UPDATE: Woman hospitalized after bicycle/car collision at Delridge/Dakota

| Delridge | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

(WSB photos)
5:29 PM: Thanks to those who texted to report a crash at Delridge and Dakota (map), blocking southbound Delridge, reportedly involving a bicycle and car. We’re en route to check.

5:43 PM: Police are still at the scene, toward the side of the southbound lane; traffic is getting through both ways. More on the people involved as soon as we talk with them.

5:55 PM: We’ve just confirmed with police at the scene that a woman was seriously injured and taken to the hospital. She was riding a bike that collided with a car whose driver is still in the car so far as we can tell.

The SPD unit that investigates major collisions is here.

6:15 PM: If you are approaching this part of Delridge any time in the next few hours, please go very slowly and carefully – while as we noted, traffic is currently going through in both directions, police have to do their work in the street, to take measurements and other assessments to figure out what happened. We have seen some southbound bicycle riders divert westbound on Dakota to get around the scene.

7:30 PM: Via the scanner, we’ve just heard that investigators have finished their work at the scene. No new information on the victim’s condition.

MONDAY AFTERNOON: We’re still trying to find out more information. We have learned a little from SFD, whose spokesperson Kyle Moore says the victim is in her 30s and was in critical condition when transported from the scene Friday – unconscious and not breathing when medics first found her, but she had a pulse, and Moore says they “assisted her with breathing.”

sam-c June 19, 2015 (5:34 pm)

I assume this is the same crash that was there around 4:50? I saw some banged up cars, police and 2 fire trucks, but not a bicycle. I hope the cyclist is ok.

WSB June 19, 2015 (5:41 pm)

There was a medic call at Delridge and Dakota. We didn’t know it was a crash until someone texted us, and then saw a couple tweets that a bicycle rider was involved. Almost to the area now.

617PSC June 19, 2015 (5:37 pm)

Scary! Best wishes to those involved. Be careful out there…head on a swivel.

Jen Ross June 19, 2015 (5:42 pm)

It was one cyclist and one car. I was there and my heart goes out to both cyclist and driver.

West Seattle Hipster June 19, 2015 (5:43 pm)

I hope everyone involved is ok.

Justin June 19, 2015 (5:46 pm)

The car I saw had a smashed windshield but almost no other damage to the front end. I’m guessing that the bicyclist went into the windshield.

WSB June 19, 2015 (5:59 pm)

Yes, we have since confirmed that the bicycle rider was badly hurt. Anyone seeing/hearing a helicopter in the area, it’s TV, since they’re still in a newscast time period (with multiple photographers joining us on the ground).

AJP June 19, 2015 (6:42 pm)

Oh this is so awful. Healing thoughts to the cyclist!

bikinginla June 19, 2015 (9:46 pm)

That taco’d rear wheel on the bike suggests the bike rider was hit from behind while riding in the bike lane, at a high enough speed to throw her onto the windshield.

Alternatively, it’s possible she might have swerved out of the bike lane for some reason, which would explain the damage to the left side of the bike wheel, as well as the left side of the windshield.

Lets hope the police sort it out, and she makes a full and fast recovery.

Karen Crisalli Winter June 19, 2015 (10:22 pm)

From a witness right behind the accident:

Biker was in the bike lane. Car swerved into the lane and took her out.

Wb June 19, 2015 (10:32 pm)

Biker, I pray for your rapid recovery.

ws_suzanne June 20, 2015 (12:11 am)

Karen Crisalli Winter — Did you see the accident?

AJP June 20, 2015 (7:39 am)

A friend of mine was also witness to this accident and said the same thing.

CandrewB June 20, 2015 (8:29 am)

Does anyone happen to know if the vehicle involved is a Honda Fit with a license plate that begins with AMR?

WSB June 20, 2015 (8:37 am)

No, it was not. Patrick’s reel shows a Nissan logo on the front grille and different letters at the start of the plate.

Ashley Gould June 20, 2015 (8:59 am)

I stopped to try and help the biker and I sat with the driver for a long time. Is there any way to find out what the status of the biker is?

WSB June 20, 2015 (9:04 am)

Ashley – police have not released any further information on the crash beyond what we found out at the scene; without the victim’s name, we can’t even try to find out from the hospital (and even if we did, people always have the right by law to choose to have health information kept private). If anyone reading this knows, perhaps they will consider commenting, or e-mailing us with anything we can share. (editor@westseattleblog.com)

sam-c June 20, 2015 (9:22 am)

This is just horrible to read. Keep thinking about the cyclist and hope she is stable/ going to recover/ anything…

the swerving in the bike lane to ‘take her out’ comment makes it sound like it was intentional. Have the police said anything about the investigation?

flimflam June 20, 2015 (10:59 am)

where is the scoldy admonishment of people posting about what may or may not have happened?

.
lets wait for the official word before we jump to conclusions such as a driver (implied – intentionally) “taking out” an innocent cyclist.

WSB June 20, 2015 (11:23 am)

thanks Flim, we’re a little slow on the uptake today, working from the field at the first festival of the summer. So, what you said. I don’t know if we’ll get any more information before Monday and even then – when TCIS investigates a crash, it might be months before a final report.

Themightyrabbit June 20, 2015 (11:04 am)

If this was intentional in any way I do hope the driver gets fully prosecuted. We don’t need this in West Seattle or anywhere. Thankfully most of the time drivers are reasonable and afford riders wide berth.

Watchdog June 20, 2015 (2:00 pm)

Biking in this city is just unsafe. We need to adopt what the Netherlands has done with their infrastructure. They put “bike lanes” so dangerously close to the roads, that accidents will continue to happen.

There are great articles out there that explain the proper infrastructure they have done in the Netherlands.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_the_Netherlands

sam-c June 20, 2015 (2:49 pm)

flim flam- I wasn’t making any conclusions about what happened. I was commenting on how surprised I was by Karen’s comment and what it seemed to be implying.

flimflam June 20, 2015 (2:53 pm)

@watchdog – I agree that the Netherlands has a great set up, but its not really fair to make a real comparison, in my opinion. the flatness of the city has a major impact on the feasibility of the sort of plan/infrastructure that they do.

Wb June 20, 2015 (3:53 pm)

You either have infrastructure or you don’t. Painting a line on the side of the road or bike “chevrons” and pretending that an accident won’t happen is not infrastructure. That’s where the Netherlands maintain a superior thoroughfare for bicyclists- doesn’t matter if there are hills or flat terrains.

rob June 20, 2015 (3:56 pm)

funny the implications of “She was riding a bike that collided with a car” doesn’t seem to be bothering anyone

WSB June 20, 2015 (4:03 pm)

Rob, I wrote it that way because we have no official information on how it happened. Don’t know if the car hit the bicycle or the bicycle hit the car, and so “collided” is the more neutral way to write it, as that’s the one thing we know, there was a collision.

Sachi Wilson June 20, 2015 (7:49 pm)

WSB, the language you used implied that the bicyclist ran into the car. If you had said that the car collided with the bicyclist, you would have implied that the car ran into the bike.

Neutral language would have been “a bicycle and car collided.”

Wendell June 20, 2015 (8:54 pm)

WSB collided with folks that have nothing better to do…

Gabby June 20, 2015 (9:02 pm)

Sachi you are interpreting an implication that is not there. Regardless of whether the car or the bike comes first in the sentence, the meaning is the two came into contact with one another. That’s what collided with means.

miws June 20, 2015 (9:15 pm)

Sachi Wilson, please share your credentials as an Editor, and familiarity with the AP Style Book.

Mike

rob June 20, 2015 (10:51 pm)

collided itself is neutral, the context isn’t. saying thing A collided with thing B isn’t the same thing as saying thing A and B collided. the implication by stating it that way is that A ran into B when what you’re really trying to say is that the two things ran into each other. i know it’s not scientific, but I asked three people what they thought you meant by the way it was worded, and all three thought you were saying the bike ran into the car. I know what you meant, but a lot of people will interpret it incorrectly because presenting the subjects separately rather than collectively implies one of them initiated the collision with the ohter, which as you say is not known to be the case at this time.

Jeffrey June 21, 2015 (12:34 am)

Really?

A neighbor in our community is seriously injured and several people are worried about semantics?

Good grief people, get your priorities straight.

miws June 21, 2015 (5:33 am)

Thank you, Jeffrey…

Mike

Jill June 21, 2015 (7:42 am)

Jeffrey, I see your point, but the semantics are not an irrelevant part of the situation. Disclaimers: I’ve fortunately not been in this situation, I’m not a lawyer, and of course this is not the official police report… but in my observations semantics can affect legal/insurance judgments. Hypothetically (since we don’t have the official report), if I were the cyclist, and if indeed it was the driver of the car who ran the car into me, I would be dismayed by the implication that I was at fault.

Karen Crisalli Winter June 21, 2015 (12:28 pm)

Semantics matter a lot. They indicate fault.

“Bicycle/car collision” is neutral. “A bike that collided with a car” is not.

When I posted “Biker was in the bike lane. Car swerved into the lane and took her out,” it was a verbatim description from a witness. However, reading it over, it did imply malicious intent on the part of the driver. I had and have no evidence on that subject. I hereby formally apologize for any implications of malicious intent on the part of the driver. Speculation here: the driver most likely drifted out of their lane by accident and is horrified by the results.

But the semantics of who hit who matters.

When my son was 4, decided to sneak away from his babysitter and take his trike to the top of a large hill. He knew perfectly well he wasn’t allowed to ride on that hill, because his vehicle had no brakes. He was (thank god) wearing his helmet that day.

At the bottom of a hill, he broadsided a car, which had come to a full stop to try and avoid a collision with the obviously out-of-control preschooler careening down the hill.

My son got bruises, a bloody nose, and an important life lesson.

The driver was, of course, horrified that her car had been involved in a collision with a child.

I assured her that I knew that she had done everything possible to avoid the collision. When a tricycler hits the side of your vehicle, there’s nothing you can do. She did not hit a child. A child hit her. Big, big difference.

But back to the current tragedy. The bike didn’t hit the car. The car hit the bike. The bike was where it was supposed to be. The car was not. But I deeply apologize for any implications that this was intentional. I’m sure it was not.

Prayers for the bicyclist…and for the driver.

Interrobang June 21, 2015 (7:32 pm)

FFS people. It doesn’t matter how you interpret the events based on how it was written — the rest of the article makes it quite clear that WSB isn’t placing fault and I don’t see anyone lambasting or blaming the bicyclist so obviously your interpretation is just that, your interpretation.
WSB is a reliable news source, in that until witness statements come to life, they will not report such things. They don’t report simple hearsay (at least, that I’ve ever seen.) I know, it’s rare, it’s call ethical reporting.
So, before you continue to attack one of the few sources that works hard to maintain an ethical standard, look at the situation objectively yourself, perhaps.

miws June 21, 2015 (10:03 pm)

Thank you as well, Interrobang. Very well put.

Mike

KEB June 22, 2015 (8:57 am)

Any update as to the condition of the cyclist… Or even who the cyclist is. I hope she is okay.

trb June 22, 2015 (12:18 pm)

Yes, please WSB. Any news on the cyclist???

WSB June 22, 2015 (12:22 pm)

I’m trying. As I mentioned upthread, it’s almost impossible to get any information without a name. Often within a few days of a major incident, we’ll have heard from a relative or friend of the victim, but so far we have not. – Tracy

Kathy June 22, 2015 (1:15 pm)

A person riding a bike and a person driving a car were in a collision. A bicycle and the car did not have a collision on their own. Human error (not a crime, just a fact of life) combined with bad infrastructure creates unsafe situations. Usually the person biking or walking gets the brunt of it. We need better bike and pedestrian infrastructure as soon as possible the entire length of Delridge Way. This is the route with the least grade steepness between North Delridge and White Center. Most other routes are so steep, few riders except those out for a workout will use them.

Mickymse June 22, 2015 (1:15 pm)

Am I the only one wondering why the car swerved into the bike lane? The driver stayed there, so it’s obviously not a hit and run. Did the car turn left off of Dakota and turn into the wrong lane?

WSB June 22, 2015 (4:22 pm)

What little I’ve been able to find out today is added above. Still trying.

Etha Okane June 23, 2015 (3:09 am)

Hope all of them get well soon.

WSB June 27, 2015 (7:23 pm)

I’m sorry to say that I still haven’t turned up any information about how the rider is doing – because I have no idea who she is. If ANYONE reading this knows, I’m not even interested in publicly identifying her, as we don’t usually do that with victims, but without a name, Harborview can’t even try to look up a case, and the police/fire departments can’t give us a name either. We can be reached offsite at editor@westseattleblog.com or 206-293-6302. – Tracy

Tom Fucoloro June 29, 2015 (11:36 am)

Thanks for your work to keep everyone updated on this, Tracy. Here are a few extra details I got today from Seattle Police: Woman struck from behind is 39. Both were traveling on Delridge in the same direction just past Dakota. Woman behind the wheel of blue Nissan Versa is 47.

I asked about the victim’s condition, but police do not have an update. Usually they only get such updates if it has changed to a fatality (or if minor injuries turn out to be major), which could change any potential charges. So fingers crossed that’s a bit of good news. I’m still sending her my best wishes.

Sorry, comment time is over.