7:01 PM: Police have told dispatch that SW Alaska is closed both ways at 36th SW because of a collision. A pedestrian is reported to be hurt, described as a head injury, hit by a vehicle estimated to have been going 20 mph, and SFD medics are on scene. Avoid the area for a while.
7:14 PM: The injured pedestrian will be taken to Harborview Medical Center.
10:46 PM: SFD tells WSB that the pedestrian is a 74-year-old man who was in serious condition when transported.
I called 911 and was there. Is there any way to find out how he is doing this morning?
Not unless you know his name, in which case you can try asking Harborview. Otherwise the official info ends, for us anyway, at the condition at the time of transport.
I walk across that intersection everyday on my way to the Y. No one follows the law by yielding to me. The law states ‘the pedestrian has the right of way at all marked and unmarked intersections’.I’ll step off the curb and will be 10 feet out. No one stops. Not even the Metro bus. Everyone is in such a hurry these days.
That intersection would really benefit from more markings and signage, and a light if necessary to slow/stop cars. It’s really hairy for pedestrians under the best of circumstances.
As a driver that has done that, it’s not on purpose. Sometimes car are parked too close to the pedestrian making it hard for us to see even if you step to the curve and it’s too late to stop which is why I keep driving.
I use a high visibility light pointed down attached to bright light weight high visibility vest when walking to the bus my commute to work. I believe it helps might try using a hand held light. I also wait for cars to pass and when it’s clear walk across the street regardless of laws. Also crossing in the middle of the block is o have found safer than the corner. Hope the individual is ok. Heard on KUOW last week we had in Washington just over 800 pedestrian deaths by automobile 2024.
No, we did not have anywhere near that many. 2021,2022, 2023 had 100-something each, so even on the high end, 2024 surely did not even hit 200.
(And of course EVEN ONE is too many…)
@K… Isn’t it clear that the city cares more about cutting costs on crosswalk paint than ensuring pedestrian safety?
Alkiman what are you talking about? The city builds new crossings all the time. In the decade plus I have lived in Seattle pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure has continually improved. It can always be better but the city isn’t sitting idle.
This wasn’t a hit and run so I presume the driver will be investigated for vehicular assault, yeah?
I don’t have any information on the circumstances nor whether the driver was cited or arrested for anything. Will see if SPD can tell me anything tomorrow but collisions are generally harder to get info about than other kinds of incidents.
If speed at time of collision was 20 mph, not likely a vehicular assault unless impairment involved. If no impairment, this is likely a simple misdemeanor of negligent driving, or perhaps a citation for inattentive driving/failure to yield. Accidents do happen and often culpability is nominal at best.
Negligent driving should carry much stricter penalties. Absolutely disgusting how we coddle drivers.
I’m not a lawyer but in my mind assault requires intent. Why would staying at the scene (or even fleeing) suggest anything about intent?
Very bad intersection for pedestrians. This accident reportedly did not involve high speed, but it is common for vehicles of all types to roar thru here as they travel between 35th SW and Fauntleroy. And eastbound they regularly fly thru in the bus lane.
If the driver was indeed going 20 mph then there is even less of an excuse for hitting a 74 year old man, who was unlikely to have just sprinted out into the street unexpectedly. Unless it can be proven that illegal and or erratic behavior was exhibited by the pedestrian, making the “accident” completely unavoidable, then there needs to be much more severe penalties for drivers who hit people. Most drivers seem far more interested in who might hit their car than who they might hit – and possibly kill – with theirs.
K, Alkiman – there is a signalized intersection with a fully marked crosswalk one block to the east of 36th. Unmarked legal crossings at locations like this one have similar safety records as marked crossing. In fact marked crossing at locations with low ped traffic, less than 20 peds per hour, can reduce safety by providing pedestrians a false sense of security and not enough pedestrian presence for inattentive motorist to be properly aware. At higher ped volumes motorist become more aware of their presence.
Admiral, you sound like an apologist for inattentive motorists. We need more marked crosswalks, and drivers should always be watching for pedestrians.
“Admiral, you sound like an apologist for inattentive motorists.” How did you possibly come to this conclusion KBear? Nothing in Admiral’s post is apologetic toward drivers. It sounds to me like you care more about finding a reason to be outraged than actually reducing harm.
The signaled crosswalk you are referring to is not safe due to the right turn on reds that so many drivers take here, often completely blocking the crosswalks and not looking for pedestrians at all. I’d rather cross at 36th myself because there is much better visibility (no steep hills) and lighter auto traffic. Not to mention the sheer inequity of suggesting pedestrians walk out of their way to cross the street instead of using an existing legal crossing.
Km and KBear, Admiral’s comment struck me as intending to share information that may suggest that the obvious solution is not as viable as it seems. At the very least, assuming Admiral is speaking knowledgeably, they are offering information relevant to the discussion of what does or doesn’t make a crossing safe. That the information, if accurate, complicates your position doesn’t mean Admiral is arguing against you or is pro-car or anti-pedestrian. We can’t solve problems with emotions alone, and discourses that reduce all comments to one of two opposing positions make the possibility of identifying solutions much less likely. In others words, maybe consider, if Admiral is right, and making 36th a controlled crossing would not make it safer, what does someone who wants the crossing to be safer do with that information? Ignore it and respond angrily to Admiral for offering it? Consider it, verify it, and, if it’s accurate, integrate it into their understanding of the problem?
I don’t agree with his conclusion that adding lighting and marking to an intersection makes them less safe/desirable because they cause motorists to be inattentive. Motorists choose to be in attentive. It is not the road’s fault, or the pedestrian’s. And unless Admiral is going to share where they gained this incredible wisdom that pedestrian signals and markings make things less safe, I’d hardly call that “sharing wisdom.” My guess is that they got their info from the same place Saka’s “the safety curb on Delridge is causing accidents” claim came from.
Every intersection is a legal crosswalk unless marked otherwise. It’s incumbent upon drivers to watch for pedestrians. Crosswalks are made unsafe by drivers.
Right turn on red needs to be made illegal citywide, and ideally statewide.
Maybe it’s time for one of those flashing lights crosswalks here. It’s a bad street for pedestrians to cross everywhere on Alaska!If the city can spend millions to remove concrete for the council member’s preschool, there should be money to make streets safe for seniors to walk across them safely.
Good lord. As someone who has worked at many of the areas elementary schools let me tell you, it is damn scary to try to exit or get to many of them. It should not take a car with kids in it to get t-boned for you all to understand what he means. I have cared for a youth who lost a parent that way.
Given Rob Saka had said our number one budget priority is to remove safety infrastructure that personally inconveniences don’t hold your breathe on improvements anytime soon.
walkerws – RTOR reduces pollution, saves gas, is safe when properly conducted and should be legal except at locations where there is a technical reason to restrict it such as restricted sight lines.
RTOR kills and injures pedestrians. It is largely not “properly conducted” except in some idealized SimCity that does not exist, and thus should be illegal everywhere.
“reduces pollution and saves gas” is laughable and such a negligible “benefit” that it doesn’t even merit mention. Maybe try something a little more convincing than that?
I’m so interested to see this study showing right-turns on red reduce pollution, lol. Considering you still have to stop at the intersection before proceeding to be, in what reality does stopping and starting give you better fuel economy and result in less pollution than proceeding with a light like left turns do? I thought your “signage and lighting makes roads unsafe” comment was a doozie, but now I’ve heard everything!
The law in the USA favors car drivers. A 74 year old person with a head injury is at a disadvantage when seeking justice. So are the relatives of pedestrians killed by a person driving a motor vehicle. Motorists would drive more carefully if we had presumed liability laws. https://www.washingtonbikelaw.com/blog/legislation.html
Kathy – State Law requires motorist to carry liability insurance but the Democratic led government has failed to create a vigorous enforcement tool for this law. There are way to many hit and run victims that I believe are in part because the motorist involved did not have the required insurance. It’s time to provide proof of insurance when renewing your car tabs and then for the State, Counties and Cities to aggressively cite motorists who fail to have current tabs and insurance as required by law. We all pay for this lack of enforcement with higher insurance costs and victims of crashes can be victimized twice if the person responsible runs or does not have insurance.
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