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Why Did Carmen Ramirez Have To Die?
It’s time to stop blaming pedestrians for getting killed on our streets.
At about 6:40 p.m. on Friday, August 12, Carmen Ramirez parked her car in Oxnard, California, and walked across the street on her way to a summertime concert nearby.
A half-hour later, she was declared dead at Ventura County Medical Center.
She was walking in the crosswalk at a well-marked four-way stop in a downtown area that is heavily used by pedestrians. She died after being struck by a motorist driving a 2020 GMC Sierra 2500, a vehicle that weighs 6,000 pounds and stands a foot off the ground.
A death like Carmen’s would be a tragedy in any event. But Carmen’s death was a huge blow to her community. As a social justice advocate with decades of experience, she was probably the most beloved person in Ventura County. As the chair of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, she was probably also the most powerful. Ironically, her husband is a well-known architect who has designed walkable communities and she was scheduled next spring to take over as board president of the Southern California Association of Governments, a regional planning agency charged under state law with encouraging people to walk more and drive less.
Carmen’s death set off an enormous grieving process in Ventura County that will persist…
