Below is a comment from a Boulder Creek Insider Reader. If anyone has info, please comment below or email us.
2 weeks ago an 89 year old resident was hit and killed in front of the drug store when he crossed the street, in broad daylight, in the crosswalk! No story in the paper. After 3 attempts I finally got the Sentinel to do a story, 2 weeks later, but KSBW told me they just can’t get clear up here for news…we are too far away!
Vince Rutherford died and the man who was speeding through town in his big fancy car has not been charged, nor arrested!! This is an outrage! If anyone saw this accident on Feb 7 at about 12:45pm please call the CHP. They say the “investigation will take a few weeks. His widow watched it happen and is suffering so much, but the man is out free. Please call our supervisor, the CHP and whomever else we can get to do something about this horrible accident.
Boulder Creek Insider 
ALL those cross walks in town need to be made more obvious! I also watched a little girl and her dog get hit on that same cross walk in the middle of the day on a weekend by a poor lady who was not speeding. When cars are parked so close to it, its difficult to see people about to cross. To people from out of town its difficult to know its a cross walk. Its horrible to think that man was killed right there in town. This is the kind of thing the town should meet about, the business association should be discussing and doing something about. If people feel safe walking around town there would be more business in town! AND that stop sign at the pizza place so many people can’t see that and drive right through it. It will be better for the businesses in town if it was easier/safer to walk across the road.
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The problem is tall vehicles parked close to intersections where they block the view.
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There should be no parking 25 ft from a corner. It blocks drivers visibility of pedestrians, it blocks pedestrians views of traffic and it blocks the safe viewing range of drivers trying to pull out of side streets. Other places have this law, surprised it’s not here.
That and the crosswalk “yield” signs help visibility as well.
The investigation will take time, but I’m sure that they are doing what they can with the resources our CHP has, which is not enough to deal with things as quickly as we would like sometimes.
Santa Cruz needs a news station. Our news is out of Monterey or San Jose. It’s like we’re hardly here. Not sure there is anything we can do about that though.
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i read the online story in the sentinel. the investigation at that point indicated that the driver was traveling at the limit, and that the rain might have hindered his vision. i’ve lived here for 20 years, and i have seen multiple incidents at that intersection due to visibility, but stop signs and parking rules would have done little to avoid these incidents. i think the best answer would be a blinking light strip with button activation.
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There is too little parking in town as it us. McPherson was to hold a meeting in town about this. There is talk of “bulb outs” to better see pedestrians trying to cross. I think there should be flashing lights. Some have asked for another stop sign. Clearly something has to be done. It certainly would help if the chp spent more time up here doing traffic safety stops like for speeding, a big problem in town.
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I have to wonder if the driver was even from this area or if he was one of the thousands that use hwy 9 as a commuter road. I watch the traffic all day long and it seems most people average 15 or so miles over the speed limit, right up to about new leaf. the only slow spot is right at the stop sign. maybe they need a second stop sign at the other end of town to create an obvious slow down through down section. A big sign for tourists at each end of town that saying, hi welcome slow down through town. If there were another stop sign i think it would be logical to put it at the bottom of the hill from BCE. Just my opinion have a good day.
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McPherson lives on the very edge of this district, not even really in SLV. I wonder how often he has been in BC or BL recently to meet with citizens? We”ll see here I guess if his staff is alert to local social media.
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It is difficult for drivers to see pedestrians often. I drive through town very slowly, (20 mph) and still sometimes have to slam on my brakes when someone just steps off the curb and starts crossing the road. I was taught to look left, then right then left again before crossing a roadway. Perhaps if more people were to employ this method there would be less accidents. Pedestrians should not assume drivers see them.
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Vincent Rutherford was in his late eighties. It’s not as though he was sprinting out of the drug store to cross the street. He spent decades of his life helping people in some of the most remote places on earth, but also was no stranger to such mind boggling modern amenities as cross-walks. I’m fairly certain a man who can fly a plane can manage a glance in two directions. I’m sure he figured that it’s your RESPONSIBILITY to slow down and safely operate a motor vehicle in areas where pedestrians might be walking across a public road, say… at a cross-walk. If there was rain, it’s even more reasonable that you should slow down.
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so Today i saw a ksbw news station wagon in boulder creek, they were here to watch some sort of pipe bomb left at a bus stop be detonated. I wonder if they are going to run a fear piece about it on the news tonight. I’m kinda insulted.
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Thank you, Vince, for bringing this to light. I must not have been home the day it happened or I would have heard sirens, but I’m ready to work toward making Boulder Creek a community that’s road friendly for all ages. If we here don’t do it, no one else will. Anyone who wants to talk about making Boulder Creek an age-friendly community, reply this comment and let me know how we can arrange to talk — Gabriela
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