Roadside memorial brings back memories.

Four year memorial for
Maria Acosta DeReyes

While cycling down Santa Clara Street yesterday, I noticed this makeshift memorial at the south-east corner of 7th St. and Santa Clara St. in downtown San Jose. I instantly recognized the corner as one that was the site of a hit and run incident several years ago.

Just after deciding to go car free, friends and family would mention to me how dangerous it is to ride a bike so I started a Google Map highlighting accidents that would appear in the local newspaper.

We often read in the newspaper about the homocide rate. If you go to the San Jose Police Department's website you can even map crime statistics. But you will never see a map that shows fatality and casualty rates, property damage amounts, or the number of hit and run crimes. They seem to be hidden from most city websites.

This was an article I scrapped from a news article at the time;

Woman, 69, killed in hit-and-run crash in downtown San Jose

San Jose police are looking for the driver of a gray or blue sport utility vehicle who fled after striking and killing a woman Saturday morning on East Santa Clara Street at Seventh Street.
Maria Dolores Acosta Dereyes, 69, of San Jose was walking northbound on South Seventh Street when she was struck while crossing East Santa Clara, officer Enrique Garcia said. Witnesses told police she was in the crosswalk when she was hit. She was declared dead at the scene.
The SUV, driven by a man in his 30s or 40s, had been traveling southbound on North Seventh Street and was making a left turn onto East Santa Clara. It did not stop after striking the woman, and was last seen traveling south on South Eighth Street. The car probably had damage to its front end, police said.

At the time I was never able to determine if the hit and run driver had been caught. Do you have any information on this crime. Your help would be appreciated. 

Rest in Peace, Maria.

(The map contains as many accidents resulting in a fatalities that I could track in the Silicon Valley in 2008. Feel free to scroll around the map.)


View 2008 Fatal Vehicular Accidents in South San Francisco Bay in a larger map