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After the black Tesla speeds away, a figure rises slowly from the ground. The oncoming car’s dashcam footage reveals a man cradling a limp, black dog in his arms. Shielded by the stopped car, he calls out to the driver as he gently sets his furry burden down.
The Feb. 4 hit-and-run took place on a narrow stretch of Woodside Road where a trail ends, forcing pedestrians into the roadway to get across a bridge. It highlights the risks Woodside residents face in the rural town, where gaps in pedestrian infrastructure can put people in harm’s way.
“As we were walking briskly across the bridge, the Tesla came out of nowhere,” said Woodside resident Rick Congdon, who was taking an evening stroll with his dog Millie when they were hit by the passenger side of the vehicle, throwing them both to the ground.
The bridge they were crossing, located near Kings Mountain Road, has been called out by the town’s Circulation Committee as an unsafe stretch of Woodside Road.
Congdon suffered a broken little finger plus bruising and scrapes to his left leg while his dog took the brunt of the hit and almost died from internal bleeding. Congdon said his walk took him along a route typically used by residents, one that he uses regularly. Children use it to ride their bikes to Woodside Elementary School.
Woodside Circulation Committee Chair Ehsan Farkhondeh told The Almanac that the town gets complaints about dangerous driving and speeding in this area of Woodside Road, where the speed limit is 25 mph. As far as Farkhondeh can recall, Congdon is the first pedestrian to get hit by a vehicle in the last four years, he said.
In response to concerns about the lack of trails and sidewalks across town, the Circulation Committee has been working on a proposal with the Trails Committee to build a path that would connect Sand Hill Road and Woodside Road. This path, dubbed the Woodside West Trail, would add a pedestrian bridge alongside the shoulder-less two-lane road bridge where Congdon got hit.
Farkhondeh said there have been discussions about Woodside West Trail for a few years but, like all town projects, it comes down to funding and resources to make it a reality. For now, the only way pedestrians can cross the bridge where Congdon and his dog were struck is by carefully traversing in the traffic lane.
“There are definitely places along the right of way in Woodside where there is not easy access for pedestrians,” Farkhondeh said. “That’s a known issue we have.”
Congdon’s wife Abby Collins, as a lifelong resident of Woodside, said that while she was shocked that her husband got hit by a car, she wasn’t surprised that someone eventually got hit.
“I’ve had times where I’ve been driving and called the nonemergency sheriff line because people are driving so fast or recklessly,” Collins said. “I grew up here and we were taught, you don’t speed down Woodside Road.”
Congdon and Collins obtained dashcam footage from the driver who witnessed the accident. The passengers of the car traveling behind the Tesla stopped to aid him and called the Village Square Portola Valley Veterinary Hospital before it closed.
Dr. Jamie Rosen, medical director at the veterinary hospital, said Millie did not have any broken bones, but she “definitely could have died from internal bleeding” without immediate treatment. Millie had to be taken to an emergency hospital in Redwood City for further care.
Rosen remembered seeing Congdon in the waiting room with a ripped-up pant leg and blood flowing from his knee.
“I haven’t had an experience like that before, so adrenaline kicked in, and I didn’t realize how badly I was hurt,” said Congdon.
Collins said seeing her husband and dog become victims of a speeding car was devastating. She contacted the Sheriff’s Office to make a report. She also obtained automatic license plate reader data from the town of Woodside and security camera footage from Woodside Elementary School that captured the Tesla driving by.
“I went into protective and investigator mode, just because we have lots of friends with kids, our neighbors all have young kids, and for it to be a hit-and-run was really jarring for everybody,” Collins said.
About a mile down Woodside Road from the crash site is Woodside Elementary School, another heavily trafficked area of the highway where the town has seen many close calls between pedestrians and drivers, especially during school drop-off and pickup hours.
“On the opposite side from the school, you’ll see a lot of people walking in the bike lane with strollers and dogs because there’s no sidewalk there,” said Farkhondeh.
Town staff reported that traffic studies show that the average driver travels faster than the posted 25 mph speed limit in front of the school. Parents shared during the Feb. 10 council meeting that they have witnessed cars trying to pass each other by driving in the bike lane, where children and pedestrians are biking and walking.
In response to multiple requests from the community, the Town Council approved a resolution to request Caltrans to establish a 15 mph speed limit on the area of Woodside Road near the elementary school on Feb. 10.
Collins added that while she often sees Sheriff’s Office deputies parked near the school, she has not seen them patrolling in other areas further down Woodside Road in a long time.
The crash investigation
Sheriff’s Office deputies located the owner of the Tesla and visited their home the day after the crash. After they asked to see the car, the owner returned with their lawyer on the phone, according to the police report. The lawyer asked the deputies to leave.
Although the investigation on the hit-and-run lasted for weeks, Collins said the Sheriff’s Office ultimately told her it was unable to identify who was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident. Collins is currently in the process of filing a civil complaint and Congdon’s car insurance company is conducting its own investigation.
“It’s just the frustration of thinking you have everything you would need to see this through and it’s not happening,” said Collins. “An apology would go a long way.”
The Sheriff’s Office told this news organization that it “has allocated significant resources to investigate this case, to include reviewing all available video evidence and conducting witness interviews.” No arrests have been made, according to Gretchen Spiker, director of communications at the Sheriff’s Office.
The town’s Circulation Committee will be presented with the monthly traffic and accident report from the Sheriff’s Office for February during its meeting on March 19, said Farkhondeh. This will give the committee an opportunity to ask questions about the hit-and-run.
“I can certainly see it becoming agendized if we think that it’s something that can be made better through design mitigations or road layout,” he added.
The Sheriff’s Office encourages anyone with information to contact Detective Lindsey at plindsey@smcgov.org or 650-363-4055. Anonymous tips can be made by calling 800-547-2700.
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So sorry to see this happen again and again. The San Mateo County sheriffs department does not have enough resources or the will to protect pedestrians and bicyclists. I was hit by a car last year and it was my word against the drivers even though there is evidence a car hit me, the police said they couldn’t determine that I got hit. Please, seek a better candidate to replace Supervisor Mueller as he is against basic enforcement and infrastructure to protect pedestrians and bicyclist.
A much-beloved cat that crossed Portola Road on Tuesday 17th March, St Patrick’s Day, was killed by a hit-and-run motorist. The cat, Rose, loved to visit Christ Church where Carillon Preschool pupils would see it each morning. The cat would love to go outside and cross the road, signaling its intention by clawing at its door. So before you say a cat should not go outside, it was an outdoor cat.
I have requested at Portola Valley’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee that the San Mateo Sheriff’s Deputies catch people for breaking the speed limit. There are many excuses – the town need to do a traffic survey, equipment is not available, police don’t like to spend time in court, education is better than punishment. In the olden days, a police car could follow a motorist who was exceeding the speed limit, flash lights, the car would stop and the cop would give the motorist a ticket for a fine, it’s the same people who speed who don’t stop at the stop sign at Portola Rd and Alpine so we’ll just ticket those people who don’t stop. Please, San Mateo County Sheriff, do what you can to punish people who break the law and cause danger on our roads. There have to be severe consequences when people have no respect for the traffic laws and it is proven that excess speed is a cause of crashes. As the owner of the cat noted, if you are going slowly and you see an animal or bird (e.g. turkey) crossing the road, you can usually brake and avoid a collision. Please, if you are interested in helping slow traffic drive at or below the speed limit on local roads so that the cars behind you slow down, and cyclists please cycle single file so that cars can give you 3ft space when passing.
Poor Rosy, what a great cat she was! RIP. Of course it was a Tesla driver; they are entitled and reckless (“hold on while I get my attorney on the phone” says it all). What a POS. And, btw, don’t expect anything from the sheriff’s department. They are mostly worthless DEI hires now and don’t do much other than take inflated salaries and suck the taxpayer dry for enormous, unjustified pensions and benefits.
This is infuriating – the Tesla knows exactly who was driving it at the time of the crash. It has an internal camera and it also knows who’s keycard was being used. Shame on the vehicle owner and their attorney for not cooperating with law enforcement and doing the right thing – next step should be to subpoena Telsa to get proof of who was driving and then throw the book at the driver.