# Foothill College teacher dies from Skyline crash



## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

Wow! A teacher, a 65 year old cyclist... the best among us is killed by an 81 year old driver.

Bugger. This could be any one of us, just killed from behind.

francois
-------

*


Palo Alto Online News* Uploaded: Tuesday, July 25, 2006, 6:22 AM
<table align="right" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"><tbody><tr><td> Send this story.
 Print this story.​</td></tr></tbody></table>Foothill College teacher dies from Skyline crash
Confusion leads to delayed reporting
by David Boyce
Almanac Staff
Foothill College teacher Tom Colby Maddox, 65, of Portola Valley died of apparent head injuries July 15 three days after he was hit by a car while bicycling on Skyline Boulevard. 
Maddox and longtime friend and fellow Foothill teacher Tom Strand of Los Altos, were biking in Woodside just north of Highway 84. 
Police reports on the accident were delayed due to California Highway Patrol officers from the Redwood City office being at a service for an officer who recently died. 
Maddox died at Stanford Hospital.
Reports from the CHP and San Mateo County Sheriff's Office differ in key respects, including the color, make and model of the vehicle that struck Maddox, the date of the accident and the extent of Maddox's injuries.
Strand said the accident happened between 11 and 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 12, on Skyline about a half mile north of Highway 84. 
The two men were traveling south on the two-lane road in a section with a steep bank but no shoulder or bike lane, Strand said. They were just emerging from a series of S turns on a slight downhill grade and moving at the "speed of traffic," about 30 miles per hour, he said. 
Strand said he was about 50 yards ahead of Maddox when he "heard a crash, like somebody dropping a tray full of dishes." He turned back to find Maddox splayed in the road, his helmet still on and two cars pulled over. 
The vehicle that hit Maddox was a blue Subaru Forester driven by Redwood City resident Beverly Oaks, 81, CHP Officer Steve Perea said. 
Stacy Binns, a resident of San Mateo who was driving about two car lengths behind Oaks, said Maddox was occupying about a third of the lane when the Subaru "sped up a bit and went to pass (him) on a curve with a double-yellow line." The Subaru "shot back in before she passed Tom, and she sideswiped him," Binns said. 
"I don't think he knew she was coming," she said. There was no traffic coming from the other direction, she said. 
"It was a horrible, horrible accident. It just didn't make any sense. It shouldn't have happened. I think about him every day. It's heart-rending."
Binns said she sent her daughter to find a resident with a land line to call 911 after attempts to use a cell phone failed due to poor reception. 
Oaks and Binns waited at the scene for the CHP to arrive, Binns said. 
Strand said an ambulance came after about 30 minutes and medics drove the unconscious Maddox to Stanford Hospital. Plans to use a helicopter fell through because the nearest one was too far away, Strand said he was told. 
Damage to Maddox's helmet indicated an impact just behind his left ear, Strand said, adding that he was told by a physician at Stanford that Maddox died from head injuries. 
The CHP and the Sheriff's Office split duties in patrolling Skyline, a state highway, with the CHP handling traffic and the Sheriff's Office handling general law enforcement.
Deputies from the Sheriff's Office arrived in minutes, Lt. Ken Jones said. Firefighters and medics responded quickly as well, Capt. Rob Lindner of the Woodside Fire Protection District reported. 
But on July 12 the Redwood City CHP office of the CHP was on reduced duty to commemorate an officer who had recently died, with patrol duties being covered by the San Francisco and San Jose offices. 
The nearest available CHP officer was about 30 miles away and took nearly an hour to get to the scene, Officer Perea of the San Jose office reported. 
By the time the CHP officer arrived the scene had been cleared, Perea said. 
"I was surprised about how little (the officers) asked me," Binns said. "It was a deadly accident."
The CHP initially reported that Oaks was driving a white Toyota and that the accident occurred on July 15. 
The Sheriff's Office report had Oaks in a charcoal minivan, leaving the scene of the accident and driving over Maddox. The report also stated that his injuries indicated "some bleeding (but) nothing serious." 
An obituary on Maddox is at www.paloaltoonline.com


----------



## smw (Mar 7, 2006)

Wow, that is terriable. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

As for the police, great job on the protect and serve, yeah right. 

Sean


----------



## singlespeed.org (Feb 14, 2006)

_There is a simlar conversation going on over at MTBR - here is what I posted there..._

Oklahoma recently put in a law requiring that drivers allow 3 feet of space when passing bicycles. They followed in the steps of 2 other progressive (slight sarcasm here) states that have similar laws - Arizona and Utah. Why the hell can't CA get a law like this?

Would that have prevented this? Probably not. That would take education (of both drivers and cyclists - I have seen many cyclists in the wrong, but this one doesn't sound like one of those cases). Hopefully education (at least in the form of news stories, if not more) would happen at the same time the law went into effect.

But at least that would make a ticket for the driver just about a given, where the article and bumbling by the police make it sound like no ticket was given. And a ticket would make it much more likely that the cyclists family will be able to collect off of the driver's insurance.

I have been passed way too close, way too often. I would like to see this law in place.


----------



## junglejesus (Nov 20, 2005)

cant enforce laws when our number of officers on the road are so limited. CHP has two officrs patroling 280 on weekends and there terratory stretches up to skyline. With there area of patrol in mind think about how many times you see them off of 280? 1 more officer gets the perissima patrol and he watches mainly hiway 1. So even if you had that law how many people would break it? think about the fast lane law. What we really need to do is as you get older you need to retest more often. 30yrs every 4yrs 34yrs every 3yrs 50yrs every 2yrs, 70yrs every year a retest is required.


----------



## Squizzle (Apr 12, 2003)

*Just another reason why 81 year old people should NOT be allowed to drive.*

IMHO

:nono:


----------



## wipeout (Jun 6, 2005)

Sad news indeed, and a little scary to think that I'm often riding my bike up on Skyline. This morning I heard about another cyclist accident on HWY 9, just off Skyline. It seems that there are more and more accidents these days, perhaps due to more people biking.


----------



## parity (Feb 28, 2006)

I was up on Syline and coming down La Honda yesterday and the whole time I was thinking about this. Its really sad and discomforting to read about things like this. I do is try to keep aware of my environment as to what cars are behind me. And if there is someone who seems to be impatient behind me when there is room I move over and try to slow down to give them enough time to pass. Because no matter how fast I am going, its not fast enough and people want to pass.

Most negative incidents I have experienced with autos are pickups. They are always either shouting something or buzzing me to close. Or in one case one pickup driver getting into it with another pickup driver. Even though this person is 81, I hope they charge her with something and pull her license.


----------



## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

junglejesus said:


> cant enforce laws when our number of officers on the road are so limited. CHP has two officrs patroling 280 on weekends and there terratory stretches up to skyline. With there area of patrol in mind think about how many times you see them off of 280? 1 more officer gets the perissima patrol and he watches mainly hiway 1. So even if you had that law how many people would break it? think about the fast lane law. What we really need to do is as you get older you need to retest more often. 30yrs every 4yrs 34yrs every 3yrs 50yrs every 2yrs, 70yrs every year a retest is required.


By that logic the whole vehicle code and 99% of the criminal code should be removed. 

What irritates me is that cops don't seem to understand there's no such thing as a 'fender bender' when a car meets a bike or a pedestrian. The kind of thing they'd let slide when a driver gets distracted or aggressive and nearly hits another car is a no brain traffic stop when it involves someone who isn't surrounded by a ton of metal. I'm not saying it would stop all (or most) fatal accidents, but maybe we could wake up a few drivers if we let them know it's not OK to 'play chicken' in a situation where the resulting accident will nearly always mame or kill.

The idea of re-testing as driver's age isn't bad (unless you try and let the DMV do it) but nearly every 'encounter' I've had with drivers has been with those under 30 and in a hurry. 

A great training exercise for cops would be to require they bike alone 20 miles on a 2 lane road once a year


----------



## AlexCad5 (Jan 2, 2005)

francois said:


> This could be any one of us, just killed from behind.
> 
> 
> 
> We can't think like this. You have to believe that we are in control of our own destinys out there on the road. You also have to believe that when you go down, you are going to get back up again, shake it off, and get back on the bike.


----------



## wipeout (Jun 6, 2005)

AlexCad5 said:


> francois said:
> 
> 
> > This could be any one of us, just killed from behind.
> ...


----------



## Bokchoy (Jul 25, 2006)

*Pickup trucks and cell phones scare me most*



parity said:


> I was up on Syline and coming down La Honda yesterday and the whole time I was thinking about this
> Most negative incidents I have experienced with autos are pickups. They are always either shouting something or buzzing me to close. Or in one case one pickup driver getting into it with another pickup driver. Even though this person is 81, I hope they charge her with something and pull her license.


My experience is similar. I've had far more close calls with younger drivers, especially in pickup trucks (yahoos, probably with a 6-pak on the seat).....and also from sedans with drivers on cell phones, regardless of age.


----------



## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

AlexCad5 said:


> francois said:
> 
> 
> > This could be any one of us, just killed from behind.
> ...


----------



## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

Bokchoy said:


> My experience is similar. I've had far more close calls with younger drivers, especially in pickup trucks (yahoos, probably with a 6-pak on the seat).....and also from sedans with drivers on cell phones, regardless of age.


What about pickup trucks with trailers? It seems every gardener in town "forgets" that their trailer is a foot wider than their truck, and figures they can just squeeze by the bike. I've had a couple of real close calls with that- also pickups designed for trailer hauling that have extra wide sideview mirrors.


----------

