UPDATE: Police seeking witnesses after motorcyclist dies in post-collision fall from West Seattle Bridge offramp

9:42 AM: This was logged overnight as a crash under the West Seattle Bridge at 1st/Spokane, but SPD Blotter reports it started with a collision on a bridge offramp, and ended a life:

Seattle police detectives are investigating a fatal collision on the West Seattle Bridge this morning.

At 1:57 a.m., patrol officers responded to reports of a motorcycle crash on the 1st Avenue South off-ramp from the WSB. There, police found a man deceased on the ground below.

The Seattle Fire Department arrived and pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.

Police cordoned off the area and detectives with the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad (TCIS) arrived to process the scene.

Detectives determined that the motorcyclist, driving westbound on the WSB, struck a guardrail while taking the off-ramp. The driver flew over the railing, and landed below on the 1st Avenue South sidewalk, where he died from his injuries.

The King County Medical Examiner will take custody of the deceased. Anyone with information is asked to call TCIS at 206-684-8923.

ADDED 2:38 PM: This isn’t the first crash of its kind. Ten years ago, another rider was killed at Spokane/Marginal; we had a followup with his family.

3:59 PM: The King County Medical Examiner has identified the rider as 34-year-old Andrew D. Hedberg.

Squarely May 5, 2026 (11:11 am)

Aren’t there cameras??

WSB May 5, 2026 (12:42 pm)

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There is a traffic camera in that vicinity but not necessarily – at least at the time – pointed at the spot where the rider hit the rail.

Rip to this person’s family May 5, 2026 (11:26 am)

No matter what happened it’s a tragedy.

Kyle May 5, 2026 (12:26 pm)

@vision zero. Maybe higher guard rails are needed? Feel like I read a story about a car going off one, also late at night, within the past year. If vision zero actually looked at the details of the collisions and deaths we’d get actual solutions instead of no turn on red signs on streets that have never had a pedestrian accident in 10+ years.

bill May 5, 2026 (12:58 pm)

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Placing signs where pedestrians have not yet been killed is pro-active. Preventing death and injury is the object of Vision Zero, rather than requiring gore and death to “prove” a location is dangerous. As for higher barricades, since the motorcyclist was going fast enough to be pitched off his bike, impacting a higher barricade probably would have killed him, too.
- ltfd May 5, 2026 (1:16 pm)
  
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  We support your war of zero vision.
- Adam May 5, 2026 (1:28 pm)
  
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  Sounds like you just want to argue, Bill. First off, the commenter just points out that we’re being “proactive” without being “reactive”. You can do both but one is an assumption that something may occur, the other has already happened. So it is kind of weird to put up signs and restrictions at ALL intersections that MAY be a danger when you’re not making efforts to fix areas where the danger already clearly is. Also, building higher barriers is proactive, is it not? You mention it wouldn’t help the rider in this scenario, but what about future riders? Don’t you want to be proactive at a spot that accidents like this have happened before, or would you rather instead put up those useless signs that have us all idling in traffic even when it’s clear to turn? Dumb that we can’t treat a red light like a stop sign. I laughed to myself when I saw the “No Turn On Red” sign by the crosswalk on 35th/Graham for drivers heading north that would want to turn onto Graham and head east. That’s a complete waste. If you care about safety then you should care that the money is spent wisely and effectively. Don’t just support every move some org makes because their mission statement sounds like thoughts you’ve had before.
- Kyle May 5, 2026 (2:25 pm)
  
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  Bill, unfortunately this will be rolled up into the yearly fatality statistic, which SDOT will use to push an agenda completely unrelated to how this fatality occured. As for no turn on red with no common sense, the funniest one is SW Oregon St turning on to Delridge where SDOT spent $1M+ to seismically retrofit an above grade pedestrian bridge; so there isn’t even a crosswalk conflict.
  - John May 6, 2026 (9:36 am)
    
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    I usually have to yield to a car making a RTOR while walking north/south in the crosswalk at this very intersection, Kyle. (Then references “common sense”). Why is everyone up in arms about these signs while simultaneously ignoring them?
- Admiral2009 May 5, 2026 (2:36 pm)
  
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  Bill – SDoT needs to focus RTOR restrictions to intersections that warrant it, blindly installing the restriction at intersections without technical justification reduces safety for all street users. This is because installing unwarranted restrictions has the adverse effect of reducing the effectiveness at intersections that warrant the restriction. Further, RTOR is not a significant safety issue when all parties simply pay attention!
  - KWest Seattle May 5, 2026 (3:17 pm)
    
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    So baffled and irritated by superfluous No RTOR signs popping up all over
  - E May 5, 2026 (3:31 pm)
    
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    Making RTOR the policy at every signal has the effect of consistency and predictable behavior.
  - WS Res May 5, 2026 (4:42 pm)
    
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    Way to pivot to make someone’s death all about you and your pet issue!
  - bill May 5, 2026 (7:35 pm)
    
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    Admiral — It is impossible to prove which safety enhancement saved your life.
    So many advocates for mayhem and death here.
- Del Griffoth May 5, 2026 (3:42 pm)
  
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  Placing signs where people have not been killed will lead to a lot of signs everywhere.
  - Stop May 5, 2026 (6:04 pm)
    
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    Seems to make sense, but placing stoplights where people have never been killed makes the same sense.
    
    Should we apply that to speed limits on roads, if no one has been killed speeding why have all those speed limit signs?
Ellen May 5, 2026 (1:49 pm)

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https://westseattleblog.com/2025/10/rescue-response-after-car-goes-off-west-seattle-bridge/Yes, it happened in October during a torrential downpour. I was on that curve just minutes before it happened and remember having to slow way down because it was so slick. Very scary, and so tragic that someone died there.
Former Motorcycle Enthusiast May 5, 2026 (2:26 pm)

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Kyle, motorcycles are dangerous by design and many collisions end in death because the rider has put themself in danger by simply riding a motorcycle. If you want to save motorcyclists’ lives advocate for banning motorcycles. I sold my motorcycle years ago because it’s not worth the risk.
- Sarchka May 6, 2026 (5:36 am)
  
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  100% correct I’m sorry to say

nothend May 5, 2026 (5:50 pm)

I think the signage and striping for the Harbor Island / West Seattle Bridge exits could be improved. I’ve witnessed it many times. When headed south on 99 the first signage you see is “right lane must exit” then you get a big overhead sign that says “Harbor Island and West Seattle Bridge Exit only” with an arrow pointing down in the right lane. Then about a 1/4 mile farther, right at the exit you get two big overhead signs, one for Harbor Island pointing to the right and a sign that says West Seattle off to the left with the arrow pointing straight down. The problem is many drivers think they’ve moved one lane left but are actually in the 10 foot wide marked divider separating the two lanes. Then they see the yellow and black striped divider right in the middle of the lane they are in. Then a panicked lane change at the last second.

Wsres May 5, 2026 (7:40 pm)

Is this the 3rd time in has happened at that same spot in recent years?

WSB May 5, 2026 (9:59 pm)

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The 2016 incident I added above was a ramp to the west, not the same one.

22blades May 6, 2026 (4:00 am)

I see that coming off I-5 NB, SB or Colombia W,, there are less than the normal cues as to how tight that offramp to 1st Ave is.: An Exit Only sign over 4 th Ave & some small dashed pavement lines. A yellow 25 MPH Exit speed & larger Yellow/Black obstruction signs would have cued a driver the exit is tighter than normal. The only other cues there are the beat up plastic bollards signifying the end of the lane.. Other than that, people speed off I-5 NB, then weave 3 lanes to exit 1st. way too fast.

The King May 6, 2026 (3:59 pm)

For some odd reason from the midpoint of the bridge eastbound it has no or little lighting sporadically over the last several years. Functional lighting when it’s dark would be a good start. Sometimes it’s dark all the way to the freeway