UPDATE: Driver hits motor home, flips car on Delridge across from school

(WSB photos added)

4:58 PM: Avoid Delridge Way at Juneau. Seattle Fire and Police have sent a big response for a reported rollover. SB Delridge is reported to be blocked. We’re on the way to find out more.

5:16 PM: Our crew just arrived. No injuries. The driver whose vehicle rolled hit a parked motor home. Police are letting traffic through both ways, alternating directions.

5:22 PM: Police say no one was in the motor home when it was hit.

This is actually south of Juneau, right across from Louisa Boren STEM K-8. SDOT has a cleanup crew on scene.

ADDED FRIDAY AFTERNOON: City records show the 40-year-old woman driving the car was cited for inattentive driving.

34 Replies to "UPDATE: Driver hits motor home, flips car on Delridge across from school"

  • sally July 18, 2019 (5:05 pm)

    Please update with more info-911 log calls it at Graham? (just trying to figure out the best way to get to STEM to pick up kid ) (if you can’t approach from north)

    • WSB July 18, 2019 (6:00 pm)

      Hopefully you have long since figured it out. It was dispatched as Delridge and Juneau, since changed (the all-caps location on the RT 911 log signifies a change from original location description). But as noted once our crew arrived, it was south of there. Some of our photos were taken from the school parking lot.

      • sally July 18, 2019 (7:48 pm)

        yes, thanks. I did (as my mom would say), ‘go around my elbow to get to my ear.’  While the long/ round-about route wasn’t necessary as they were so well to organized to let traffic through in alternating directions, it was a minor inconvenience, relatively speaking.

  • Bk July 18, 2019 (5:15 pm)

    Saw a car that looked like it had been hit north of the accident ok delridge.  Flat tire and crushed fender.  Hope he isnt a hit and run.  

    • Clarisa July 18, 2019 (9:19 pm)

      Was the car facing north? Do you remember the color, make, model? My boyfriend parked his car right there

  • Joey July 18, 2019 (5:28 pm)

    Reset that counter back to 0 days. *shrug*

    • LyndaB July 18, 2019 (8:19 pm)

      Whoa, 6 this year already of you search “flip” on the blog.  Hope everyone is ok.  

  • Out for a Walk. July 18, 2019 (9:53 pm)

    Why does a car “flip”?  What are the mechanics going on?  I can guess speed is a factor but something else must happen. Can anyone explain?

    • dsa July 19, 2019 (12:13 am)

      Due to CAFE standards they keep making cars lighter and lighter to meet mpg goals:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy   I think that is why they flip so easily now when it never used to be such a common occurrence with the old land yachts.

      • my two cents ... July 19, 2019 (3:43 am)

        @DSA It is not “due to to CAFE standards”. Please cite your source for your statement – or this some political statement about government regulations?  A quick search will point out the weight changes for sedans and other cars over the years (not a major factor). I think a much more likely and probable explanation is a combination of speed (and people do speed along that stretch regardless of the school) and inattentiveness – a sudden swerve/jerk in combination with the collision can result in the conditions that cause a rollover. The car in the accident looks like a Acura – sporty model, front wheel drive (also weight balance will be skewed to the front). Physics + attentiveness = Cause

        • S - in West Seattle July 19, 2019 (8:07 am)

          Speed doesn’t have to be a factor in a car flipping. You can be going the correct speed and still flip a car.  

          • donttreadonme July 19, 2019 (12:21 pm)

            If you flip your car you definitely weren’t going the correct speed by a long shot.

        • Rick July 19, 2019 (9:24 am)

          I”flipped” a VW bug in Sealth parking lot in 1973. There were several factors involved. As an airline pilot told me, a crash is rarely due to just one factor.

          • dsa July 19, 2019 (3:44 pm)

            Weight certainly is a factor in mpg and flipping.  I remember a few students picking up a teacher’s VW bug in the early 60’s and moving it to the sidewalk.  It would not have been done with one of the land yachts.  My point is those had a lower center of gravity because a lot of heavy steel went into their frames, real steel bumbers, V8 motors etc.

        • dsa July 19, 2019 (4:21 pm)

          The resource you request is not happening because I am referring to what is now called collector cars.   The reasons stated for roll overs are many which I think those collector cars handled better than today’s cars.   Frontal crashes were the concern back then, thus seat and lap belts became the norm.  Later air bags to assist the belts.  Now because of roll overs we have *side* air bags and better roofs because as Consumer Reports says roll overs are deadly:  https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/02/rollover-101/index.htm

      • Rmk July 19, 2019 (5:55 am)

        You have no idea what you are talking about.  Cars are not getting lighter.  1990 BMW 3 series weighed about 2200 pounds, 2018 BMW 3 series weighs about 3700.  Look at any series of car and they are all much bigger and at least 1000 pounds heavier.  I would guess they flip because of combination of speed, the angle they hit something, and driver input on steering wheel when they freak out.  

        • momosmom July 19, 2019 (10:16 am)

          WOW no need for you all to get so high on that soapbox of yours, DSA was just making a comment of what he/she thinks the why’s of a car flipping. 

          • Apey July 19, 2019 (2:40 pm)

            A voice of reason, thank you Momosmom!

          • My two cents ... July 19, 2019 (4:40 pm)

            Blaming the accident on CAFE regulations is pretty inane .. IMHO  (I will now get off my soapbox and let other people with voices of reason chime in).

        • dsa July 19, 2019 (3:47 pm)

          Is that a 2018 BMW 3 series in the above crash?

      • WSResident July 19, 2019 (8:16 am)

        Without scientific evidence I would say that cars flip more now days because cars are designed differently.  Cars used to be rear wheel drive which has a better weight/power distribution.  Unless you drive a sports car, just about all cars now days are front wheel drive (or some sort of fake AWD marketing system).  So you add speed with 90% of the cars weight in the front you get rollovers.  My 2 cents.  

      • EdSane July 19, 2019 (9:59 am)

        The cause of a rollover is more likely because the wheels of both vehicles connected at just the perfect angle for the vehicle moving at speed (even slow) to ride up. At which point it probably collided with more of the rv vehicle frame and rolled.

      • Ice July 19, 2019 (11:53 am)

        I would question the assumption that cars are flipping at a higher percentage rate than they did in the past. This blog documents all kinds of traffic-violence and makes us very aware of of the amount of cars that are actually flipping. In the past, I am not sure any local news source would have covered a car crash where the car flipped unless it was outrageously bad or unusual in some way. I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt that cars flip any more now than they did in the past.

  • Yma July 18, 2019 (10:00 pm)

    Glad there are no injuries.will be interesting to know root cause.

  • Gebus July 19, 2019 (6:39 am)

    I see a lot of drivers lately passing in the middle and bike lanes on Delridge going about 45 miles an hour driving like complete idiots. No clue if that’s what happened here but it takes a speed over 30mph to cause that amount of damage IMHO.

  • D July 19, 2019 (12:22 pm)

    People tend to speed at least 10 miles over the speed limit going around that corner and with low visibility I’m surprised more accidents with pedestrians killed hasn’t happened. 

  • WSB July 19, 2019 (12:54 pm)

    For those who have attempted to blame the motor home (reminder, victim-blaming – and a parked vehicle hit by a driver is the victim here – is against the rules), we went by a short time ago. The motor home is within the fog (parking) lines. The driver of the vehicle that flipped was cited, records show, for inattention. I am updating above.

    • waikikigirl July 19, 2019 (1:32 pm)

      Which means either on her phone, turning up or down her radio, grabbing that cup of coffee, putting on make-up… and the main #1 answer…not having both hands on the wheel and looking forward at traffic.

      • WSB July 19, 2019 (1:51 pm)

        I asked and there’s no further information available in the police system, so what represented the inattentiveness, we won’t know. The specific code section:

        SMC 11.58.008

        Inattention.

        A. No person shall operate a vehicle in an inattentive manner over and along the streets, alleys or ways open to the public of this City. For the purpose of this section, “inattentive manner” means such a manner so as to fail to maintain a careful lookout for persons or property in the direction of travel.

        B. The offense of operating a vehicle in an inattentive manner shall be considered to be a lesser offense than, but included in, the offense of operating a vehicle in a negligent manner, and any person charged with operating a vehicle in a negligent manner may be convicted of the lesser offense of operating a vehicle in an inattentive manner.

    • Tsurly July 19, 2019 (2:47 pm)

      That explains why my comment did show up. Upon reflection, perhaps I didn’t word it correctly. I wasn’t blaming the RV, just stating that I was surprised no one had yet, because that’s what a lot of people on this forum love to do.

  • Rick July 19, 2019 (1:45 pm)

    Good thing there are smarter people than the rest of us. Otherwise, how would we survive.?

  • waikikgirl July 19, 2019 (2:05 pm)

    I only speak from experience, light turned green started to go and I looked down to turn up my radio and wham rear-ended someone :( and that is the ticket I got.  I learned though… do not take your eyes off of your driving!

  • S - in West Seattle July 19, 2019 (2:07 pm)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouEnwDeMaqYLow car speed flip, Speed doesn’t need to be a factor in a flip or rollover. 

  • West Seattle Hipster July 19, 2019 (8:37 pm)

    Hopefully the motor home owners can be made whole by the other driver’s insurance, I am sure the repairs will be costly.  

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