West Seattle Blog…

‘Chain-reaction’ crash on 35th SW: SUV vs. truck vs. tree

March 4, 2012 at 12:41 am | In West Seattle news, WS breaking news | 14 Comments

Two people texted us in the past hour or so, reporting a loud “bang” or “crash” noise. This was apparently the source – a crash on southbound 35th SW, just north of SW Henderson (map; across from the Gasco station). No serious injuries, if any injuries at all – no victims were in sight by the time we got there, and the Fire Department‘s involvement in the call ended pretty quickly. But the “GOT JUNK?” truck wound up pushed into what we believe is one of the area’s famous collection of European Hornbeam street trees:

Tow trucks for both vehicles arrived fairly quickly; we’ll follow up later for any information on the crash’s cause, and to see if the tree will survive. (Speaking of which, a side note: Online information now indicates the Fauntleroy crash we covered in the early-morning hours yesterday was a suspected case of DUI).

14 Comments

1. IMHO the driver who crashed needs to replace the tree, among other things.

   Comment by MMB — 8:06 am March 4, 2012 #

2. Weekly occurance. Drink, drive, speed, crash, cause problems that could be avoided.

   Comment by WTF — 8:33 am March 4, 2012 #

3. That’s not a SUV, it it? Looks more like a big old truck with a cover. Either way looks almost as big as the junk truck!

   Comment by Marcus M — 9:52 am March 4, 2012 #

4. Sigh, I originally had truck v truck..,,,

   Comment by WSB — 10:03 am March 4, 2012 #

5. No. It IS an SUV. It has four doors. Looks like an obnoxiously large Chevy Suburban.

   Comment by Christopher Boffoli — 10:11 am March 4, 2012 #

6. There are plenty of 4 door trucks (quad cab, and lots of other marketing names.)

   The car in the picture, however, is a 1992-1999 Chevy Suburban.

   Comment by Adam — 11:09 am March 4, 2012 #

7. And people want the speed limit to be faster than 35 MPH! It seems that there is at least one crash per week on I-35!!

   Comment by Dizzle — 11:46 am March 4, 2012 #

8. Drunk Drivers love 35th Ave SW and they love using parked cars as cushions to crash into when they’ve finished joyriding. About a couple of months ago, we had a DUI A-hole crash into 2 parked cars on 35th Ave SW near Holly–the second one by one of them in 3 years.

   Comment by East Coast Cynic — 2:28 pm March 4, 2012 #

9. Dizzle, people crash going 2mph as well. It has to do with driver attention, substance use and automobile maintenance that typically causes crashes. I’ve seen people texting on 35th SW going 20mph and ‘accidentally’ go into the oncoming lane…

   Comment by Mike — 2:29 pm March 4, 2012 #

10. Just FYI all, this crash is categorized “accident investigation” and NOT DUI on the police-info map, now that some hours have elapsed, so we cannot assume there was necessarily intoxication involved … nor that there wasn’t… Going to try to rustle up a few more followup details when non-emergency contacts are more readily available tomorrow … TR

    Comment by WSB — 3:11 pm March 4, 2012 #

11. Sounds like an “accident” that should NOT have occurred regardless of alcohol involvement! Texting, lack of attention – should never have happened!

    Comment by kevin — 3:25 pm March 4, 2012 #

12. Big difference in outcome of a crash at 2mph vs a crash at 50mph!

    Comment by Dizzle — 6:32 pm March 4, 2012 #

13. Other reasons crash could have happened…medical problem i.e.: Heart attack,Blood glucose issue, animal or person running out from the sidewalk (person did that to me last night.. almost crashed because of the asshat) <-pardon my french. Mechanical problem with car.. .just to name a few other than alcohol.. just saying.

    Comment by ~~HockeyWitch~~ — 9:11 pm March 4, 2012 #

14. Should note – we drove by the tree in daylight today and you couldn’t even tell a crash happened there. Hope that means the tree will be OK.

    Comment by WSB — 10:17 pm March 4, 2012 #

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