UPDATE: Crash at bottom of Highland Park Way hill injures 1

10:07 AM: The left side of that traffic-camera view shows the scene of a crash at the bottom of Highland Park Way hill, in the inside eastbound lane (as mentioned earlier in our morning traffic roundup). The crash is reported to involve a car and “transit van.” The car driver may have a head injury, according to police, so SFD medics are there. Avoid the area for a while.

10:27 AM: SFD has just been dispatched to a Highland Park child-care facility to check out kids who were reported to have been in the van, described as having had 12 kids and three adults inside at the time of the crash. We’ll follow up later with SFD. Meantime, the traffic-camera system is now malfunctioning so we can’t check on whether the crash scene has cleared or not.

11:27 AM: Traffic cameras are back online, and they show this scene has cleared.

12:56 PM: SFD spokesperson David Cuerpo tells us no one at the child-care site turned out to be hurt; at the scene, he says, a ~50-year-old woman was treated for minor injuries and did not need to be taken to a hospital.

Ess Dot March 20, 2026 (11:03 am)

I hope the kids are okay. I also hope the WSB regulars will stop whining about the upcoming safety improvements on this road. It’s time.

Kyle March 20, 2026 (12:10 pm)

This is in the left hand turn lane at the light. The project won’t change this.
- Alki Stu March 20, 2026 (6:52 pm)
  
  Just the opportunity to speed down the hill at 50 mph will change.
  - Kyle March 20, 2026 (9:14 pm)
    
    So you want 1 lane country roads everywhere in a growing city? Plenty of ways to reduce speeds besides halving road capacity.
    - 22blades March 21, 2026 (4:35 am)
      
      Care to mention some ideas? I like a stop light right in the middle triggered by 10 over the speed limit.
Erik March 20, 2026 (12:13 pm)

People need to accept that accidents happen on busy roads. Its a part of life. and there is no evidence that speed was involved as of yet. Inattentiveness is much more common in accidents than speed.
- Jort March 20, 2026 (1:28 pm)
  
  Why should we “accept” this? Should we “accept” that children are shot up in schools, too, as “part of life?” Other countries find crashes “unacceptable,” actually, and have made meaningful and effective changes to prevent crashes from happening. Or are you saying that the tradeoffs for safety (like people being unable to drive as fast) are more important than preventing crashes? Help me understand your thinking. If you think that people need to “accept” that crashes will happen, are you OK with you or one of your family members being the next to be hurt? Car crashes are not uncontrollable, unavoidable acts of God.
  - Hammer in Hand March 20, 2026 (5:12 pm)
    
    I accept the fact that Sh#t try to avoid stepping in it. And if you do Step in it wipe it off and accept it. Roll with the punch be Happy
    - bill March 20, 2026 (8:34 pm)
      
      The preliminary estimate is 38,000 people died in traffic crashes across the country in 2025 and won’t be able to roll with anything.
  - The King March 20, 2026 (8:27 pm)
    
    I’ve actually had a judge rule it was an act of God when someone hit me so you’re wrong. He had a better lawyer than me. I lost. Woman had run out of her heart meds and was on her way to pick them up, stroked out and plowed into me. Act of God, next.
- SoLongDelridge March 20, 2026 (2:22 pm)
  
  People need to accept that they might die trying to get somewhere.
  - Erik March 20, 2026 (6:13 pm)
    
    What’s that age old saying we’ve heard 1000 times over? You could die at any point. You could walk out into the street and get hit by a bus. Sliding people down there’s not gonna stop accidents. They’re gonna happen either way.
  - Jort March 22, 2026 (2:43 pm)
    
    Again, I ask: which family member or friend of yours are you willing to sacrifice to this idea that car deaths are inevitable? Why have other countries prevented deaths, but America has seen them increase? Safe streets are not a myth. The only myth is that unfettered, car-centric infrastructure will somehow work in America despite it failing everywhere else on the planet in every single circumstance.
- E March 20, 2026 (7:41 pm)
  
  Crash, not an accident. Which is why I will never accept that car crashes are a reasonable expectation in our lives nor are they the cost of doing business, just a part of life, a necessary evil, etc.

DC March 20, 2026 (2:19 pm)

The safety project here cannot come soon enough!

Kyle March 20, 2026 (3:19 pm)

It won’t change someone rear ending in the left turn lane. If you have ideas to stop that I’d love to hear them. None of the project ideas have anything to do with stopping rear ends in the left hand turn lane at the light. Glad the kids are okay.
Erik March 20, 2026 (6:10 pm)

That project would not have done a thing to this lane
- bill March 20, 2026 (8:35 pm)
  
  The safety project will slow downhill speeds and therefore the speed of drivers entering the left turn lane.
  - Kyle March 20, 2026 (9:18 pm)
    
    This is untrue.
    - Jort March 22, 2026 (2:40 pm)
      
      No, actually, it is true. I mean, just because you don’t like the changes doesn’t mean they’re not going to achieve their desired effect.

Alki Stu March 20, 2026 (6:59 pm)

I hope everyone is Okay.As a driver on HPW I always feel pressured by a majority of drivers hitting high speeds. I feel the need to use the rear view mirror especially when a driver is under a car length behind me waiting to jump into that left lane as soon as other speeders allow it. I don’t know how this crash happened but having to deal with the speeders does take my attention away from what’s in front of me.