Jen Kilchenmann provided police with an eyewitness account of what happened in the Thursday, August 25th collision that sent a woman to the hospital with serious injuries after she was hit by a driver while crossing the street at 14th and Pine. Now she has launched a petition and is seeking 1,000 people to add their names to a call for making the area safer:
The aim of this petition is to highlight the daily hazard that is crossing anywhere at 14th Ave and E. Pine St. This petition will be submitted to the Seattle DOT. I started this petition after witnessing an accident at this street corner in August. I am aiming to ask for stronger visibility of the STOP signs, including flashing lights, and early pedestrian crossing signs.
Kilchenmann declined to describe the specifics of what she saw as the truck traveling on E Pine hit the woman but says the problems in this stretch of E Pine need to be addressed. As CHS pointed out, the top of Pike and Pine haven’t been the most dangerous areas in the neighborhood for pedestrians — check out the intersections on E Pine, especially, below Broadway around Boylston and Bellevue or E Pike at Broadway for that.
The identity of the woman injured in the morning incident has not been reported and CHS does not have updated information on her injuries.
More people = more accidents. Good luck with that.
How about we actually start ticketing the people who run stop signs and the ones who don’t yield to pedestrians? When was the last time you ever got to cross the street without someone just about on your heels before you get to the other side.
I’d bet you most people don’t even remember that they are supposed to wait the for you the *entire* time on a two lane street like that one… (you are supposed to remain stopped, as a driver, when there is a pedestrian within one lane from the side of the street you are driving on – so that means on a two lane street you shouldn’t even be moving until the person is all of the way across – like that *ever* happens)
I’d bet a few days of emphasis patrols and ticketing every once in a while would go a lot further to getting people to pay attention that a flashing sign.
I’ve never seen police ignoring red light and stop sign runners. So you have and apparently often? Or is your post just to make you feel good?
There are a lot of stop signs and red lights in our city. Police cannot man every corner.
It is common knowledge that drivers aren’t enter the intersection until the pedestrian has fully cleared both lanes. You make a lot of assumptions!!
Indeed, I live here and I don’t care much for driving when I have errands or want to go somewhere around the city. I walk and bicycle a great deal and I almost never see drivers ticketed for running stop signs or failing to yield for pedestrians – even right in front of police officers. Do you actually get out and see lots of traffic stops? Or are you just posting things you’ve imagined?
It’s much more likely that you’ll see drivers stop in the middle of the crosswalk, if they stop at all, rather than rolling through- It doesn’t matter how slow it is… it’s not stopped and if it’s not behind the crosswalk it’s not correct. Nor is it uncommon to see drivers starting into the intersection before the pedestrian is more than one lane away from the side of the street you are on – which on a two lane street means all of the way across. In fact it’s shocking to see a driver who actually waits longer than as soon as your heels clear their bumper…
These are not assumptions, they are observations.
I don’t expect to see a traffic cop at every corner everyday, but I think it would go a long way, better than putting up a flashing sign that is just another distraction to drivers, to occasionally have an targeted emphasis patrol at a selected intersections to remind drivers (who happen to be the most lethal road users) that this is a crowded urban area with lots of different people using the streets and they can’t be lax about following the rules.
I have never seen a police officer ignore a driver running a stop sign or red light. I have witnessed countless drivers being pulled over for violating traffic laws.
What are the officers saying when you question them for failing to stop a violator? What is the precinct staying when you report the officers for failing to do their job? I’m quite curious as to what the responses are when you report the issues or bring them to light.
I believe your stating that police are not enforcing our traffic laws that you are grossly exaggerating to make yourself feel better. Or perhaps the issue is isolated to the CD and CH drivers are more responsible. I’ve been walking the hill for 20 years and never have drivers nipping at my heels.
Well, as much as it would be fun to live in your fantasy world, I simply observe the real one…. I’m not even sure what you think I have to feel bad or guilty about?
On my way home from work I stood and observed the intersection at 15th and Pine (one up from the intersection in question). In the span of just a few minutes I saw the majority of people roll through the stop sign and at least 5 or 6 (including a Metro bus) who failed to fully yield to pedestrians. There were perhaps 2-3 drivers out of all of perhaps 50 or so who passed through that intersection during that time that I saw do it 100% correctly.
Do I think I need to run down to the East Precinct and tell raise heck about it – of course not. None of the infractions were life threatening – it wasn’t out of control drivers nearly running people down *but* I do think that people need an occasional reminder that
a) they are not the only person on the road and that the other people are people and not simply faceless obstacles
b) that their car is a 2-3,000 lb weapon and that it can easily hurt people, even if they don’t mean to.
c) that it really doesn’t take that long, nor is it particularly hard to practice good habits – stop, all of the way, look both ways and when no one else is using the intersection, proceed. A “California stop” is not really stopped and it’s not good to become relaxed when driving. It may seem harmless, until a pedestrian is run down at a 4 way stop.
I don’t think I ever suggested that any police were failing to do their job. I know that the beat cops have other more pressing things to do and if they tried to stop every minor traffic violation they’d be up to their ears, because the so many people are sloppy drivers. I simply stated truth. I see very few traffic violators stopped.
There’s a division for this – it’s called strangely of all things… traffic. They can set up emphasis patrols – they’ve done it before on MLK to educate people about stopping for pedestrians. That, I think, would be more effective than putting up more signs, flashing lights, etc. – it’s already known that drivers don’t need more distractions. Signage overload can actually make things worse. Why not just occasionally remind people to be civil, remember that they are sharing this world and that our traffic rules aren’t just there to inconvenience them and shouldn’t be bent just because you are in a hurry.
If you want to get involved with pedestrian advocacy I recommend joining the local walking and biking safety group Central Seattle Greenways: http://seattlegreenways.org/neighborhoods/central-seattle/
Timmy73, as a pedestrian I see police ignore scofflaw drivers all the time. Just yesterday I was crossing Olive Way northbound on the west side of Broadway and was about halfway across when an SUV made a right turn not two feet in front of me. A police vehicle was right behind it. The cop waited for me to finish crossing and turned right also, but did not pull over or even flash his roof lights at the SUV driver! There is no way the cop didn’t notice what was happening.
Wow, I am a huge advocate of pedestrians, and generally hate cars, but there are a bunch of crybabies on this thread.