Accident on 16th SW; no one hurt

Two cars were in a rollover accident in the 7700 block of 16th SW just before 7 pm tonight. Police said there were no injuries; the street was shut down for about 45 minutes.

21 Replies to "Accident on 16th SW; no one hurt"

  • cclarue October 19, 2009 (8:07 pm)

    I drove up on this accident before police and fire arrived. For one I could not figure out how it could have happened and wow I am so glad no one was hurt

  • Ex-Westwood Resident October 19, 2009 (11:10 pm)

    KOMO just reported that the flipped car hit four other parked cars before flipping.
    .
    The accident was caused by….
    .
    The driver swerving to avoid a dog.
    .
    Now I love dogs, but between hitting a dog and causing an accident and the possibility of injuring or killing people or myself; sorry the dog is getting hit.

  • WSB October 19, 2009 (11:22 pm)

    Last time somebody claimed they were swerving to hit a dog, police weren’t so sure – which reminds me it’s time to follow up on that one …

  • cclarue October 19, 2009 (11:35 pm)

    There was a lady on the sidewalk with a dog on a leash, and the dog was barking loudly at the overturned car. I was thinking whoever is upside down in their car and wanting just to get out probably wanted that dog to shut the heck up. I was just turning around to get out of the way and i was thinking lady take your dog out of here.

  • WSB October 19, 2009 (11:43 pm)

    OTOH, untethered dogs on the run are inarguably a problem – we have received numerous reports lately for our Lost/Found pets page, including one I’m about to take off because the dogs’ owner found the listing and got the dogs – two of them out running around. And yeah, I’ve braked for cats, squirrels, raccoons, etc. Anyway, we’ll check on the official report tomorrow … TR

  • Charley October 20, 2009 (12:09 am)

    Next time, just hit the dog. Unless it’s a Great Dane or something, you are guaranteed to do less damage by just taking the hit than by swerving uncontrollably into other vehicles or an oncoming lane of traffic.

  • Leroniusmonkfish October 20, 2009 (12:35 am)

    WSB – While you’re doing some research on drivers lacking driving skills what was the outcome of Mr. Porsche who took his 911 Carrera for a dip that CJBoffoli photo’d the aftermath of off the North end of Alki?

  • WSB October 20, 2009 (12:38 am)

    I have checked twice with collision investigators and nothing has turned up. Problem is that I have no name for independent verification. But next time I check with them (it takes many months for those cases to resolve sometimes, and I have several recurring checks) I’ll be asking again.
    .
    BTW FWIW that wasn’t Christopher out there at 2 am (though he has pulled many a middle-of-night shift for us), that was me (with Junior Member of the Team in tow) – will always remember having to rest the MacBook on the nearest waterfront bench while staked out waiting for the big truck to come haul that car out – TR

  • Leroniusmonkfish October 20, 2009 (12:51 am)

    Ok…my apologies. It was the aftermath photos the following day that CJB posted that I confused your photos with on Flick. I’m sure CJB was probably sound asleep dreaming of bacon while you were working…

  • lemer October 20, 2009 (5:42 am)

    While the news is reporting that this was caused by avoiding a loose dog in the road, one can also reasonably suggest that once again (or as usual) someone was treating 16th ave like the I-5. The speed limit is 30 not 60.

  • on 16th October 20, 2009 (6:57 am)

    Just so you all know. The big barking dog was IN the car that rolled over and was distressed by the driver returning to the car to get something ( you can’t always control/ prevent someone very shaken from doing something. Sometimes all you can do is help.). The car was not going that fast and the driver was swerving to avoid another dog in the road as the dog was still running around LOOSE! when the officers arrived! This is why you get a ticket if your dog is found running around without you! The owner of the loose dog should be held responsible for this accident. Also, just because nobody went to the hospital in an ambulance, does NOT mean nobody was hurt.

  • Mike D. October 20, 2009 (7:16 am)

    -Lost my best friend in 1983 as he swerved to miss a dog on a rural country road in Oregon. Truck overturned and he died, pinned between the steering wheel and the trucks roof. Gasped his last breath right in front of his twin sister.
    -Lesson learned: Do not under any circumstances swerve or turn to miss an animal, wild or domesticated, it is not worth it.
    -Willing to bet money that this accident on 16th was not a result of swerving to miss an animal, but instead was a result of speed.

  • John October 20, 2009 (7:39 am)

    You can say you’d hit the dog, but your instincts will kick in and you’d swerve to avoid it. I’m the same as WSB….I’ve swerved to avoid birds, squirrels, etc.

  • on 16th October 20, 2009 (8:05 am)

    Not speed…we heard it and it did not happen fast enough for speed to be a factor the car stopped a few feet from where it struck the truck that caused it to flip, not down the block as would be the case if excessive speed were involved. Sometimes things just happen. The first thing I thought was great another drunk side swiping my neighbors cars again but she was sober, didn’t come across as drugged either the cops would have taken her away if that was even a concern.

  • Mike D. October 20, 2009 (8:50 am)

    16th – I lost my bet! Seriously, glad to hear that I was wrong on speed being the cause, and that no one was injured.

    John – Not proud of the fact that a number of critters have perished because I have trained myself not to swerve. The loss of my best friend Neal had that big of an impact on me.

  • Libby October 20, 2009 (9:08 am)

    “You can say you’d hit the dog, but your instincts will kick in and you’d swerve to avoid it. ”

    My instincts have been honed on videogames, where running over something is not necessarily the wrong choice. I have very sadly hit a cat and a raccoon in the last few years, and in both instances made a conscious split-second decision to hold the line and take the hit instead of reflexively jerking the wheel to one side.

    In the case of the raccoon (oncoming traffic to the left, ravine to the right), I firmly believe that videogames saved my life.

  • mb October 20, 2009 (9:49 am)

    Why, oh why, does it seem that pretty much anything in comments/forum can lead pretty quickly back to dogs (on leash or not)?

    What about the driver? Maybe the accident wasn’t caused by a dog. Maybe the driver was texting. Or talking on their phone. Or arguing with a passenger. Or just plain spacing out. Or altered. And then swerved as a reaction to something they weren’t showing 100% attention. Even if there was a dog out unleashed (which I agree is not ok)…the dog didn’t cause an accident of that magnitude.

    Not everything *bad* results from a dog incident.

  • Brian October 20, 2009 (10:49 am)

    That’s it. Dogs should be BANNED from west seattle.
    except mine.

  • WSB October 20, 2009 (11:05 am)

    FYI to ‘on 16th’ – the information about “no injuries,” as attributed above, came directly from the police, at the scene. Maybe it changed later, but that’s what they told us there. Thanks for the other updates – TR

  • Libby October 20, 2009 (4:01 pm)

    mb, KOMO reported that the driver stated that they “swerved to avoid a dog”.

  • mb October 20, 2009 (11:22 pm)

    Yes, they may have “swerved to avoid a dog.” My point was that it never gets too long on most posts before blaming dogs for every single thing. I HIGHLY doubt that merely swerving to hit a dog would cause a roll over if the driver were going the speed limit and had been paying full attention. I could be wrong. But if you are going 30 mph are you really going to flip and hit several cars unless you do some fairly exaggerated swerving?! That seems more likely in the case that a driver was doing something else and then noticed a dog and over reacted.
    Yes a dog off leash is not ok…but the darn dog didn’t cause the accident. The driver did.

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