would march right down to the police department with report and proof in hand and say "Fix it." Then perhaps, that family can feel a little more comfort in knowing, at least, that one aspect was corrected. Just trying to put a little ice in your coffee on this one, so the issues you are bringing forward here can be fixed, as much as possible.

Perhaps Derby could launch an education program about safely walking in the street. Here is one from the City of Stratford:
http://www.townofstratford.com/content/1302/402/615/23427.aspx

It includes this good piece of safety advice:
"Always walk facing the traffic, especially if there are no sidewalks on your route. "

The Connecticut DOT also publishes safety information for school children:
http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?A=1373&Q=446078

"Always walk on the sidewalk. If there is no sidewalk and you have to walk in the road, always walk FACING traffic. "

Wow, this was a truly despicable event. I am very disappointed to hear that the driver wasn't more severely punished for his horribly irresponsible behavior.

Also, all you offering your "fixes": I am not begrudging your suggestions about walking against traffic or installing sidewalks (although both points may be completely irrelevant or impossible on a small, residential street), but that doesn't really "fix the problem". The problem we have in society is distracted drivers. We need to get people out of the habit of engaging in this type of behavior, and the only way might be to dramatically increase penalties for it.

Now, this may not be the ideal venue to advance that cause, but I suppose it increases awareness of the issue by highlighting a real example of the costs of such behavior.

I agree - this is not the right forum to argue about car accidents. None if us were witnesses. It is extremely rare in a situation like this for one party to be 100% the cause of an accident. That's why we have laws, judges, rules of evidence, and juries. It's unfortunate that this became a criticism of the investigating police officer and his/her police report.

Nothing has been identified that could fix this problem. The proper venue to pursue justice is a court room.

Listen. No one has the right to close this issue...ever. This is a forum where the presentation of ideas, no matter how great or poor they may be, are more then welcome and needed.

*That was my Mother in Law that was hit by that car and her (and my wife's dog) was suddenly swept away.

**Let me make it more real. My Mother in Law goes for walks around this very block with my 2 1/2 year old daughter almost every day.

Fred, you said, "Nothing has been identified that could fix this problem" and closed it out. Perhaps because it means nothing to you. But to me, other than the obvious sadness of losing a close pet....that could have been my daughter...

A Family companion is dead, it could have been my child, and Fred is judge and jury on this. God forbid it happen to you. This is an awareness issue and you are seemingly unaware of that fact.

You can choose to respond and have a battle of the brains on this one Fred. You will lose. Or you will remain quiet and let people express their feelings as a means of having even the slightest of impact on an issue like this.

requesting moderator to re-open this issue.

Additional thoughts, comments, and prospects for legislative action need to be sought.

Hi,

SeeClickFix appreciates everyone's comments and opinions. We also promote positive, constructive conversation. While we are sympathetic to the car accident, we feel this issue can be more appropriately addressed to the police or another public official. We do however encourage this conversation to be focused more on solutions to driving and cell phone moderation in your area. Thanks for using SeeClickFix!

Kayla
SeeClickFix Team

According to NHTSA 20 per cent of all crashes that occurred nationwide in 2008 involved some type of
distraction. This information is not available on a State by State basis. Beginning in January, 2010 law
enforcement agencies in CT were requested to include distracted driving as a contributing factor in the
narrative of the State crash report.
Since October, 2005 almost 117,000 cell phone and distracted driving citations have been issued in CT
by State and local police (Source: CT CIB)
In addition to the human cost, fatal crashes alone resulted in over $300 million in injury related costs
to the State (lost work, health care costs, long term care etc) (Source: NHTSA)

For the link to this information, please visit the source at http://www.ct.gov/dot/lib/dot/documents/dtransportation_safety/distracted_driving_prevention/distracted_driving_fact_sheet_jenrev__2_.pdf

Here is the crux of the problem: Law Enforcement can write a million cell-phone and distracted driving tickets a day. And then, they will do it again, in the same amount the next day. As much as this is a Law Enforcement Issue, it is also an issue that the public must embrace and realize how dangerous it is for them to be on the phone while driving. You would not believe the amount of people that never even see the police sitting on the side of the road, because they are talking on their cell phones and, according to http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/05/business/05weight.html they are not paying attention to the 4,000+ pound weapon they are driving. The onus is on the motorist to be responsible....not the police to keep the motorist in check..Regrettably, this issue cannot be addressed in full form by law enforcement or another public official as the SeeClickFix team has suggested. It must be the diligence of the common, every-day driver, to wear an ear-piece, or stay off the phone.

Sophie was nine, just shy of 10. Her birthday is August 29th.

Sophie and I walked around the block all the time. When my granddaughter, Madison, came I would walk both of them around the block. I watched Madison on Mondays and Fridays. We would always laugh when Ashley came to pick Madison up because after I walked them to the car to say good-bye and came back in the house, I would find Sophie already in bed, taking her afternoon nap. This was after a hard days work taking care of Madison. Her nap was in Ashley’s bed. Ashley was the first to leave the house to get married and Sophie used to sleep with her. She missed her so I bought stairs so she could climb up and down easily to get into bed. She had Ashley’s TV that we would turn on and set the timer. In the summer we turned the ceiling fan on for her. In the winter we would cover her with a blanket.

Her favorite place to be was the bough window looking out at the neighborhood, barking to let me know someone was out walking past our house. Everyone on the block knew her.

When Bill came home, she would greet him at the door with one of her toys, then run to the refrigerator barking and turning in circles waiting for him to give her an apple or carrot. This was an everyday routine.

Sometimes on Sunday evening we would take Sophie for a ride in the truck and bring her to Heavenly Donuts where the “old cars” and bikes would gather. Everyone knew her and would pet her and she enjoyed all this attention. Ernie, the owner, would give her a few donut holes and I would give her the rest of my tea.

When we went on vacation, my son Bill and his wife Megan would stay at the house to take care of Sophie so we wouldn’t have to put her in a kennel. She loved when they came. Last November we had a little scare with her health but with pills and supplements, she did very well. In fact, she lost 10 pounds and had more energy so she could run around the house with Bill and Megan.

We went on vacation the end of May and Bill and Megan came to stay with Sophie. We came home on Sunday evening and we missed Sophie so she slept with us that night instead of her own bed. The next day I had Madison and when Tuesday came, I decided to take Sophie for a walk before I did my errands so that we could bond since I was away for a week. That day was the last day of her life.

As we walked around the block, I heard a car coming and made sure I moved over to curb as I usually do. Sophie walked behind me because she walked slow, she was a Basset Hound with short legs.

I don’t remember much after that. We were hit from behind and Sophie landed on my neighbors lawn next to their mailbox. I screamed and yelled for help and to dial 911. Sophie lay still, bleeding from her nose and mouth. Although I had some scraps, I focused all my energy on her and the help I needed for her. The police came, the ambulance came, my husband and son came. All the neighbors were out. We took her to the Shelton Animal Hospital in the ambulance where they worked on her. Bill and Billy had to go back to work and Ashley just arrived.

They said they would work on her and the first 48 hours would be critical. Ashley took me to the clinic down the street to be checked out. As we were leaving the clinic, the Animal Hospital called and said she took a turn for the worse. We went right back and were told she had a lot of head trauma and her heart was starting to slow down. They couldn’t do anything for her and said we should help her along………. we did, staying with her until she passed. My heart was broken, all of us were stunned. Some say she saved my life. Others say, “what if I was walking Madison”.

We had her cremated and picked out a beautiful mahogany box with her picture and name on it. When I picked her up, they had also taken a paw print from her and we were asked to bake it so that it would harden. Her paws were special because of the size of them. She’s here with us now and will never be forgotten. I think of her everyday and see her everywhere……..so lonely and quiet.

And all this happened because a teenager was talking on his phone.

Remember: when walking on a street without sidewalks, always walk in the left side facing traffic so this doesn't happen to you. And have your dog on a leash.

Remember, when walking on a street where lunatics drive distracted while talking on cell phones, always levitate about 12 feet straight up into the air facing the full moon so this doesn't happen to you. And have your dog leash around your neck.

The post was just heartbreaking about Sophie. Hopefully justice will be served and at the same time people can see the dangers with distractions like cell phones etc. while driving. It's very sad and unfortunate that this poor little dog didn't survive the accident.

Post is a few years old