Pedestrian killed at Burlingame, San Mateo line

“She was a nanny, so she loved working with kids. She devoted her life to Stephanie. Her whole life just revolved around Stephanie. She was a single mom, and so a lot of the responsibility fell on her,” she said. “She was her greatest protector and fiercest advocate.”

A GoFundMe has been started to support Stephanie’s care, raising $31,269 of its $40,000 goal thus far. That fundraising is important to the family because Angela Villar, who also has a special needs child, will now be raising Stephanie, the GoFundMe page said.

The Burlingame Police Department received reports of the collision around 6:22 p.m. Sept. 12, Traffic Division Sgt. Jason Roberts said. Preliminary reports indicate the vehicle was making a left turn onto westbound Peninsula Avenue when it struck a pedestrian, who died from injuries “sustained as a result of the collision,” he said in an email.

The Burlingame Police Department will not be commenting on who had the right of way until the investigation is concluded, Roberts said. The driver is cooperating with the investigation, and drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been a factor in the collision, he said.

Peninsula Avenue separates the south end of Burlingame from the north end of San Mateo, and North Delaware Street in San Mateo becomes Dwight Avenue in Burlingame there.

Torres’ mother was on the phone with Yolanda Villar when she was hit by the vehicle, and after hearing a loud bang and passers-by discussing CPR, called Torres to go to the scene, she said. From the scene of the accident to the drive to the hospital, Torres recalled being in disbelief that Yolanda Villar could have died — because Stephanie needed her mother.

“I couldn’t believe it, it all happened so fast. And on the way there, I remember thinking, we’re all just gonna laugh about this, everything’s going to be OK, because I know that God knows that Stephanie needs her mom, that’s all she has,” Torres said. “So I had no idea that this was going to happen.”

While hanging flyers at the intersection — which is directly at the border of San Mateo and Burlingame — to commemorate Yolanda Villar’s story, Torres said she herself encountered safety issues in the pedestrian crosswalks. To make a left turn, vehicles must first yield to pedestrians, but it often resulted in cars coming very close to the crosswalk.

“I imagine how many other issues or instances have happened where people that live in that area encountered similar things to that,” Torres said.

Some residents seem to agree. Lauren Cony, who lives in the Lyon Hoag neighborhood of Burlingame, has had several close calls at nearby intersections, including one block over at Clarendon Road and Peninsula Avenue. Those complaints and calls for crosswalks haven’t been taken seriously by Burlingame, she said, and are magnified by the joint-jurisdiction issue that seems to allow both cities to avoid culpability, Cony said.

Ultimately, the lack of pedestrian safety makes her more wary of her children — and herself — walking in the area and the intersection where the fatal collision occurred, she said.

“I don’t encourage my kids to walk to Safeway. I would, if I felt like it was safe,” Cony said. “I never cross unless all the cars are stopped. They have to stop coming toward town and going toward the highway. But again, there’s four lanes there, so unless it’s pretty empty, I don’t do it.”

Villar’s death was an accident that should not have happened, Cony said.

“The horror of that, and the tragedy of it, is just it struck a chord with every single person that lives near here — that could have been any of us,” she said.

The fatal collision was tragic, first and foremost, San Mateo Mayor Lisa Diaz Nash said. The city takes traffic and pedestrian safety very seriously and has been working to strengthen its road safety plan, including areas on the Burlingame-San Mateo border. San Mateo is additionally undertaking a Complete Streets Plan to holistically address safety issues.

“What happened was awful. There’s just no technicality that can wipe that away, but we do take it extremely seriously,” she said. “In that area that you’re talking about, or really in any other area, you have cars, you have bicycles, you have pedestrians, you have public transit. … We want to make sure we have the safest streets for every modality and every type of person.”

Burlingame Mayor Donna Colson similarly emphasized that the city is aiming to address road safety with a Vision Zero plan, which imagines eliminating all traffic fatalities and severe injuries.

It’s also the second pedestrian fatality in two years for Burlingame — a pedestrian was killed and another injured in a hit-and-run in 2022. The driver, who fled the scene after the collision, had a green light to proceed and the pedestrians were facing a red signal against walking, police said.

Ultimately, the loss of Yolanda Villar is still unimaginable, for her friends and loved ones and for Stephanie, Torres said. She described her as a deeply considerate and generous person — Yolanda was walking in the intersection, in the first place, to go view an apartment into which Torres’ brother might move.

But there’s also been an outpouring of community support in recent days, from other community members with children with special needs to those who are concerned about the dangers of the intersection.

“It’s really sad that something like this has occurred for all of us to come together, but I felt so much support,” Torres said. “The fact that other people were going out of their way to highlight this and get Stephanie the resources that she needs is extremely, extremely powerful. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s really a testament to Yolanda’s love, and how it truly does live on.”

The donation page is: gofundme.com/f/aid-stephanies-future-after-yolandas-passing.