The westbound bridge is backed up to I-5 from a crash around 1st Avenue before 9:30 pm, almost an hour ago but the good news is, according to a texter who just sent a photo (added above), tow crews appear to be finishing up at the scene. The residual backup might take a while to clear.
That backup was ridiculous. Thanks bad driver (s)……try harder next time to pay attention.
We really should be able to get some recompense from people who cause an accident
I guess you’ve never had an accident? How much recompense do you think they should be charged? $10 for every driver on the road affected? Any recompense would be a nightmare to enforce and then you’d have people complaining about big government.
“Accident” implies that it was something that just happened and couldn’t have been avoided. I prefer the term “incident” and, most of the time, incidents can be attributed to a pretty clear root cause like someone not paying attention or not observing traffic laws. Perhaps if penalties for causing incidents were more draconian, we would have safer roads with fewer incidents.
Ugh, don’t get me started. Speeding, tailgating, failure to signal, sitting at a green light, accelerating toward a red ligh, driving around at dawn, dusk, nighttime with no lights on, etc. It’s a nightmare out there, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, it seems that the majority don’t care about being courteous, safe or pleasant on the roadways around here. A few days ago, I notified a police officer that his turn signals were not functioning after following him for several turns/miles, eventually leading to a Starbucks. He informed me that he just wasn’t using them. I explained the importance of using them (and setting a good example) and he shrugged and laughed as he headed into the cafe. At that point I felt that there is no hope and I should accept the behavior that civilians and members of authority display…so sad. I would love to be deputized and be provided with nothing but a ticket book and a badge (no, not a parking officer, rather one that has a blue light and freedom to stop violators). I would easily write 50+ tickets a day in West Seattle alone. Money for roads, schools, etc??? Well, never mind, it’s a silly idea to begin with…honk honk!!!
Yes, Mr. Wright, I agree with you. Incident is the proper vocabulary to be using rather than accident. True accidents are rare but do occur as “incidents” occur throughout the day. Mikepiz- No, I have never had an accident or an incident that was caused by me with the exception of hitting a deer back in 1995. I have been rear-ended twice, both while stopped at a red light and both in West Seattle. Lastly, in regard to this incident, one can only assume it was negligent behavior that lead to this as it was during a time of light traffic and a non-busy time of day/night. Not to mention it occurred on an uphill portion of the bridge where folks are always speeding way too fast, changing lanes (weaving) like it’s going out of style (looking for pole position??) and just plain being poor vehicle operators. Sadly, I’m not surprised at such incidents..
If it’s a crash, that’s what we use, always have, and it was the official style for the corporate-owned newsrooms in which we worked before this (although some have since backslid). “Accident” is subjective. A year-plus ago, by the way, the Seattle Fire automated 911 log changed its code from “motor vehicle accident” to “motor vehicle incident.” (If you follow the log, do note that not all crashes are cataloged as MVIs – the reported injury level could lead them to show up on the log as aid response or medic response instead – MVI generally means it’s a crash and they’re not sure but probably minor injuries at most.) – TR
They shouldn’t let kids post here. Recompense? What a joke. Go gentrify another neighborhood. Drivers, if there’s an accident, help direct the damaged vehicles to the side of the road, or help get traffic through to let the aid vehicles access the accident. Don’t just drive by, help! What if it was your family member involved? Or your W Sea Neighbors? Does the golden rule not exist anymore?
There’s a certain entitlement in WS. They’re happy to tell you how to drive, when to have fun, when to shoot fireworks during national holidays, when to mow your lawn… but tell your precious snowflake that motorized bikes aren’t allowed on a ball field, you get threatened. Very classy people out here.
I’m not sure that I get the connection with this story to the bikes on the playfield or why you seem to be bashing your neighbors. If you are talking about the kids that ride around Riverview, they do seem to ride with impunity – on the streets, on the playfield and in the greenbelt. There is no point in trying to talk with them, as they are hostile. I just call 911 and hope that they get caught at some point.
Golden rule? Nope. All the selfish people gotta figure out how to get some money from all the selfish people in their way. I just can’t wait to get to the point where driverless vehicles are so common that manual control in urban areas has been outlawed. We should get considerably more civil to each other.
Could SDOT/WSDOT set up a permanent detour sign network at each on-/off-ramp with lights that when activated would flash to advise motorists to detour because there is an accident causing long delays?
Theoretically that’s what the ITS network of signs is supposed to be about. But I can’t quite see in my mind’s eye whether there are signs heading toward, for example, the I-5 exits to the bridge that would be in the right place to catch people with messages like that. – TR
We were in the scrum around 9:45 last night, westbound from 99. Didn’t pay much attention to the accident because the way some drivers were bulling their way through multiple lanes in trying to get to the far north lane was aggressive and apt to cause additional collisions. Moving across three lanes seemingly daring other drivers not to brake is really obnoxious in that situation. The ironic part was how smoothly traffic moved when drivers followed alternating, zipper merging.
RE: vocabulary to use, I like the term “collision.” It’s more specific than “incident” but also avoids any implications about what might have caused it.
It is very sad to read of people’s lack of compassion. To read of their snottiness to and accident and their inconvience and no given thought if people were injured. Glad I don’t know you.
Sorry, comment time is over.
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