Juvenile driver hits pedestrian in Oakland crosswalk, children hospitalized
Police said a child under 10 took a family Camry, hit another car and then a woman in an East Oakland crosswalk, leaving her critically injured.
A child under 10 was behind the wheel of a family Toyota Camry that first hit another vehicle and then struck a woman walking her dog in an East Oakland crosswalk. Police said two children under 10 were in the car when the crash unfolded near 35th and Mangels avenues at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, and the woman suffered critical or life-threatening injuries.
Later reporting identified the boys as 7 and 4 years old and said they had taken their parents’ car while the adults were sleeping. Both children were hospitalized in stable condition. The dog was found in the surrounding neighborhood and appeared to be OK.
The crash puts the focus on the chain of supervision failures that allowed children far below driving age to get a car moving on city streets. In California, Vehicle Code 21950 requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in marked crosswalks, but that rule only matters after an adult has already ensured the car is being driven by someone capable of controlling it. California law can also expose parents to civil liability in child-driving cases through Vehicle Code 17707, which creates joint and several liability when a parent signed a minor’s driver’s license application, and through negligent-entrustment theories when an owner allows an unsafe driver to use the vehicle.
The broader risk is not confined to one Oakland intersection. Federal crash data show how dangerous young-driver crashes can be even when the driver is old enough to be licensed. NHTSA’s 2023 traffic safety fact report counted 5,588 fatalities in crashes involving young drivers, up 4.2% from 5,361 in 2022. Its 2021 data showed 2,116 young-driver deaths, an 11% increase from 1,899 in 2020.
Oakland police said surveillance video captured the moments before and after the impact. The footage reportedly showed the Camry hit or sideswipe another vehicle before losing control and entering the marked crosswalk, where it hit the woman and her dog. The Oakland Police Department was investigating the crash as the Bartlett neighborhood absorbed the aftermath of a collision that began with children in the wrong seat and ended with a pedestrian in critical condition.
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