(Image: SDOT)
Broadway might be one of the most complicated driving environments in Seattle. But that doesn’t mean people are slowing down.
Seattle Fire responded to a serious crash Thursday morning just after 8 AM involving an SUV that slammed into the back of a delivery truck in front of the Broadway Building at Broadway and Pine. Arriving SFD crews used hydraulic rescue tools to remove the injured driver from his vehicle. Witnesses reported the vehicle’s roof had to be completely cut away. A Seattle Fire spokesperson said the adult male victim was rushed to Harborview with what was described as serious injuries.
With the addition of an actives streetcar line to the street and its accompanying separated bikeway, Broadway’s lanes, markings, and lights make up a complicated driving environment. While we haven’t yet compiled statistics about collisions along Broadway, Thursday’s crash joins a few anecdotes showing that the busier street environment isn’t necessarily translating to calmer driver behavior. In March, two passengers and a driver were injured when he smashed a rented PT Cruiser into the back of a Metro bus while reportedly darting around traffic on a busy pre-commute Broadway. One of the three people in the car suffered life-threatening injuries, while two people on the bus were also injured. According to court records, no charges have been filed in that crash.
Collision on Broadway and Pine St. Blocking bike lanes. Use caution. pic.twitter.com/urmlajH1zd
— seattledot (@seattledot) June 30, 2016
The driver was hi or very drunk by the way he was talking to the medics. Interior looked like it was hot wired. Thank god this guy did not hit someone. Slammed right into a parked semi truck, how do you do that?
Hope the driver fully recovers from his injuries, and we can learn from this crash. I came upon this after it was mostly over…but yes clearly the pickup hit the rear of the parked delivery truck at some speed. (Oddly similar to the months earlier car-into-back of slow-moving bus crash nearby.) Both outcomes clearly demonstrate physics of collisions between little things and big things.
As I cycle and walk around town, it is sobering to know that people high / drunk / distracted or otherwise impaired are driving nearby! Sad to see this happen but glad no bystanders appeared to be hurt — could have been very different.
You mentioned the earlier accident where the PT Cruiser rear-ended a Metro bus. You mistakenly mentioned that there were injuries among the bus passengers. There were none. The only people who got injured were the ones in the car – one with life-threatening and two with non-life threatening injuries. Nobody on the bus was hurt.
This is a very important point, because buses are many times safer than cars. And it’s really simple – a PT Cruiser weighs 3,165 lbs, while the involved NFI XT60 coach weighs 43,000 lbs. What this means is that on impact a bus passenger experiences 13.58 *times* less force than a car passenger (because F=m*v).
Separately of course, Metro buses are driven by professional drivers who are many times less likely to make a mistake while driving.
I drove past after it happened, was nuts. Wondering how its possible an entire roof was missing. It was quite a scene, around 8:15am. Horrified SCCC students were standing around. No way anyone could have survived. I figured at least 10 people were hurt because they had at least 4 ambulances.
Roof cleanly cut off as part of the rescue process, not in the actual crash.