Alameda County

Alameda County, California is considered part of the San Francisco Bay area and is the state’s 7th most populous county. Oakland has been its county seat since 1873. The word Alameda is Spanish and means “where the poplar trees grow”. Today, Alameda is a thriving busy metropolis but in its beginning its job was as a trolley car suburb of San Francisco. The city grew from Native American tribal communities, to Spanish and Mexican ranches and farms before eventually becoming suburbs and city centers in its own right.

Alameda is a conglomerate of many cities both small and large. The list includes Albany, Berkeley, Dublin, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Livermore, Newark, Oakland, Piedmont, Pleasanton, San Leandro and Union City.

There is much to do in any county of this size but Alameda has some remarkable tourist attractions, events, educational opportunities and family activities. Alameda is one of only 12 cities in the nation to be designated as a Coast Guard City. This designation is only awarded to communities that go above and beyond in their support and recognition of Coast Guard families and personnel. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum is a big attraction to locals and visitors alike. This multi-purpose stadium houses both the Oakland Athletics baseball team and the Oakland Raiders football team.

The Jack London Square is another huge point of interest to the area. It is a conglomerate of retail, fine dining and special events in a natural, beautiful environment. If shopping isn’t on the days order, biking or running the waterfront is a popular treat. It is the only mixed-use, publically accessible waterfront in the East Bay.

With all these fantastic attractions, beautiful sites and fun venues, there comes a lot of traffic and with excessive traffic comes accidents. Hundreds of accidents occur each year in this area ranging from mild fender benders to those with fatalities. As of August 2015 alone, there have been several fatal and disastrous car accidents.

In April, two young 19 year old crashed in unincorporated Alameda county three miles North of Niles Canyon Road. Caused by a drive unable to negotiate a tricky turn, two other young passengers were ejected and suffered serious injuries.

In July, a four car rash took the life of one driver on Highway 880. When officers responded at 4:50 a.m. near High Street on Highway 880 South, they found four cars, two fully engulfed in flames. Reports indicate a 47 year old Oakland man in the No. 2 lane of the highway stalled and was obstructing traffic. A female driving a Honda Civic applied her parking brake to avoid the stalled car and skidded to a stop facing sideways in the far left lane. At that point, a man driving a Subaru Forester crashed into the Honda seconds before a man in a GMC 1500 also struck the vehicles. The Honda driver was killed.

Past years have been just as deadly. A crash containing more than 10 cars injured nine people on I880 in 2014. Three of the victims were critically injured. A large tractor trailer crashed into the road divider on HWY 880 in the San Leandro area. Concrete flew all over the road causing many cars and other vehicles to burst into flames.

Thomas Howard, former NFL linebacker also died in a high speed car accident in Alameda County. He was stuck when a BMW travelling over 100 mph lost control and hit several other vehicles. One other man was killed.

Alameda County is an incredible place to visit and a phenomenal place to live but the risk of car accidents are always present. Mosely Collins is a practiced and knowledgeable attorney with years of experience in local car accident laws.