On the way to work in Livermore this morning I witnessed yet another tragic accident on Vasco Road. A young man passed me on his motorcycle going way too fast and plowed into the back of a fully loaded cement truck that was only doing around 15 mph. His bike literally shattered into pieces right before my eyes and his broken body tumbled to the side of the road.
Over the next hour, as several motorists provided assistance and the emergency crews arrived and worked on the downed motorcyclist, several thoughts occurred to me that I have decided to share with others.
First, I want to express my thanks to the San Jose fireman who pulled over on his way to work to help save the young man. So, let’s not be too quick to bash our public employees, especially police and firemen who help save lives even when not on the job!
Second, ask yourself if you are ready to kill or to be killed. If so, go join the armed forces, get a gun and deploy overseas; don’t use your vehicle as your weapon of choice! Why are we in such a hurry? Why are we so angry? Life is short, fragile. Slow down and enjoy it a little!
Last, I struggle to understand why it took 25 minutes for the first responders to arrive at the scene. It appears that all of the emergency vehicles came from the Contra Costa County side (commute direction) and had to fight miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic as the lanes were blocked by the accident. It would have made much more sense to dispatch the CHP and firemen from Alameda County (non-commute direction), especially since the accident was less than two miles from the county line. The protocol for dispatching emergency responders on Vasco Road needs to be reviewed, as it must consider the commute traffic as well as location of the accident.
Homer Williamson, Brentwood
Hopefully, as construction goes forward on Vasco, it will become a much safer road to travel. People definitely need to slow down while on this road. I don't understand how people can fly down that road going 80 miles per hour where it's down to two lanes with no center divide. Those cones aren't going to do anything from you slamming head first into oncoming traffic.
I also agree with your assessment of how first res ponders should be dispatched to this area. Traffic was at a complete crawl on Monday due to the accident. Like you said, it would have been much faster to have had Alameda County respond to the accident. Perhaps some kind of agreement could be made where Alameda responds to morning emergencies while Contra Costa responds to the afternoon ones.