Another parked vehicle hit on southbound 35th SW

Southbound 35th SW was blocked for a while at Cloverdale late tonight because of the latest case of a moving vehicle hitting a parked vehicle. Like the crash we covered two weeks ago and two blocks away, no injuries reported this time around – the Fire Department wasn’t even summoned. But two patrol cars and electronic “flares” were being used to block off the scene till it could be cleaned up.

37 Replies to "Another parked vehicle hit on southbound 35th SW"

  • valvashon March 19, 2012 (2:43 am)

    This is exactly why I never park along 35th SW even though I live on it. There’s plenty of open spaces here in West Seattle, so walking half a block either way from a side street is good for you and good for your car.

  • Velo_nut March 19, 2012 (5:06 am)

    Drinking driving and texting are a bad combo.

  • coffee March 19, 2012 (5:33 am)

    I see this often on Delridge too.

  • Peter on Fauntleroy March 19, 2012 (7:41 am)

    This is one more reason 35th desperately needs a road diet.
    http://walkinginseattle.org/?p=2972&wpmp_switcher=desktop

  • Charlie Warsinske March 19, 2012 (9:10 am)

    This accident would not happen if most, if not all parking was taken off of 35th Avenue SW. The extra room could be used for bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks and even rain gardens (assuming they are designed correctly). Most if not all the residential property has either alley access or off-street parking available. Allow on-street parking only in commercial areas but include traffic calming features. Also, it might help to repave portions of 35th, south of where they just repaved the street near the water towers.

  • marty March 19, 2012 (9:25 am)

    Texting….

  • Velo_nut March 19, 2012 (9:29 am)

    It actually WAS texting. I was there right after I heard it hit and then called 911. He got out of the car and said he was “just looking down real quick to text”. He also admitted to “having a few”.

    Lucky he didnt kill anyone.

  • Amalia March 19, 2012 (9:53 am)

    Lucky he didn’t “look down real quick” after having “a few” when he was passing velo_nut on his bike, or a pedestrian.
    I don’t often use this word, but: A-hole!

  • Neo-Realist March 19, 2012 (10:52 am)

    The arguments that I have against taking most or all parking off 35th Ave SW is that not everybody who lives on 35th SW has a parking garage to park in; Furthermore, parking on a sidestreet that you don’t live on as I did risks getting your car towed for abandonment as happened to me one time.

    I’d gladly give up my car if there was enough efficient public transportation off-peak hours and in the evening. But Metro and the City believe that people who live in WS don’t do anything for culture outside of WS, so some of us have no choice but to own one, even if we don’t have kids to shuttle around to soccer practice.

  • Velo_nut March 19, 2012 (10:56 am)

    I dont think there is an argument to remove parking. Whats needed is removing a driving lane each way and creating a turn lane with parking on each side.

  • rmp March 19, 2012 (11:10 am)

    Agree, don’t think anyone really “wants” to park on 35th! BUT apartments, churches, stores, restaurants don’t have enough parking for the people that live/visit etc. BIG problem in all of West Seattle, too little parking anywhere! Also agree, buses in West Seattle stink, especially on 35th … too many blocks to walk to the bus (example: houses on 27th/26 Webster either walk 8 blocks uphill to 35th or 8 blocks up-over-down to Delridge! If we park our cars up on sidestreets (or down) they get damaged by someone who doesn’t want anyone parking by their homes. (or nasty notes saying park someplace else) Guess you could say we are “over developed”.

  • swimcat March 19, 2012 (12:07 pm)

    Hmmm, I don’t think the problem is the parking on 35th, the problem is people who don’t pay attention while driving.

  • Citizen Sane March 19, 2012 (12:24 pm)

    I agree with you, swimcat. Telling people not to park on 35th has a certain ‘blame the victim’ ring to it; something like, don’t go to Schmitz Viewpoint Park: you could be murdered. It’s not fair to punish the innocent because you’re not willing to do what it takes to control the scofflaws. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if you put speed photo radar units on 35th, you will solve 90% of the problems there at least. Unfortunately, we have too many people who cry and moan about not enough being done about the criminals out there, but cry foul when they are caught bending the rules. Can’t have it both ways, kids.

  • Danny March 19, 2012 (12:32 pm)

    swimcat! You’re so wrong. It’s never the human’s fault! We must discover something to blame!

  • DTK March 19, 2012 (12:51 pm)

    This wouldn’t happen if we all rode zebras.

  • rmp March 19, 2012 (1:02 pm)

    swimcat …that is probably very true! Also, (Some also think it’s a freeway!)

  • No Hands Driving March 19, 2012 (1:25 pm)

    The actual solution would be to paint a lane line on the outside edge of the street. Too many people assume that the outside lane is extra wide and try to drive in the middle so they can maintain their bad habits such as texting or talking on their cellphone. But I have lived in West Seattle for 15 years and have seen at least one car per month with rear end damage along a major arterial ever since I arrived. So it isn’t anything really new. My unscientific research has noticed that less cars have been hit after the sharrows have been added to a roadway. My assumption is that this has pushed the cars back toward the center of the roadway.

  • LyndaB March 19, 2012 (1:55 pm)

    They have electronic road flares?

    • WSB March 19, 2012 (2:01 pm)

      Lynda – We’ve seen them at scenes dating back a couple years.

  • Dizzle March 19, 2012 (2:36 pm)

    This wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t allow cars on 35th.

  • resident3 March 19, 2012 (3:09 pm)

    Awesome Dizzle!

  • Velo_Nut March 19, 2012 (3:22 pm)

    This wouldn’t have happened if you could divide by zero.

  • A March 19, 2012 (4:50 pm)

    Awesome comment dizzle! How about we put bike lanes on 35th and even put a bike turning lane in the middle. We dont need to accommodate the thousands of cars that drive 35th daily so let’s remove a lane from each side and accommodate the 50 to 100 bikes that may use 35th daily. That seems to be the city’s answer to our traffic problems. Add more bike lanes! What a joke our city leadership has become

  • Dizzle March 19, 2012 (6:11 pm)

    1000 bikes would be sooooo much better than 1000 cars!! And as a bonus you wouldn”t get diabetes or cost you company $$ in healthcare since no one would be obese! WIN-WIN-WIN!!

  • godofthebasement March 19, 2012 (6:40 pm)

    Excellent observation, A. You are 100% correct that it is unjustifiable by any measure to claim one must take several tons of steel with one wherever one goes. You are entirely correct that must get rid of all cars. They pollute, keep us enslaved to OPEC, they kill people, and our entire car-based culture is a result of social engineering/brainwashing by the US government, at the behest of the auto and oil industries dating back to the 1940s. All cars must go, and I’m glad there are right thinking people like A who agree with me.

  • themightyrabbit March 19, 2012 (7:47 pm)

    gosh I love it when everyone agrees like this on the comment sections to make the roads safer in various ways to limit the repeat disasters that this story is all about. remember driving is a privilege not a right! :-)

    thanks everyone!

  • Velo_Nut March 19, 2012 (7:47 pm)

    Oh, A… What a moronic statement. Bike lanes would be a BONUS. The real win would finally be having a turn lane on 35th. You must be one of those folks who ignore the 35mph limit and consider it to be a highway.

  • Rusty March 19, 2012 (8:02 pm)

    This won’t happen in the future when we have flying cars.

  • A March 19, 2012 (8:12 pm)

    Velo you must be one of those biker folks that completely ignore the laws of the road yet expect to get treated special because you are on a bike. Maybe you are one of the few (like 2%) of bikers that actually do follow the laws of the road and dont run red lights or stop signs and if you are then I applaud you for that. You bikers want respect and want to take over the roads then follow the rules of the road and I will be more inclined to give you respect. I hate to say this but if one of you do run a stop sign or a red light and I hit you, I hope you come out of it ok but I will not feel bad for what you caused to happen

  • ~~HockeyWitch~~ March 19, 2012 (8:35 pm)

    ABSOLUTLEY NOT!!! To removing a lane on 35th. Traffic is bad enough on this street.. It needs to remain 2 lanes each direction. People just need to follow the damn rules of the road.. No texting, drive 35mph.. you know… THE LAW!! One lane each direction on 35th would be a mess… As for parking on the street… You have every right to. People just need to be more attentive when they are operating a one ton vehicle. Put down your cell phone, keep your hands on the wheel and your speed at 35 mph. Good grief!!

  • East Coast Cynic March 19, 2012 (9:05 pm)

    I would also support more severe penalties for drivers who crash into parked cars–large fines (which can be worked off and paid in monthly installments w/ interest if not paid in a lump sum), long term suspension of drivers license (which can be done on non-work days if car is absolutely needed for work), and community service.

  • LyndaB March 19, 2012 (9:11 pm)

    RE: electronic flares

    Thanks, TR. I never knew! Now I’m off to go learn more about them. :)

  • Velo_Nut March 20, 2012 (6:39 am)

    Hockeywitch- the reason 35th gets backed up now is due to left hand turners blocking a full lane and others tryin to zip into the right lane to avoid. With a center turn lane you remove this dangerous practice.

    Bike lane or none… 35th NEEDS a center turn lane.

  • Rick March 20, 2012 (6:54 am)

    How about fewer people? Yeah…….

  • rmp March 20, 2012 (8:43 am)

    Sure get rid of cars! Everyone can ride a bike! NOT!! Maybe we could do without cars if there was better bus service. Maybe if we had a store, pharmacy, Dr. Office, close enough to walk … West Seattle is the most inconvient place to live IF you don’t have a car! Especially if you are a senior citizen. And I agree with “A” and a few others that maybe 2 % (well maybe a few more) of the bikers follow the laws of the road. Sorry bikers I do approve of your healthy ways … but not your manners.

    • WSB March 20, 2012 (8:55 am)

      OK, this edition of Bikes Vs. Cars is closed. Has completely gone off track from the story itself, which to my knowledge, having gone to and photographed the scene on Sunday night, did not involve a bicycle – TR

  • Mike March 20, 2012 (8:28 pm)

    That blue car driver was not just clipping the red car, they nailed it from about half way behind the red car at a good rate of speed. Holy cow.

Sorry, comment time is over.