WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is just back from a crash at 35th/Avalon; he says a car and pickup truck collided – witnesses told him the car may have run a red light before hitting the truck, whose driver was taken to Harborview Medical Center. This is one of the two West Seattle intersections with red-light cameras. (Check the latest conditions at that intersection in the cam on our Traffic page.) 8:16 AM UPDATE: The crash scene has been cleared.
I saw at when we went by on the bus…it looked pretty bad. Maybe the red light camera can tell us what really happened… Hope everyone is okay.
seems to be more accidents lately? Wondering if the longer days – late afternoon/early evening glare has anything to do with it? Not paying attention when driving might have something to do as well.
Has anyone out there gotten a ticket for running a red light via the red light camera?
rnl, I’d put money on people not paying attention although that’s not anything new. I’m pretty sure not paying attention was what caused someone to use my rear bumper to stop their car instead of their brakes one morning a few weeks ago while in the traffic jam that is Admiral headed downhill to the West Seattle Bridge. On the bright side no damage was done and it did get her to end her phone call before she was going fast enough to cause an actual problem.
I was going to email and ask about the red light cameras. The other day while driving home on 35th Ave SW, headed to the south, the camera at Thistle (or is it Trenton, I cannot remember) was taking pictures of every car going through the intersection. I know this because it was like a strobe light constantly flashing for each car going through. Are these cameras live yet?
And to rnl’s comment, I drive all over west seattle every day, all day long for work, its gotten horrible on the roads in the last year or so. People just do as they please.
Not in WS, but one of my co-workers got a ticket after running a red light that had a camera in Tacoma.
I thought that the cameras were “live” now, but didn’t know for sure. Are tickets given for every offense, or are warnings given first? Just curious how this is all working.
P – Yes, I saw that the camera was taking pictures of every car going through the intersection too. I thought that was odd.
SDOT told us they would be live about a week after the signs went up following the cameras’ installation. It’s been much more than a week so you definitely have to assume they are live.
You know, I’m not so sure how the strobe relates to the camera. We too saw the strobe flash (once, and there were multiple cars, no one running the light) as we were heading north on 35th through Thistle intersection. BUT, it came from the top of a streetlight on the east side of 35th. Is this what you saw? The whole row of lights there seem to have the same “knob”/fixture/whatever on top of them. And the camera itself (pointed back at 35th/Thistle) is across the street on the west side. Are they really related? Hope I’m not jacking the thread, but we were trying to figure it out ourselves.
The strobe light that I saw came from the west side of 35th, just north of the intersection. Of course, there is likely another on the east side of 35th for cars traveling in the opposite direction.
I hope everyone is ok.
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Sadly, I think accidents and crime generally increase with density and that is why we have seen so much more of it. I don’t think it is a case of it just being reported or covered more often. Not a fan of density in WS since 2005. :)
Ditto on the Density, WSrat.
Not a fan of density since I moved here.
Well I moved here after 2005. So I suppose that I’m part of the density you dislike?
To all I was the lucky one in the F150, I wanted to thank all that stopped to help me. I am ok, I went to Harborview with Minor Neck trauma, and leg injuries. I will be fine other then that, and I truly appreciate the construction guys and passerby’s that stopped to check on me and see if everything was alright.
RJ – Glad to hear you are ok! Yikes…
Also off the accident topic, but in regards to the red light cameras…am I the only one who has seen one go off at night and about had a heart attack? I’m not used to these things yet and the couple of times I have seen the flash it scared the crap out of me until I figured out what it was. And no, neither time was I the one running the red light for the record :) Just curious if they have caught anyone else off guard and startled them??
MB, honestly I’ve never noticed them. Maybe I’m oblivious, although (with reference to other discussion) with the summer riding season imminent, I’d hope not.
RJ-F150, glad to hear you’re all right.
I hope everyone is OK. I wish we would all slow down, but I think two lanes in each directiom on 35th is a big mistake. The two lane stretch — from Roxbury to Avalon — is only abouot, what, four miles? Why does it need to be two lanes? Why can’t people move the same speed people move on California near the junction? it is time to turn all of West Seattle’s four lane rural streets — 35th, Fauntleory — into two lanes with a center turn lane and parking and bike lanes on the side.
All this is cold comfort to those hurt today. ow many more accidents do we need to see? Speed kills. Today’s crash may not have been caused by speed, who knows. But we do know people going too fast get killd adn kill others. Time to fix the four lane dangers for good!
Sorry, comment time is over.
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