RHV is probably 5 minutes from my house, and I see/hear a lot of planes flying above my house, which is one thing that sparked my interest in GA. In fact, I gave some thought to starting training at AeroDynamic.
However, as I wrote in another thread, I probably won't start training for my PPL until I get back to Colorado. One reason (although probably not the main one) is where would you land in an engine-out emergency?
RHV is surrounded by suburban homes, shopping centers, etc. Capitol Expressway is probably the ONLY place a pilot could land. But Capitol is usually packed with cars, especially at that time of the morning. And although I've never paid that much attention to it, I would imagine it's got plenty of light poles and power lines up and down it, too.
I'm surprised there wasn't a collision with traffic, but major props to the pilot for landing safely!