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It’s a harrowing image that Reginald Webb will not soon forget: seeing his friend and cycling companion Jennifer Smith get hit — and then dragged — by a bus at a busy intersection on the border of Palo Alto and Mountain View.
The two were cycling east on San Antonio Road just before 5 p.m. on July 2, with Smith ahead of Webb. They were on their way from the train station to a family celebration, according to Webb.
Because that segment of the road doesn’t have protected bike lanes, they were riding on the sidewalk until the Middlefield Road intersection, when Smith proceeded to cross the road. They were ahead of the bus, which Webb said was moving east on San Antonio Road.
Then Webb watched the bus veer slightly to the left, presumably in preparation for a right turn on to Middlefield. He then saw the bus make the right turn and hit his friend. She became caught under the bus, which dragged her along Middlefield.
“I tried to yell and the bus just pretty much sucked her underneath and dragged her,” Webb said in an interview. “I threw my bike down and I ran after the bus, and I was banging on the bus to try to get it to stop. Other cars were honking the horn, and it finally stopped.”
Webb was with Smith, checking to see if she is breathing, as paramedics arrived to transport her to Stanford Hospital. The list of injuries proved severe: a broken femur and tibia on one leg, broken ribs, a broken pelvis and a collapsed lung. Smith, 50, was placed on a ventilator and remains unable to talk, he said. The Mountain View woman has already gone through seven surgeries and still has several more to come, he said. Nearly two weeks after the crash, she remained at an ICU at Stanford. All things considered, she is doing surprisingly well, he said.
“For me, just coming here every day and seeing her get better helped my own coping with this,” Webb said.
Palo Alto police are still investigating the cause of the collision, which is led by its Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction (STAR) team. As of July 13, no one has been cited, according to police Lt. Craig Lee.
The busy intersection near the U.S. Highway 101 exit is known for its unsafe biking conditions. Even though Palo Alto officials are eager to encourage more housing along San Antonio Road, they have consistently acknowledged that the area remains hazardous for cyclists. Earlier this year, the city approved a new bike master plan that identifies both San Antonio and Middlefield as “priority corridors,” with plans underway to equip both roads with separated bike lanes.
The city’s collision map showed that between 2018 and 2022, the intersection saw four injury collisions involving cyclists, including one that involved a fatal and severe injury, according to the bike plan.
“That whole area is just not really bike friendly at all,” Webb said. “With its proximity to the freeway, everyone think they’re on the freeway before they’re on the freeway. People are going at a very high speed.”
Webb also launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Smith, who works as an in-home support service provider. The money would cover her medical expenses, rehabilitation, transportation, lost income and “the everyday costs that come with a sudden traumatic injury,” the GoFundMe pages states.
“Jennifer is now receiving medical care and facing a very long road ahead,” he wrote. “She is stable, but her recovery will take time, strength, support, and ongoing treatment. There are still concerns about complications, additional care, rehabilitation, and the emotional trauma of what she has been through.
“I am devastated, but I am also determined to do whatever I can to help her through this.”
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I pray that the woman recovers to 100% or darn near it. I have some questions about the totality of causal factors and potential ways to prevent such horrible events in the future.
On San Antonio Rd traveling East across Middlefield Rd, in the Aug 2024 Google Street view there is not just “no protected bike line”, there is in fact “no bike lane at all” (in that view there are four car lanes on the Eastbound side of San Antonio Rd there, approaching the intersection.
The article says the lack of “protected bike lane” is why they were riding bikes on the sidwalk, before crossing.
In the month of the horrible accident (July 2026), is there now an “unprotected bike lane” in that stretch of San Antonio Rd? Or is it still “no bike lane”?
The reason I ask is this:
– If an “unprotected bike lane” was added, then that could have meaningfuly narrowed all of the car lanes. In many othe parts of MOuntain View busy roads (El Camino Real comes to mind, but I think there are others), adding a bike lane reduced car width by about 2 feet each in my rough estimation.
– In the past (when the bike lanes started narrowing the car lanes noticably on El Camino Real), I looked it up and read that experts say such narrow lanes should make the roads SAFER because every has to PAY SO MUCH MORE ATTENTION (you can’t just drive normally, you must stay on high alert). (Never mind about sustained stress/cortisol levels for commute times daily and potential indirect impact on cardiac/health issues down the line, or common sense.)
– I have personally observed that the BUSES CAN BARELY FIT IN THE LANES, where lanes ahve been narrowed If their tires look awfully close to the lane paint no BOTH SIDES, just check out where their SIDE MIRRORS LAND — JUST ABOUT AT THE LAND BOUNDARIES.
– So if buses can bare fly fit in the car lanes: does that make it much harder to drive a bus? Harder to notice bicyclists, if the drivers (must) spend more attention on just staying in their lane? And if human drivers have limited attention by design?
Should bike lane protection contain a CONCRETE BARRIER that is hard to plow through?
Was the bus at fault here, driving in a “NARROWED” lane before, during, or after it dragged the human underneath it (somewhere along its route — on ECR, or on San Antonio, or elsewhere)?
Driving a bus around here must be a HARD JOB TO DO SAFELY, not an easy job.
This is terrible! I’m so very sorry for Jennifer Smith. I hope she heals well and quickly. I live just off San Antonio Rd. and California Street. Although that location is in Mountain View, it is deeply affected by incidents at Middlefield Road and San Antonio Rd. This particular intersection is extremely dangerous for all travelers whether they are bikes, pedestrians, or cars. Palo Alto is considering building housing along this corridor without real consideration for all traffic conditions and possibilities. All Palo Alto city plans depend on this. The area cannot support extra housing without a lot of significant changes to the neighborhood. What happened to Ms. Smith should never happen to anyone.
My understanding, after speaking to an acquaintance of the accident victim, is that the bus involved in this incident was a Google employee shuttle bus. The “news” article fails to mention this, in case any readers are thinking it was a County VTA bus…
Thank you.