I didn't realize that the "LA Car Accident" headlines I'd been ignoring all day were actually about a Santa Monica car accident until my brother-in-law mentioned it tonight at dinner. (He's also from Santa Monica.)
I know that area, of course. The last time, or the last time but one, that I was in Santa Monica we took my sister's kids down to the Promenade and Farmer's Market and the beach.
There's a post up at Hit and Run about this ... sorry, just realized what an inappropriate blog name that is for this story. Anyway, there's a post up at Reason's blog and one of the comments is:
The farmer's market is a regular event - why didn't they have barriers in place?
The *very same intersection* (3rd & Arizona) has removable anti-vehicle barriers to prevent cars from driving the other way, down third street.
Posted by: crap-action-jackson on July 17, 2003 07:15 PM
I'm guessing crap-action-jackson has been reading news stories about the crash but hasn't been to the crash site. 3rd street between Broadway and Wilshire is closed to vehicle traffic; it's called the 3rd Street Promenade. There are permanent steel barriers, which can fold down on hinges -- e.g., to let emergency vehicles pass.
Arizona, on the other hand, is a normal through street. It's closed two mornings a week for the Farmers' Market but otherwise handles all normal traffic, so permanent barriers (even folding ones) don't make a lot of sense. Normal traffic sawhorses are put up to stop cars from entering the Farmer's Market.