ITO World has created a map marking the spot of every road fatality in the country between 2001 and 2009 (h/t Seattle Transit Blog).
Zooming down to Capitol Hill, Madison stands out as the most dangerous non-freeway in the neighborhood, especially as it goes up to First Hill just north of Seattle U campus. In the eight years included in the map, two people in cars, one person on a motorcycle (could also be a scooter) and one person walking died on the street.
The victims are marked by whether they were in a car, on a motorcycle, on a bike or walking. Each victim square also notes the victim’s age, gender and year of death.
Two people died near or on the University Bridge, two died on 24th Ave E, one died on Union near Harvard, one died on Pine near I-5 and one 89-year-old circus historian died on 17th Ave near Republican.
An area can still be dangerous without any fatalities having occurred, of course. A 12th Ave safety project continues and the city says a traffic signal wouldn’t help the crossing at Boylston and Pine where we’ve covered quite a few car vs. pedestrian incidents. The 12th Ave group meets again next week, by the way:
When: 6pm Wednesday, Dec. 7
Where: Seattle Public Library, Capitol Hill Branch (425 Harvard Ave. E.)
The city recently wrapped up a series of Road Safety Summit forums and is currently working to put the information gathered together and come up with some next steps. The final meeting will be 6 p.m December 12 at City Hall.
I wonder how many of them were stepping into the street to avoid aggressive canvassers?
Something REALLY needs to be done on madison between broadway and 19th. It’s relatively calm through first hill where street parking reduces the road to 2 lanes most of the tme, and then east of 23rd…. but in the valley between 19th and Broadway it just becomes a 4 lane highway through a super dense neighborhood. TIme to start a road-diet campaign?
Or cyclists on the sidewalk.
Or better yet, open it to four lanes from Madison park to Downtown full time. That would be awesome and move traffic and and buses through much more efficiently. The green bike boxes will keep the cyclists safe, so all should be good.
Sorry to hear about all the fatalities.
Motorists are essentially always to blame for fatalities, as a 4000 lb auto will destroy almost anything it hits. Motorists have a great responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner, but most consider driving a right, rather than a privilege that comes with great responsibility.
It would be cool if Madison was given a road diet to simply return the street to the tree-lined boulevard it was prior to expanding the roadway in the 1960’s.
For all the ignorant, smug motorists out there, FYI Madison was originally build as an electric streetcar line. Old trees lining the street were cut down in the 1960’s to widen the roadway for motorists and parking.
Disclosure: I drive, walk and bike all on a regular basis. The Fiorito branch of my family paved almost every road in Seattle and made my family rich. Yes, almost every road in Seattle. So no, I don’t hate motorists… I just hate cavalier and smug motorists.
I live in Trace Lofts on the corner of 12th/Madison/Union, and i frequently drive, bus, walk and run along the street. It’s not just pedestrians and cyclists that suffer from this road’s bad configuration: The intersection I look down on is fender-bender heaven — cars traveling too fast westbound down the hill, a VERY broad left & right turn off Madison to 12th and a lot of confusion about cars diverting off down Union.
I suspect the same is true for the corner of Madison and Broadway, although speeds here are generally lower. Add this to a large number of pedestrians crossing between Pike/Pine and Seattle U, without a whole lot of places to cross and you’ve got a very dangerous mix.
This will only get worse as that corner of capitol hill gains density.
I live further down Madison, right before you get to the fake French village at the bottom of the hill, and the cars go insanely fast here. Not just downhill, but speeding to get up the hill as well. I have often wondered why don’t put one of those Slow The Fuck Down speedometer signs halfway up, like they have over in Madison Park.
Maybe it just speaks to the difference in income between Madison Park and Madison Valley. Why worry about the speed of vehicles on a steep incline when you can worry about the speed of vehicles going past a gated community.