(‘Ghost bike’ memorial at crash site – WSB photo from December)
Two months ago, 66-year-old Steve Hulsman was riding his bicycle in Arbor Heights when a 53-year-old man driving a car made a left turn and didn’t see him in time to stop. It was less than two hours later, according to the police report, when Mr. Hulsman died at the hospital. Now his widow is dealing with the bills, saying their coverage has been exhausted, and that the driver was uninsured. A friend asked us to write about her crowdfunding page, so we also looked into the status of the case. King County Superior Court and Seattle Municipal Court files don’t show any charges filed, so far, in the incident, though the officer who wrote the initial report noted that the driver “operated his vehicle in a manner that endangered a person.” As was first reported by Seattle Bike Blog, records show the driver had a suspended license and a history of DUIs, but officers said that at this scene there was no indication he was impaired. Meantime, SDOT has told us in past cases that they evaluate sites of traffic deaths for possible modifications; we asked them about this location, and a spokesperson replied, “We conducted review of the site at Marine View Dr SW and 46th Ave SW as part of our fatal-review process. We will carefully assess the findings and engage in discussions to determine the most appropriate next steps for this location.” We’ll continue following up. Meantime, Mr. Hulsman’s widow is also hoping that crowdfunding will help with the costs of a memorial for her husband and for bike safety projects, which were a passion of his. Here’s the link.
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